YouTube’s algorithm sure knows how to pique my interest.
I mean, when YouTube suggested this movie to me, I quickly sat up and paid attention.
The idea of a movie starring Park Sung Woong and Ra Mi Ran, with a bit of Jin Young pretty thrown in sounded like just my kinda thing, and I promptly changed my Saturday afternoon viewing plans, heh.
Now that I’ve finished the movie, though, I will say that this movie’s a reasonably decent watch, but I did like it better in concept than in execution.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Outcast high-schooler Dong Hyeon (Jin Young in a fat suit) falls from a building and lands on passerby crime boss Pan Soo (Park Sung Woong), and the two end up switching bodies.
With his own body in a coma, Pan Soo goes back to school in Dong Hyeon’s body to sort things out – and gives Dong Hyeon some swag while he’s at it.
STUFF I LIKED
1. Fun concept.
I’m not a die-hard fan of body swap stories, but I thought this story had a fun enough concept, and I especially like the idea of the timid high school outcast suddenly showing up with a whole lotta gangsta swag, causing jaws everywhere to drop to the floor.
2. Decent execution.
I thought the execution in general was pretty alright, though I would have preferred it to be tighter.
[SPOILER ALERT]
I give points for Show touching on sensitive topics like bullying in school, and the currently trending unfortunate topic of the organized intent to drug and assault women at parties.
While it touched a bit of a nerve to see these topics surface, it was also gratifying to see our underdogs get the upper hand at the end of the day.
[END SPOILER]
3. Park Sung Woong and Ra Mi Ran are great.
Park Sung Woong and Ra Mi Ran are both fantastic, as they always are, and for them alone, I felt like this was 2 hours well-spent.
Park Sung Woong in particular is great at channeling the timid high schooler trapped in an ahjusshi body, and it was certainly amusing to see Park Sung Woong forgo his usual suave confidence, to play a faint-hearted, terrified teenager.
STUFF I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH
1. There’s not enough Park Sung Woong.
AsianWiki literally lists Park Sung Woong first in its cast lineup for this movie, so I really expected to see a lot more of him on my screen.
Unfortunately, Park Sung Woong appears for roughly only half the movie, at best. Let’s just say that I felt the loss keenly.
2. Jin Young’s delivery could be better.
This movie turned out to be more of a Jin Young showcase than anything else, with the story written such that Jin Young gets the chance to play a timid fat kid and a jaded ahjusshi crime boss with impressive fight skillz.
Unfortunately, while I do generally think Jin Young is a reasonably decent actor, I feel like this role demanded more of him than he’s currently capable of.
I generally found his delivery acceptable, but not super convincing nor nuanced, which is a pity, because Jin Young gets the lion’s share of screen time.
3. The Intended Funny isn’t all that funny.
You guys know k-humor is hit or miss for me as a general rule, and in this case, I wasn’t all that tickled by the jokes and gags that Show serves up.
But.. different strokes for different folks, as they say. You might find this one hilarious, even if I didn’t?
THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]
To be brutally honest, I felt the ending was rather rushed, with Pan Soo on the brink of death in Dong Hyeon’s body, thanks to Pan Soo’s livid ex-wife-to-be (Min Ji Ah) running him down in her car.
I mean, we literally go from a death bed type scene, to a surgery scene, to a happy ever scene, where we see all our key characters cheerfully buzzing about in the new snack shop that Pan Soo’s gotten for Mi Seon (Ra Mi Ran), all within several short minutes.
It’s kinda sweet, yes, but it also feels like we leapfrogged over several plot points in order to get here.
I can’t help thinking that this story could’ve been more fleshed-out and therefore more satisfying, if it’d been a drama miniseries, of around, say, 4 to 6 episodes.
But maybe that’s why I’m generally more of a drama girl. Or maybe that’s just my inner Park Sung Woong fangirl trying to negotiate more screen time for him, heh.
Overall, this didn’t knock my socks off, but it was a reasonably enjoyable watch that I don’t regret. Which is more than I can say for some shows, so there’s that?
THE FINAL VERDICT:
Not amazing, but not a bad way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon either.
FINAL GRADE: C++
TRAILER:
I have watched the Dude in Me . It is very entertaining and fun, JinYoung was excellent. Next time I wouldn’t read the earlier reviews first before watching.
I still haven’t read this review yet because I don’t want to be spoiled as I plan on watching this soon [but dang! I saw your rating flash by as I quickly scrolled to the end. And since i usually agree with your ratings and reviews, now i’m rethinking watching. ..]
Anyway, I just came on to say I totally recommend The Phantom Detective. And of course, I’d love to see if you feel the same way about it as I do or totally hate it. I have a feeling it’s the type of movie no one can feel neutral about. In fact, I didn’t really care for Lee Je hoon but this movie has changed my mind about him. This is another example of those times that I live something but not quite sure why I do but I loved it enough that I watched it again last night.
Ah, yes, I didn’t love this movie as much as I’d hoped to, unfortunately. But.. you might still like it?
Thanks for suggesting The Phantom Detective, I looked it up and while it doesn’t look like my usual kind of movie, I might give it a go one of these days, just to see whether it grabs me. 😉
I haven’t read the review yet because I plan on watching. Can you tell me where you watched it? (Unless it’s one of the “shalt not be named” sites.)
I also plan on watching Herstory about the Korean captives who were enslaved as Japanese “comfort” women. I already planned to watch it but now that I know it stars Kim Hae sook, I’m anticipating a well done story. As far as I can tell, it’s not available yet in the U.S.
Netflix has The Great Battle. I plan on watching that for a silly reason. I want to see how Zo In sung handles a very macho role.
I actually watched it on YouTube, the whole movie was available with English subs. The sad thing is, the key word in that sentence is “was” – it’s since been taken down and the only other place I know of where you can watch it is on the, er, darker side (here).
I giggled at your reason for watching The Great Battle, but I can identify with that. Jo In Sung usually doesn’t channel that very macho vibe, so it would be interesting to see how he carries it. 😉
The point of the “Stuff I Didn’t Like” sound so biased 😊 btw thanks for watching, have a nice day 💕
Lol. I guess I’m always biased, really, since everything I watch is from my own perspective. Don’t get me wrong; I think Jin Young did a decent job. I just think there’s a lot more range that could have been brought to the table, if he’d been more experienced as an actor. 🙂
I just watched this today, LOL! And more or less agree with you too. Nothing amazing but I didn’t think it was waste of time either. Jinyong is pretty.^^ Then I moved on to ‘Miss Baek’, which wasn’t too bad, definately more ‘real’. I finished off my little movie day with ‘I Can Speak’, which I loved! Even if it made me reach out for me hanky in the end. I wasn’t expecting that reveal, as only knew some cursory things about the plot before watching the movie.
Wow, what perfect timing! That’s so cool, that we ended up watching the same movie on the exact same day, Timescout! 😀 Yes, this didn’t blow my socks off, but.. can’t complain about it too much either 😉 I haven’t seen Miss Baek, but I did very much enjoy I Can Speak. What a surprising reveal, which I wasn’t expecting either. It was a little melodramatic in its execution, but it was affecting nonetheless, and I found myself leaking tears at the end. :’) Glad you managed to find time to watch it!