I do have a soft spot for underdog stories, but to be completely honest with you, the main reason I was interested to check out this movie, is because Wi Ha Joon plays an MMA champion in this.
A chance to see Wi Ha Joon being a skilled badass? YES PLEASE! 🤩
Ok, but as a bonus, this movie works out to be a solid underdog story, so it does have more merit, than simply having Wi Ha Joon play an MMA champ. 😁
Psst: Link to watch is at the end of the review!
THE SHORT VERDICT:
Essentially, Show is a diamond in the rough; emphasis on diamond, and emphasis on rough, heh.
Show is rough around the edges, with one of those rough edges being a pretty scattered sort of approach to storytelling, but the warmth and community feels that it delivers are so good, and so strong, that you end up being more than willing to look past Show’s shortcomings.
The young cast really shines in this, and the adult characters are mostly there as sources of guidance and support, and that’s one of the things that I enjoy most about this show.
Our young crew is earnest and competent, and all-around believable, not only as their individual characters, but as the team that they form.
The stand-out for me, though, is Tang Joon Sang, whose character kinda functions as our protagonist. He really brings a lot of dimension to the role.
Wholesome and quite excellent, in spite of its flaws.
THE SHORT VERDICT:
Designed to be light, easy and feel-good, Show tends to lean more simplistic than I would like, particularly in the areas of business and technology and how that all works. The characters took a while to grow on me, but I did eventually grow fond of almost all of them.
At the same time, there are definitely some stand-outs that endeared themselves to me early, like Kim Hae Sook as Gran.
Ultimately, Show manages to be uplifting and aspirational (if you can overcome the over-simplification of everything), and ends up being a reasonably pleasant coming-of-age – or rather, coming-into-your-own – kinda story.
PS: Most viewers have strong feelings about this story’s love triangle, but I didn’t.