by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
After a disappointing breakup, travel executive Amanda Riley (Rachael Leigh Cook) goes to assess the tourism in Vietnam in the new Netflix feature, A Tourist’s Guide to Love. While there, she is befriended by the rest of the tourists in her group, particularly the tour guild Sinh Thach (Scott Ly), who has a lot of unexpected ideas about where to take them. Amanda starts to wonder if she may have found a new life and love, but also wonders about her ulterior reasons for being there.
To be clear, this is a rom-com, but it’s a rom-com that is more about emotion and making you feel something than it is about making you laugh or cringe. There are no scenes where a character says or does something embarrassing, no toilet humor, and no slapstick. Instead, you get that story of the main character having a life-changing experience where they learn something from the love interest. It’s a fairly standard story, and how it’s told is nothing unexpected or new. The biggest unique selling point is the visuals of Vietnam, and the window into the country’s culture.
While Amanda doesn’t come across as the most likable or compelling person in the opening, things do pick up considerably once she gets to Vietnam. The introduction of Sinh, his cousin Anh (Quinn Trúc Trán) and the rest of the people on tour with Amanda, coupled with a decent number of good visuals of the country, make for a far more effective way to draw the audience into the experience. I particularly enjoyed Trán’s character, with a slightly quirky but also professional persona, and her relationship with Sinh has a bit of a sibling rivalry vibe to it.
The visuals and the different elements of the culture in the country are interesting to look at, and there are many other sights seen as well. At times, it does feel like an ad for visiting Vietnam, but there is a slightly different vibe with the constant reminders that Amanda is assessing the trip for her company. The chemistry between Amanda and Sinh is another massively engaging aspect throughout the story. Their bonding scenes are sappy in places, but they are never too long or in-your-face that it gets unbearable. The only thing that feels repetitive is how often Sinh gives her some profound life lesson; it starts to feel a bit preachy after a while.
Later on, group meets Sinh and Anh’s family, which adds another element of Vietnamese culture to the experience, as you see what family life, and their customs and traditions, are like. I enjoyed the bonding scenes involving the family; they have a legitimately cheerful feel. The grandmother is particularly lovable in how she talks down to Sinh but still cares about him.
The main problem with the story is that there’s nothing different about it from basically every rom-com there’s ever been. It hits all the basic beats, conflicts, and dilemmas these types of characters typically face, including how things end. Do you know that scene about 15 minutes before the end of every rom-com? Yep, that’s here as well. I kept waiting for some moment where I could go, “Oh okay, well that’s kind of interesting, didn’t expect that.”But it just never happened. Don’t get me wrong; how they do all this is decent enough. It’s well-paced, the characters are compelling and have good chemistry, and there is a constant feel-good factor to all of it. If you’ve never seen a rom-com, you should enjoy this one. But if you have seen at least one room-com before, there won’t be anything new for you. The closest thing to something different in the story is that Amanda’s ex, John (Ben Feldman), comes back later, but they don’t really do anything with him that isn’t just reinforcing what we saw from him at the beginning.
There are also a few subplots with the other people in Amanda’s tour group that seem pointless. Having scenes with the other characters in the group is a good change of pace at times, and does help the narrative not feel too repetitive. But they seem to have no purpose other than just seeing something different. The only real value in these scenes comes from how they make you feel, and sometimes it is lovely to see people in love or becoming friends.
Cook and Ly both give acceptable enough performances, though Cook lays on her character’s emotional dilemma a bit at times. Ly struggles in the more emotional moments, but still has a natural charm and presence on screen. There are few other standout performances in more minor roles. Alexa Povah, as one of the other tourists, is charming, and Missi Pyle is pretty humorous as Amanda’s boss.
Overall, director Steven K. Tsuchida once again does a great job showcasing East Asian culture, much like he does in directing five Cobra Kai episodes. Vietnam looks fantastic in this, and there is a good variety of different aspects of the country shown. It’s also a lot of fun watching these characters on this trip getting into the culture. It’s a pleasing experience from a visual perspective, and there is a decent feel-good factor to most of it.
But the complete lack of originality in the narrative keeps the whole thing down. There isn’t a single beat, twist, or character choice that hasn’t been in many other films like this. Even the way the events happen feels conventional. If you want a standard rom-com to make you feel good, this fills that purpose fine. If you want something more original, you need to look elsewhere.
5/10
A Tourist’s Guide to Love is currently streaming on Netflix
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