This is a review for the 2023 movie “A Tourist’s Guide to Love”. Released on Netflix, “A Tourist’s Guide to Love” is a romantic comedy starring Rachael Leigh Cook. It’s an easily digestible film, that your mum will probably enjoy.
What is A Tourist’s Guide to Love about?
“A Tourist’s Guide to Love” follows the story of Amanda Riley, a travel executive from the USA. After an unexpected break-up, she finds herself on a work trip to Vietnam. She ends up finding herself, thanks to the help of her handsome tour guide, Sinh. She learns an important lesson about being impulsive, rather than playing by the rules, as she sees beautiful sights across the country.
It is a very predictable, safe romantic comedy – with all of the expected tropes. An unexpected arrival of the ex, a run-in with the love interest’s grandmother and a classic “liar revealed” trope in the third act. The movie, at times, flirts with some interesting ideas, but maintains a safe distance. Amanda is visiting Vietnam as a “secret shopper”, to see if her travel company should acquire the small, family business that she is travelling with. While doing so, she hears all about how worried the family are about the future of their business and learns the value of authenticity. There was, potentially, an interesting message here about tourism and platform gentrification. However, the movie didn’t seem too interested in telling it.
A Tourist’s Guide to Love Review
As mentioned, A Tourist’s Guide to Love brings little to the table. It’s a simple story that stays firmly in its lane. However, it does a fine job at accomplishing what it wants to be. Despite starting off insufferable, I did find myself warming to almost all of the characters by the resolution. Sinh was especially likeable, even if he was nowhere as erratic as the movie tried to have us believe.
This movie has a dual-function as an advertisement for Vietnam’s tourism industry. We are treated to some beautiful shots of the Vietnamese landscape and some very delicious-looking food. It seems that a very common takeaway from this film is the desire to book the next flight to Vietnam. I can’t say that I’m going to do that, but it was nice to escape briefly.
It’s advertised as a romantic comedy, which isn’t really true. It’s certainly got romance, though it doesn’t make too many strides in comedy. It wasn’t that the jokes weren’t funny, there just weren’t actually any jokes. The movie introduces us to a cast of side characters – including an old couple, a vlogger and two mums with a teen child – which any other “comedy” would’ve had a field day with. I’m not sure if it’s a positive or a negative that this movie took a more authentic approach with them.
The return of the romantic comedy
Romantic comedies haven’t necessarily gone anywhere, but it does feel like we’re in for a lot this year. Unfortunately, among Your Place or Mine, Ghosted and this: we’ve been fed, but we haven’t been fed too well. It’s clear that there is a demand for these movies, but the over-reliance on tropes does seem to be holding these direct-to-streaming movies back somewhat.
We will await Jennifer Lawrence’s starring role in “No Hard Feelings” with baited breath.
Who should watch this movie?
Whether or not you’ll enjoy this movie is dependent on what you want from movies. If you watch movies for the plot, then you will find better drama in a Vietnam hotel brochure. However, if you just watch movies to have a light, fun experience; then yes, this is a safe way to kill an hour and a half.
If you enjoy Hallmark movies, then consider that a green light.
This was a review for the 2023 movie “A Tourist’s Guide to Love”. Did you enjoy this movie or did you think it was tồi tệ? Let us know in the comments below.