Wedding Palace Review

Christine Yoo has written and directed a film that is masterful in the way it moves from comedy to romance by blending the two seamlessly. That’s the good news…the bad news is that by virtue of the fact that it is a film with an Asian cast and a few subtitles thrown in, it will probably not receive the wide release and the sold out American audiences it deserves. Although it is a film about Korean culture and traditions of parents whose son (Brian Tee) is a Korean-American raised in a very different world than his immigrant parents, the comedy is ultimately about generational differences among family members, something everyone can understand. While every good film starts with a great script, without the right director and cast it can’t succeed. Christine Yoo as writer/director has guided this film perfectly. Brian Tee, in the lead role of Jason, has taken on a character most would not expect from the actor. He is able to subdue his character among all the hoopla, chaos and comedy of the cast to provide that perfect balance and dramatic constant the film needs to bring it all together. Bobby Lee as Jason’s crazy Best friend, Jean Yoon as Jason’s neurotic mother, Steve Park as Jason’s traditional father, Joy Osmanski as his spoiled girlfriend, and Charles Kim, Nancy Lee and Kelvin Han Yee as the aunt and uncles all provide perfect comedic timing creating truly memorable characters. This is a romantic story with so many laughs and it works so well on so many levels. For example, two wonderful parts of the film are the use of animation when explaining the history of the family “curse,” and the long distance dating computer between Jason who is from Los Angeles in the film, and Na Young (Hye-jeong Kang) who is from Seoul; and the opening scene which is for me one of the funniest in the movie. You can bet this film will be a big success in Korea and it deserves the same everywhere else including the USA.