Distributed by:

Edco Video Ltd.

Region 3 DVD

Language:

Cantonese, Korean

Subtitle: English, Chinese

Runtime: 123 minutes

Genre: (Drama/Comedy/ Romance)

 

 

 

 

The idea of having a strong dominating female character alongside a weaker male one has been a formula that many asian movies are using nowadays. Just take a look at the two movies that I've recently reviewed: My Wife is 18 and the Lion's Roar. Both have dominant female characters who are demanding and bossy, and both have weak male characters who would do anything they say.

Cha Tae Hyun plays Kyun-Woo, a hapless fool who is in search for the perfect woman. One day he meets this beautiful girl, played by Jeon Ji Hyun, in the subway. The girl may physically be his "type of gal," but he was not attracted to her. She was drunk and sick, and she really didn't make a good first impression. In their brief encounter,she passes out in front of him. With no one else willing to help her out, Kyun-Woo took it upon himself to take care of her. Big mistake!!! Because once the girl found out what Kyun-Woo had done for her, instead of gratitude, she continuously bosses him around. She tells him what to do, what to drink, and what to eat.

The first half of the movie was comedy and I admit that I really enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the girl's "sassy-ness," and yes.... she's sorta cute too. However, I don't think that a girl like her would ever fall for a guy like Kyun-Woo in reality. He's clumsy, weak, and incredibly stupid. He has no ambition, no set idea of what he want of his life. The only thing he has going is that he would do anything for the girl. That's sweet but everyone knows that there's more to a relationship than just being nice. The first hour of the film is what you would normally expect from many romantic comedies: funny, cute, and silly.

In the second half of the movie, the storyline shifted from comedy to drama. The second part is what made the film for me. We get to learn more about the girl and understand why she acted the way she did. The more we learn about her, the more we start to feel for the character. We see how much this character changed and evolved during the two-hour time frame. With all the abuse that she gave to the poor guy, deep down she really loves him.

My Sassy Girl was one of the most popular movie in Asia last year. Filmed in Korea, it easily became one of their top-grossing film in the box office. With all the talk of this film I had to check it out. However since the movie is only offered in Region 3 coding, I wasn't able to watch the DVD. That was until I finally purchased an All Region-Coded DVD player. My Sassy Girl is just one of the reasons why you should purchase one of these wonderful players.

This movie is slated to be released in the United States sometime next year (2003). The production company Shin Cine had sold the rights of "The Sassy Girl" (Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo) to DreamWorks for $750,000 plus 4 percent of the worldwide gross. This is a good thing. I just hope that they do not butcher this movie like how Miramax has done to many of the Hong Kong films of late. (Think of Kung-Fu Soccer) I also hope that they maintain the integrity of the film by not dubbing the voices with bad American voice actors.

This is a wonderful movie that I recommend people to watch. Like many Koren films, it drags in the beginning but it gets better in the end. Please note that I watched this film with the Cantonese audio track rather than the Korean. Still I doubt that it would have made any difference to my enjoyment of this film.

 

Overall Score: A