* Note: This article contains spoilers.
According to the majority, Tet is the first days of the year, requiring a happy atmosphere, filled with laughter, so most Tet movies are often humorous, fun, and entertaining.
The three Vietnamese films released during Tet this year all focus on entertainment as their ticket sales target. Except for “Love by mistake for a best friend”, a remake that is losing steam in the race, the two films “The Four Guardians” by Tran Thanh and “The Billionaire Kiss” directed by Thu Trang are both based on comedy scripts, with fictional, purely entertaining details.
In terms of the formula for creating the script idea, "The Billionaire Kiss" has certain similarities with "The Four Guardians" when both have supporting characters that make people laugh, creating a paradoxical situation for the "love triangle" played by a cast of handsome men and beautiful women.
If “The Four Guardians” has the participation of two beauty queens, “The Billionaire Kiss” also has the performance of Miss Doan Thien An in the female lead role of Van. To pay off the debt caused by her sister’s boyfriend (Thu Trang), Van must find a way to approach two rich young masters, Tu Henry (Ma Ran Do) and Quang (Le Xuan Tien) to “extort” money from them.
The biggest advantage of “The Billionaire Kiss” is the acting of Thu Trang, Tien Luat and the two main male faces. Appearing with charming lines, funny enough but not too noisy, Thu Trang (Kieu) and Tien Luat help the atmosphere of the film always maintain a bright and cheerful rhythm. Along with the juggling of the supporting comedians such as Vo Tan Phat and Huynh Phuong, “The Billionaire Kiss” has interesting situations that create laughter.
The new face of Vietnamese cinema is Ma Ran Do with his “shiny” appearance and natural acting, which is also a plus point for “The Billionaire Kiss”. Le Xuan Tien as Quang has shown his remarkable progress in acting, from the way he delivers his lines, his emotional eyes, to his physical acting. The gentleness and composure of Quang complemented with Tu’s contrasting personality has helped the two male leads have their own space to shine.
The biggest weakness of “The Billion Dollar Kiss” is still the inherent weakness of Vietnamese films, which is the script. The script has not built valuable situations, and is full of holes in the story line and character development.
Doan Thien An's performance was average. Even though she knew her sister was immature, unreliable, and often gave money to her boyfriend, Van gave all her earnings to her sister. Van put herself in a difficult position.
The three main characters fall into the traps they set. However, the way Van's character is built does not convince the audience that she is worthy of the love of both Quang and Tu.
From the beginning, Van approached Quang and Tu for money. She agreed to go out with both guys at the same time. She openly suggested that they give her gifts. She created many different situations to get expensive shoes and handbags. Both Quang and Tu saw Van's motives very clearly, they even caught the situations where she "held hands with this guy but nodded to go out with that guy". But in the end, the screenwriter still "forced" Quang and Tu - super rich, exceptionally handsome men, surrounded by women... but both fell in love with Van, without knowing why?
There are many beautiful women like Van, and there are also many practical women like Van. During the time they dated, Van did not have any significant difference compared to the other women who still surrounded Quang and Tu.
The script is built on the old motif of the rich. The "young masters" own chains of restaurants and hotels, but throughout the film they are not seen to be busy at all, only absorbed in different betting games to win.
The wisdom and calculation of the super-rich almost disappeared in Quang and Tu's personalities. They competed to transfer billions of dong in order to win the heart of a girl - who they knew very well that she approached both of them only for money.
After many years of the female lead studying abroad, the two super rich and handsome guys who lit up the screen are still waiting for the banh mi seller to return, and continue to wait for her to choose them. These details make "The Billionaire Kiss" like a psychological science fiction film, with a fairy tale-like script.
