The movie "A tourist's Guide to Love" tells the love story of an American girl traveling across Vietnam and falling in love with a local tour guide.
The film is the first international project to be filmed in Vietnam after the end of social distancing at the end of 2021. The story begins in Los Angeles, where the main character Amanda - a travel specialist (played by Rachael Leigh Cook) - suddenly breaks up with her boyfriend. Her boss sends her to Vietnam under the guise of a tourist to investigate a local tour company. During the trip, she meets Sinh - a Vietnamese tour guide (played by Scott Ly).
With Sinh's suggestion, they decided to change their schedule and explore many new lands. As their feelings gradually grew, Amanda's ex-lover suddenly appeared, forcing her to choose between the two.
Over 106 minutes, the love story of the main characters develops along the group's trip to explore the South - Central - North. Amanda likes everything to go according to plan, but when she comes to Vietnam, she accepts the arrangement of Sinh - an adventurous guy. Thanks to Sinh, Amanda's trip becomes an adventure. He guides her on how to bargain to avoid overpaying at Ben Thanh market, or teaches Amanda a trick to cross the street in Ho Chi Minh City: "Always move forward, never back."
Their love story gradually blossomed as they both had the opportunity to explore the corners of their souls. Amanda realized that she was more open to new things than she thought, through the way the character wrote in her travel diary: "Everything on this trip was beyond my expectations." She sympathized more with Sinh - a young Vietnamese man who returned to the country to start a business to stay close to his roots. On the traditional New Year's Day, when he saw Amanda wearing a Vietnamese ao dai for the first time, Sinh was moved by her.
After half of the duration, the film gradually lost its climax. The director portrayed the main characters' love story in the motif of a "healing journey", but the romantic details were mainly expressed through words, rather than actions. The thin script also made many viewers feel that the love story between Amanda and Sinh progressed hastily. Audience member Nguyen Tram Anh said: "Their story was not thoroughly explored, lacking chemistry, so the way they fell in love after only a few days together was unconvincing."
On some film forums, the film was pointed out to have many logical errors. In the Tet scene in Ha Giang, many characters were found wearing short-sleeved shirts despite the cold weather. In the final scene of the film, the scene where the female lead runs to find the male lead in Hanoi also lacks accuracy in terms of geographical distance.
Screenwriter Eirene Tran Donohue admitted that the film had some plot errors, saying that the crew wanted to film the film according to the travel itinerary but did not have enough time to ensure the correct setting and weather. Being of Vietnamese origin, Eirene used her knowledge of her homeland's traditional culture to write the film's script. She was inspired by her family's story and her own. Her mother is Vietnamese, met and fell in love with Eirene's father in Ho Chi Minh City, and she married her current husband after meeting by chance in Hanoi.
The plus point of the film is the visuals, many domestic scenes appear smoothly and richly colored. The beauty of the landscapes is depicted interspersed with segments about cultural practices. The group of characters explores the bustling life in Ho Chi Minh City with Ben Thanh market, experiences the feeling of releasing flower lanterns on Hoai River, Hoi An, learns to wrap Chung cake, prepares Tet meals in Ha Giang, or watches water puppetry in Hanoi.
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