MovieChat Forums > Father of the Bride (1991) Discussion > Naming BD Won'g Character 'Howard Weinst...

Naming BD Won'g Character 'Howard Weinstein'

posted 12 years ago by SeasonalAffective
14 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone understand the point of this? BD Wong is Asian-American. Weinstein is, by all accounts, a Jewish name--and in any case, certainly not an Asian one.

[–] agilitygirl3 12 years ago

Maybe his mother was Asian and his father was Jewish. Or maybe his father was Asian and he took his Jewish mother's last name cause his father wasn't around.

All of my life, trying to understand... And I miss you and I love you. That's true - The Kooks

[–] SeasonalAffective 12 years ago

Yeah, maybe, but is it really important to give a background character such a confusing and unnecessary backstory? His name could have been Asian-American and it wouldn't have made any difference whatsoever, except to be less confusing and silly.

[–] DustbunniesAndHairballls 12 years ago

I think it was more for comedic effect...the idea of an Asian guy with a very Jewish name. I think that was the only real intent behind giving him that name. You'd likely never meet an Asian guy with a Jewish name.

Other than that I would guess that the character found that his Asian given name too difficult for people to pronounce and maybe it was something he got teased a lot for as he grew up...so he probably legally changed it to something very American sounding and easy to pronounce. That'd be my guess.

[–] box_398 9 years ago

Agreed. Like Donna Changstein, who shortened her last name to Chang, and isn't Chinese.

[–] indigo942 12 years ago

Why are you reading so much into it? It's just meant to cause a quick chuckle because it's a purely Asian guy, clearly he isn't mixed race, but for some inexplicable reason has an extremely Jewish name. That's the joke, nothing more and nothing less.

[–] highschoolkiller 11 years ago

i thought it was silly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDXPiykZhnM&feature=plcp

[–] WalkAwayRenee 11 years ago

I'm wondering if maybe they didn't intend to fill the role with an Asian actor. The name Howard Weinstein was likely in the screenplay for awhile and then when they cast BD Wong, they didn't bother to rename the character, just to make it even more funny.

[–] cowgoesmoo 11 years ago

That's the story behind Morgan Freeman's casting in "The Shawshank Redemption". There's a line to the effect of "Why do they call you Red?" and he replies "Maybe it's because I'm Irish." That's how it is in the book, but it's funnier with Morgan Freeman delivering the line.

Something similar happened in the movie "Our Man Flint" back in the 60s. Three mad scientists are trying to take over the world. One begins to introduce the other two and we see an Asian guy and a white guy - "Dr Wu and Dr Schneider" - except that Dr Wu is the white guy and Dr Schneider is the Asian guy. When I saw this with my dad as a kid, he thought it was hilarious.

[–] asdf189756 10 years ago

the character was not American

[–] coney_island_baby 9 years ago

It was just a joke! You know this is a comedy, yes?

In Father of the Bride 2 he says 'maseltov' when he finds out Nina is pregnant. Shocking!

[–] spasek 9 years ago

It's called a "comedy." Look it up.

[–] Byrdz 8 years ago

adoption ?

radical idea but !

[–] bigcat20 7 years ago

Ive always thought the name was an inside joke related to big time Hollywood executive "Harvey Weinstein." Possibly the money to make this film came from him?

[–] Noufa 7 years ago

Recently re-watched the movie because I learned the DVD had a director's commentary. Shyer definitely intended it as a joke. He says it was Meyer's idea & she came up with it on the set.

At the risk of killing the joke, they were having fun with the idea of Jews changing their names to assimilate. For industry "civilians" in Hollywood, a Jewish heritage is almost stylish. So it's only mildly strange for someone to pretend to be a member of the tribe.