Chances are high that if you’re an Asian movie fan, you’ve heard of Lost in Thailand. It would be hard not to have heard of it. When the film was announced, I wasn’t terribly impressed by the advertising. But the film caught my interest when it became the first Chinese film to gross more than 1 billion yuan (about 160 million USD) and later became China’s highest-grossing domestic film after its theatrical release. Needless to say, this film has quite the reputation. The film has also received relatively positive reviews from critics. Naturally, I got pretty excited to see this movie and I finally got to when it got released in the US (Thanks, Well Go USA).
Lost in Thailand stars Xu Sheng (also the director, writer, and producer) as Xu Lang who’s just created a revolutionary product. He heads over to Thailand in hopes of getting an investment fund while trying to avoid his rival businessman, Gao Bo (Huang Bo). While on his plane, he meets Wang Bao (Wang Baoqiang), who has great ambitions to complete his bucket list. The two eventually team up together, but everything keeps going wrong.
Lost in Thailand stars Xu Sheng (also the director, writer, and producer) as Xu Lang who’s just created a revolutionary product. He heads over to Thailand in hopes of getting an investment fund while trying to avoid his rival businessman, Gao Bo (Huang Bo). While on his plane, he meets Wang Bao (Wang Baoqiang), who has great ambitions to complete his bucket list. The two eventually team up together, but everything keeps going wrong.
The story in this movie isn’t anything very new. It’s essentially Planes, Trains, and Automobiles except in Thailand and it follows the same archetypal story: A stern business man and a quirky, almost annoying man go on a journey and learn more about moral values. Lost in Thailand is essentially the same thing, but does it do anything new with the story? At times, yes. There are a few scenes that are delightfully affecting, but this film can be a bit repetitive at times. Xu and Wang will have an argument causing Wang to leave. Xu contemplates what he’s done and Wang returns because he has no money.
There are some clever twists and turns in this movie. I always love to watch films involving the main characters trying to adapt to another culture and this film takes advantage of it. The relationship between Xu and Wang is fun to watch. There’s a subplot which involves Wang writing to his mom about his “girlfriend,” Fan Bingbing, but it somehow turns into an affecting and interesting part of the story. The ending where our two main characters finally become good friends is maybe overly and unrealistically uplifting, but it’s still refreshingly heart-warming.
There are some clever twists and turns in this movie. I always love to watch films involving the main characters trying to adapt to another culture and this film takes advantage of it. The relationship between Xu and Wang is fun to watch. There’s a subplot which involves Wang writing to his mom about his “girlfriend,” Fan Bingbing, but it somehow turns into an affecting and interesting part of the story. The ending where our two main characters finally become good friends is maybe overly and unrealistically uplifting, but it’s still refreshingly heart-warming.
The story also lends itself to some pretty funny setups. Since the characters don’t really know how to get around in Thailand, it’s fun seeing them try. The characters interact really well off each other and Wang Baoqiang is actually hilariously naive at times. Some of the jokes are so funny because that can’t happen in real life. But, honestly, this movie isn’t as funny as I had hoped. Since this movie is a comedy and the highest-grossing Chinese movie of all time, I had expected it to be exceptionally funny. Unfortunately, there seem to be a few jokes that you need to know Mandarin to understand.
Thankfully, there are other setups that defy language boundaries and are still very amusing. There are plenty of laughs based on the situations that our main characters get into. I especially love the scene where Xu thinks he’s finally found where he’s supposed to go, but it results in everything going worse. There’s also the classic “everyone’s hiding in the same house” gag. The comedy in this movie is very clever at times, but it’s not as funny compared to other comedies.
Thankfully, there are other setups that defy language boundaries and are still very amusing. There are plenty of laughs based on the situations that our main characters get into. I especially love the scene where Xu thinks he’s finally found where he’s supposed to go, but it results in everything going worse. There’s also the classic “everyone’s hiding in the same house” gag. The comedy in this movie is very clever at times, but it’s not as funny compared to other comedies.
Lost in Thailand is a funny and sometimes affecting comedy. The story has been done before/better, some jokes have gotten lost in translation, and it might not be worthy of being the highest-grossing Chinese movie, but still, it wasn’t meant to be. It's supposed to be a fun movie with a bit of heart. It’s not revolutionary in any way, but it’s still worth a watch as a simple and uplifting movie.
Images from Wikipedia and Blu-Ray.com
Images from Wikipedia and Blu-Ray.com