Ruby, a Chinese-American tourist in Hong Kong, gets lost and accepts directions from an American expat called Josh. Throughout the course of the evening, they make a connection that gets interrupted by the revelation that Josh has a girlfriend. One year later, they bump into each other again - where Ruby has now moved to Hong Kong.
Tropes:
- Call-Back: Ruby and Josh first meet while Josh is smoking a cigarette. The final scene is preceded by the two of them sharing a cigarette.
- Casting Gag: Josh (Bryan Greenberg) guesses wrongly that Ruby comes from San Francisco (actually Los Angeles). Jamie Chung really is from San Francisco. Josh also tries to convince her to split up with her fiance for him. Bryan is her actual husband.
- Character Name Alias: Josh names Ruby's boyfriend 'Greg', until she reveals it.
- Cuteness Proximity: Ruby Squees over the cuteness of a fortune-telling bird.
- Dance of Romance: Near the end of the second night, Ruby and Josh dance to a performance from his friends in a bar. Subverted when one of Sam's friends interrupts them.
- Double Standard:
- Ruby talks about how her poor Chinese grandparents were considered 'immigrants' but rich white people in Hong Kong are 'expats'.
- Josh tries to justify taking Ruby on a long walk and not telling her he had a girlfriend by saying that Sam had spent the whole evening flirting with several other men.
- Exact Words: Ruby says that her promotion requires her to spend a year in Hong Kong. She failed to mention that her year was almost up.
- Extremely Short Time Span: The first half hour is roughly in real time, then skips to a year later, which covers just a few hours.
- The Fashionista: Ruby desires to become a fashion designer and own a boutique.
- Foreshadowing: Josh's decision to abandon his stable job of finance and pursue his writing dream foreshadows the two's eventual worry over sticking with their long-term partners or pursuing a relationship with each other.
- Fortune Teller: Josh and Ruby go to see one as a joke, and he accurately guesses that Josh was engaged before. He then says that new love is on the way.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Josh once got engaged to a girl he had known for only three weeks. She cheated on him before they even got to the altar.
- The Ghost: Josh's girlfriend Sam is never seen (except in a photo), but she functions as a big presence in the film. To a lesser extent, there's Ruby's boyfriend Daniel in the one year later bit.
- Informed Judaism: We find out that Josh is Jewish when he reveals that his last name is Rosenberg and his grandmother doesn't approve of him not knowing Yiddish. A fortune teller also makes a joke about how having a big nose equals lots of money.
- Irony:
- Ruby lampshades that her grandparents were Chinese immigrants who worked hard to get to America - and now her generation is emigrating back to Asia.
- Ruby says she and her boyfriend decided to see if their relationship could survive with her being in Hong Kong for a year. The fact that it did, and she meets Josh again in the last week, is incredibly ironic.
- Knight of Cerebus: Sam's friend, who brings the two would-be lovers back down to Earth.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Played with. Ruby has some elements - notably telling Josh to improve his life and having a quirky job (designing toys). But she is a developed character outside the trope and is actually the Blue Oni to Josh's Red.
- Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow: Discussed by Ruby, where she mocks herself for enforcing the stereotype, as most of her boyfriends have been white. Josh also says that his friends made fun of him for dating Asian girls, joking that he has a Race Fetish.
- Moment Killer: Josh and Ruby's dance in the bar gets interrupted by a friend of Sam's, which prompts them to realize the extent of what they've been doing.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Josh is a wannabe writer, though he works in finance initially and only sees writing as a hobby.
- No Ending: The film ends as Ruby and Josh are in a cab, Ruby unsure of whether or not to call off her engagement and pursue a relationship with Josh.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Josh is the red, Ruby is the blue. Swapped around with their costumes though, as Josh wears blue and Ruby red.
- Romantic False Lead: Deconstructed. Despite what they're doing, Ruby and Josh both defend their respective lovers and praise their good qualities. Both feel immense amounts of guilt for potentially cheating on them, though Ruby moreso than Josh.
- Rule of Three: Josh has three relationships mentioned in the movie - a brief engagement with a college girlfriend, his current relationship with Sam and his budding chemistry with Ruby.
- Scenery Porn: The movie is very in love with the city of Hong Kong, and showcases the various sights. A good portion of the run time is devoted to Ruby and Josh just walking around the city.
- Slice of Life: You spend the film getting to know Josh and Ruby, and examining the nightlife in Hong Kong.
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Spiritual Successor: To Before Sunrise, another film about two strangers connecting over an Extremely Short Time Span. Also Chungking Express, another Slice of Life set in Hong Kong. - Time Skip: After the first half hour, the movie skips to roughly a year or so later.
- Title Drop: "Already tomorrow in Hong Kong" is a saying Josh's old boss used to use.
