I finally got my hands on a copy of my Bia Dai Viet commercial today. If you haven’t read this post: Observations On Shooting a Vietnamese Beer Commercial, you should definitely read it before watching the commercial.

You will note that my prediction was that the commercial would be: “cheesy and completely over the top.” I think I pretty much nailed it.

Actually, it’s not as bad as I feared. The only scene that really pains me is where I’m supposed to be standing in a supermarket – in reality standing in front of a green screen – acting like I’ve just discovered the perfect gift for my Vietnamese in-laws: a case of Bia Dai Viet! (That is the scene – actually one of many – where the director kept making me shoot it over and over again, each time exhorting me to be MORE SURPRISED AND EXCITED!!!, etc.) I’m also a little confused as to whether my face is really that oily and/or sweaty or if they edited in the oil and/or sweat later as a “special effect.”

In any event, below are some photos taken on the day of the shoot, and the video of the actual commercial is at the very bottom of this post.

The photos above and immediately below are shots of my “wife” and I meeting her sister, brother-in-law, and their kids at the airport. The little girl in these photos is the girl who went into hysterics at the airport and refused to act anymore. I don’t think girl #2 AKA “The Puker” even made it into the commercial. The girl you’ll see in the commercial clapping at the dinner table when we’re making a toast is girl #3 – and is really just the daughter of the people whose home we were filming in:

Here I am meeting my “in-laws” for the first time. I am not sure why my Vietnamese “brother-in-law” looks like he’s preparing to kill me:

Note the bright orange shirt that my contact, Vinh Phuc, selected for me to wear:

Here’s the touching Vietnamese tradition of “Presenting a Case of Beer to a Child”:

Whitey handing out the beer at dinner. Please note that I am “double-fisting” the beers as I hand them out. I’ve done this before:

The final toast: “Thank god we’re almost done filming this commercial!”:

And here, in all its glory, is the commercial itself. (I’m pretty sure the soundtrack was lifted from the 1977 film, “Pool Boy,” starring our boy Ron J . . . AKA The Hedgehog as mentioned earlier on this blog.):