The film is about three Chinese men traveling in Thailand: two competing scientists searching for their boss, and a tourist eager to explore the country.
Wang owns a scallion pancake store in Beijing, and claims that the famous actress Fan Bingbing is his girlfriend.
Finally finding the temple where Mr. Zhou is supposed to be located, Wang encounters a Buddhist layman who brings a case that contains the authorization letter.
Xu lets go of the letter and ultimately decides to fulfill Wang's wish of taking a picture of defeating a Thai boxer instead.
Stepping on Xu's chest, Wang flies up into the sky and defeats the Muay Thai master with a massive kick to the head.
Gao, still trapped in Thailand due to the loss of his passport which was stolen by Wang earlier, is happy to hear his wife giving birth to their baby over the phone.
[4] Xu Zheng, the director of Lost in Thailand, said the film's success was related to the aspirations and anxieties of ordinary Chinese in a time of high growth and dislocation.
[8] The film features numerous Thai pleasures, including its historical monuments such as temples, elephant rides, resort lodgings, and particularly the outlandish marvel of "lady boys", youthful transgender men who engage customers professionally.
Additionally, it was near Christmas and New Year's Day, the genre and content of the film matched the audience’s expectations and the atmosphere of the holidays, which formed a strong craze in the public.
"[14] Variety wrote that the film is "lightweight entertainment" and "is no masterpiece, but has proven a refreshing antidote to the year-end glut of blockbusters" and it is "unexpectedly well honed for a debut feature.
"[15] Derek Elley of Film Business Asia gave the film an 8 out 10, and states "The chemistry between leads Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang that made Lost on Journey (2010) one of the most delightful sleeper hits of its year survives happily intact in Lost in Thailand", and "Thailand is in every way a much more commercial package.
There's less depth to the new characters, the humor is more overstated and less grounded in reality, and overall the movie packs less of an emotional punch in its latter stages; but it's more slickly tooled and less digressive in its construction, halting on its path only briefly to review the plot and the central relationship.
"[16] According to an article published by Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business(CKGSB), Li Yang, a CKGSB professor, commented that the adoption of an innovative business model, collaborative creative process, as well as the use of social media and non-conventional advertising methods, played a significant part in the overnight success of the film.
[5] Kong Rithdee of Bangkok Post commented that“[t]he film is perhaps a more effective tourism poster for Thailand than our official campaigns; the mix of beauty and quirk is just right, almost bland, certainly not offensive or critical.
A sequel is in the pipeline _ it's win-win, at least for now.”[17] Darrell argued that Lost in Thailand and other low-budget comedies were aimed at young people; in this regard, as well as in terms of concept and execution, they mark an about-face from earlier dapian (big movie) and their emergence signals exhaustion of the dapian formula in his article from Modern Chinese Literature and Culture.
[7] The film was so popular that scholars such as Du and colleagues,[1] Rattanaphinachai & Rittichainuwat,[18] and Mostafanezhad & Promburom [19] all found it to have a substantial impact on Thailand’s tourism industry, the country’s largest source of foreign income.
[21] The court ruled against Lost in Thailand and ordered Beijing Enlight Pictures to cease all unfair practices and pay Huaqi RMB 85 million in damages.
The sequel centered on a forgotten past romance, and the visual style and various set pieces were packed with references to beloved classic Hong Kong films from the 1980s and 90s.