‘The Wedding Banquet’

The couple getting married in Ang Lee’s amusing 1993 comedy of manners are both Chinese and living in New York City, but that’s all they have in common. Wai Tung (Winston Chao, rear) is an American citizen, a real estate entrepreneur,, the only son of a wealthy Taiwanese family, and Wei Wei (May Chin) is a penniless illegal immigrant from the mainland. Wai Tung happens to be gay and has a lover (Mitchell Lichtenstein), but Wai has never told his parents, who are constantly pressuring him to marry. No sooner does Wai Tung decide to marry Wei Wei to help her out and to get his parents off his back than he sets in motion a delicious string of unforeseen complications. The result is one of those rare films that handle comedy and serious matter with equal deftness (Cinemax Wednesday at 8 p.m.).