Ren zai jiong tu: Tai jiong

"Ren Zai Jiong Tu: Tai Jiong" (aka "Lost in Thailand") from writers Ding Ding, Huan Shu and Zheng Xu turned out to be a rather enjoyable comedy.

When I sat down to watch this 2012 Chinese comedy here in 2022, I had never heard about it. But of course I opted to give it a chance, given it being an Asian movie that I hadn't already seen. And I am glad that I did, because I was genuinely entertained by this movie from director Zheng Xu.

The storyline is funny and nicely paced, with lots of funny moments and well-rounded characters. The plot is straight forward, and definitely takes the audience along on a good, wholesome joyride.

The movie also had a good cast ensemble, despite it being a relatively small ensemble. The movie had Zheng Xu, Baoqiang Wang and Bo Huang in the leading roles, so you are in good company. And these actors carried the movie quite well.

"Ren Zai Jiong Tu: Tai Jiong" is a good, straight up comedy, and it is well worth the time of watching it.

My rating of "Ren Zai Jiong Tu: Tai Jiong" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Sadly, this is another lame movie that passes for popular in China. It's disappointing to see that Wang Baoqing has a knack for playing a painfully annoying character; Wang is pretty good at being an ordinary guy in indie movies, i.e. the amazing Blind Shaft. Here, Wang is cartoonishly destructive and annoying, and armed with a cactus. He's supposed to be a hapless idiot, but really he seems to want to be an injurious nincompoop.

The boss is another character that seems outlandish to me, but maybe less so to Chinese audiences. I find it hard to fathom someone so stiff and smarmy. Compared to these wackos, Xu is too straight. Perhaps it's that I'm American, but I can't see past this. With good Chinese independent films, there is little lost in translation; it's a smack of reality. With this movie, I can't seem to enjoy Chinese-style wacky comedy.

Fun filled travel based comedy from China. This road movie was similar to 'Due Date' and 'Planes, Trains & Automobile'. Like those two titles, our protagonist from this movie must team up with a crazy man to accomplish the unexpected hurdles in his trip. Actually, in another perspective, it was like 'Rat Race' and 'Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World' where characters from the movie must reach their destination before one another. So they are ready to take any kinda risk to achieve their goal. Those wild journeys are what we are going to enjoy in this movie. Excellent pace and non stop engaging plot keeps you alive throughout.

Two scientists invented a formula to increase the volume of any kinda liquid. So these Chinese scientists begin the quest to find their biggest shareholder who is in Thailand. But they got different agenda, one to get a funding contract to study further and another to sell it to a French company. In the race they encounter each other's trap which drag them a simple expedition to long lasting.

This has been the highest gross movie ever in China and breaking all the previous records, including James Cameron's 'Avatar'. I have seen many similar movies from Hollywood and Europe, but not that many from Asia so I found it a nice one. The lead actor himself directed it for the first time and did a wonderful job. The movie had captured lots of beautiful places from interior Thailand. If entertainment is your top priority then it will fulfill your wish. If you are expecting good story, still it will convince but depends on the way you take it. Chinese and Hong Kong movies are famous for presenting martial art in it. That is how many from west know about movies from these places so if you wanna try other than that it will do a justice.

A typical "zany" Asian comedy, with the usual overacting and mugging... It does make a bit more sense and is probably funnier if you've lived in Asia awhile and grasp the archetypes and the social situations. But it's nothing special. Western comedies work more along the lines of playing it 'straight' - the characters in a comedy are not supposed to be aware that what they are doing is comedic. Only the main character, played by Zheng Xu, handles it this way - presumably because he is the 'straight man'. You can tell that he can actually act.

The movie is an excellent travelogue for Thailand (though there are no actual Thai characters - apparently, Thailand is a landscape and a bunch of featured activities, and the people who inhabit it - indeed created it - are somewhat irrelevant.) It has sparked a craze of Chinese tourists coming to Chiang Mai in droves, wanting only to retrace the characters' steps and check the same activities off the bucket list...

Thai media reports say that the influx of hacking,spitting, bossy, blunt and stingy mainland Chinese is driving the much more natty locals a bit nuts. In response to this distaste, the Chinese government recently issued a 64-page booklet of Do's and Don'ts (mostly Don'ts), urging Chinese tourists to represent their country better by not spitting out bones on restaurant floors and flushing the toilet after taking a dump.

The first half of the film is particularly wonderful, with a good laugh point, careful production and smooth editing and transition. The combination of Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang is the guarantee of Chinese comedy films.