A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decides to keep her in the dark, scheduling a fake wedding of one of her grandsons to gather the family in China before she dies. One of her two sons lives in New York City with his wife and daughter. The daughter is very Americanized but does speak a little Chinese. She feels that the family should tell the grandmother about the diagnosis so that she can also say goodbye, but throughout the film her relatives tell her that is not the way they do it in China.
There is an elaborate wedding put together in a very short time. The “bride” is Japanese and doesn’t speak Chinese, so she needs a translator at the wedding ceremony and mostly doesn’t really know what the family is saying. They met in Japan where the “groom” was studying. They have only been dating for three months, so there are many awkward moments as the grandmother tries to get them to look more intimate than they feel comfortable being with each other. She goes so far as to express concern about what this might mean in the bedroom.
This is a movie about a family reunion with the added stress of the grandmother’s terminal diagnosis. There are many touching moments as the family interacts, and also some gentle humor. If you make it through to the end, watch the credits until you see a wonderful surprise. You’ll know when you get there.
The granddaughter is played by Awkwafina, who won a Golden Globe Award for best actress for this role.The actress Shuzhen Zhao plays the grandmother and is not only beautiful but a great actress.