Guia de Viagem para o Amor

As a Vietnamese that now lives in the US, I was excited to see this movie when I saw the trailer. It's a typical romcom, so I won't complain about the predictable plot or the very stereotypical character arcs. The main male lead, Sinh, is apparently not a Vietnamese born, as his Vietnamese is weird, but I guess he tried his best, so I won't complain about it either. However, I found myself skipping most of the scenes due to the lack of chemistry between the two lead actors. Their interactions feel very forced, and their lines sound meaningless most of the times. The cinematography is lackluster, too. I expected to see some good camera works that show the beauty of Vietnam, but I was disappointed. Vietnamese directors nowadays do a much better work at this I must admit. The only positive thing I can speak about this movie is that the music is pretty on point.

If you wanna see a romcom set in Vietnamese with an adventure on the side, I recommend you go watch 1735km. It's available for free on Youtube. The movie was directed by a Vietnamese director and 100% of its cast are Vietnamese. It was made in 2004 if I remember correctly, but it's still much more novel and entertaining than this.

Rachel Leigh Cook can't act. The rest of the cast neither. The actual story was quite thin and the two main character had zero chemistry but somehow it is still a charming little film. In a grey, rainy afternoon this movie is perfect to bring some colour in your life. And I suspect it was made by a travel agency, as it makes me want to visit Vietnam.

I gave it 6 star because of the scenery and the cultural aspects that were shown. I loved the colours.

As a rom-com, meh, nothing special, although the male lead looks quite handsome indeed but I couldn't see any love happening, I couldn't see the female lead changing, but it probably comes with the lack of the acting skills from the whole cast.

Overall, it is still an okay movie, nice 90 minutes, but not something I'd watch again.

I could rave all day about the beautiful setting of this film. It really showcased Vietnam in a beautiful way. It was cleaver to use a film about a travel company to do it because it created the opening to see sights and have customs explained.

I also thought the actor Scott Ly did a wonderful job. He managed to straddle the romantic lead role well. I loved the running joke that he earned an "Amanda Riley" compliment.

I never really felt the chemistry on Rachel Leigh Cook's part and I really didn't care for her two supporting cast members, her boss played by Missi Pyle and her ex-boyfriend the forensic accountant played by Ben Feldman...who was just weird and awkward.

The story is about a travel company who wants to buy a little travel company in Vietnam to stay competitive, but before they make an offer they send their employee Amanda to secret shop the Vietnamese company to be sure. Which is awkward and then it isn't.

1/2 way through the film when Rachel relaxed a little the film gets slightly better and while it isn't my favorite film, I still would recommend it to romantics...and anyone wanting so see a beautiful side of Vietnam.

" Put that tourist guide book away, you're not a tourist." "Yes I am." "No. You are a traveler." "What's the difference?" "A tourist travels to escape life, a traveler travels to experience life. Life is too short to waste it escaping life, you should experience it instead."

I swear the acting and storytelling in these Netflix rom-coms gets worse everyday. The film gets a 5 from me because the scenery was gorgeous and we get a taste of a rich culture that isn't touched upon often in English language films. However, the acting was horrendous except from a few of the newcomers, Rachel Leigh Cook just does not have that it factor anymore so I'm very confused as to why she continually is cast in these romantic comedies. The storyline was bland as well, and how the two main characters end up together is incredibly cliché which could possibly be what Netflix was going for on this. As previously stated, the film's only saving grace is the cultural aspect that was enjoyable to see and learn about. Netflix needs an original idea though. These films are becoming as bad as every Hallmark movie ever just with a slightly larger budget.

This was such a cute movie! It instilled wanderlust with the views of Vietnam as well as that general happy feeling from watching two people fall for each other (lots of happy sighs & palm on the chin awws while watching). I'm so glad that it didn't include the tired enemies to lovers plot line-I hate it when the main character is unkind at first. This is definitely reminiscent of the 1990s/early 2000s feel good romcoms and I loved every minute. There were parts that I genuinely laughed out loud and liked watching two age appropriately matched people in their 40s have a romance. No Oscar nomination, but does it need one? It's cute and fun!