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.

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!

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 is a very heartwarming movie about love and travelling. I really loved that Netflix finally used vietnamese (or other nation) as a lead male actor. It is a nice overview about asian culture and how they respect traditions and positive thinking. Even it's a little too coloured. (Obviously it is an american Netflix film). Also Rachel Leigh Cook is great in this film and her act and character is very motivating. I would love to see more films like that which are educating the viewers about different cultures. If you need a lighty but warm movie for your evening even with your spouse or bae i would recommend this.

As a Vietnamese, who is living abroad, this movie makes me feel extremely home sick, since I have not been in Vietnam for a very very long time. All of the scenery in the movie is so beautiful and I am glad that they showed it to the world.

But the story needs to be more structured and built up more, in order to convince the audience that the romance in the movie is real. And I also think, it would be better, that the story of the other characters should be mentioned more, so it would make with the main story pop up more. And also don't make it too easy to guess what will happen.

But yes, this one is really relaxing to watch, when you need something soothing and easy.

Definitely would recommend it and if you could, then please visit Vietnam to see the experience.