Great film apart from one terrible scene...

Yes, it felt totally out of place. They had to show the rift that drove them apart, but that was absolutely horrible.

This was entirely plausible to me. (This has happened in more marriages than you could imagine.) But it's also a major culture clash, where Li had been brought up to expect that the wife would clean the house. In his defense, I have to say that Liz was apparently not doing much else (probably wasn't working nearly as hard as Li), so it seems reasonable to me that she would do more at home. Remember, he was used to working from 5:30 am to 9:00 at night.

...awkward scene. Comes from out of nowhere. Spliced in to provide early warning of more serious rift to come.

This whole section of the movie, with the first wife leaving, the parents visiting, etc, was a little out of place and much of it melodramatic. I think we see his ego has grown by the height of his leaps, which for those of use who have seen him many times agree are exaggerated. He was good, but not the best in Houston. I think the plot needed a way for Liz to leave and Mary to be introduced, but it could have been done better. It could have been done in dialogue with Mary, because what is missing is the growth of the relationship with Mary. The ending with he and Mary dancing in his hometown was perfect. The melodrama of his parent coming to America to see him dance seems a rip off of Billy Elliot.

What the first post is saying here is that the scene was so poorly acted and directed that it was laughable -- yes of course this would happen in a marriage -- that was not the point. We noticed it too.

I agree that this was not a very good scene. It was meant to signal the decline of their relationship, but it came off as functional not truly organic. Bad choice by the director.

reminded me of scene study in high school theater class

i didn't mind the fight scene, but yes trowing herself on the bed was silly.