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Seeing that the issue of plastic surgery is the main focus of this movie, it definitely had a lot of potential to explore Hanna's motivations and the consequences of her decision to go under the knife. But the story plays it very safe. I didn't get a clear stance from the movie about undergoing plastic surgery to beautify oneself and I finished the movie feeling pretty confused about what to think about the lead character's transformation. Even her emotional conflicts about undergoing surgery aren't well-explored, and the story tries to explain away these emotional conflicts by some simple crying scenes that don't have much depth or meaning to them.
I found myself liking the old, fat Hanna than the new, sexy Hanna, and that's probably a credit to Kim Ah Joong in her fat suit.
Joo Jin-mo plays well the role of the suave guy who Hanna has a crush on. Yet, and I'm not sure if this is due to poor writing or poor acting, I never get a clear sense of what he thinks of the old Hanna and the new Hanna. There are hints of his opinion towards plastic surgery, and his perception of the old Hanna, but there's no real exploration of how he feels about her transformation.
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There are a couple flaws in the storyline and there are a couple scenes where I thought "whaa-?" or "okay, don't really like this scene", and there were a few actors that didn't really act very well (but they scarcely appeared anyways so it doesn't really matter). Still, this is by far the best South Korean romcom in existence and the only one I'd recommend out of the myriad of Korean movies out there. I have watched this movie 10 times already and I'm still not bored yet.
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I also love love the cast and the soundtrack, I listened to it like everyday, it's an awesome movie and I think everyone should watch it.
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This review may contain spoilers
perfect example of how a movie ages poorly
Obviously this movie was going to be fat-shaming but that wasn't even the worst thing about this movie.It was made in 2006, so I know that I cannot hold it up to today's standards but this movie was
really sexist(featuring the male gaze), unfunny and made me uncomfortable while watching.
The "romance" scenes were borderline assault in my opinion. I cannot believe they wanted us to think that the kissing scene on the couch was supposed to be romantic. The way he looked at her legs and then forcefully kissed her, was the straw that broke the camels back - and how he dismissed her when she was obviously uncomfortable... ugh it still makes me angry!
...don't even get me started on the countless times he dismissed her, telling her to be quiet when they were talking business. That wasn't even ML jerk-behavior. Just sexism.
And the typical "overheard-you-talking-bs-about-me-in-the-bathroom" trope was never resolved, so I guess he actually thought about her that way.
ANYWAYS, I did not like this movie one bit. For a long time I could not watch the ML actor in dramas because of that couch-scene. I felt so opposed by his male gaze.
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This review may contain spoilers
Plastic surgery advertising
First of all, I know this movie is old, but still I can't just considering like a pile of garbage (ノ￣皿￣)ノ ⌒== ┫We have a fat female lead with weak personality who has a kind heart and foolishly falls in love with her good looking boss (or whatever xD) and after eavesdropping a convo between him and the other girl where he says "she's ugly but she has a good voice so be kind to her because we need her" decide to drastic change her appearance.
Girl, where was your brain when they highkey made you into that Ammy playback voice??? What kind of working contract is that???
WHY DID YOU FUCKING ABANDONED YOUR DOGGO???
Why in the name of the lord of bananas Kong the mighty you got back to that place??! Without some fine vendetta plan??!
The guy is just our typical asshole. He never acknowledge or apologize for his behaviors, but oh he's soooo different inside right? (?) And since he's good looking we forgive him. Go get a plastic surgery on that personality of yours, won't you?
And why the friend continuously called her ugly, monster and so on? What kind of friend do that?
To me this movie has no sense at all, the characters just make weird decisions and says atrocious things like they're talking about the wheater all the time.
There are also two attempt suicide that are inserted for COMIC RELIEF.
I need to pause to let you digest it.
In conclusion, this movie shows how normal is to mock someone for their weight (because fat people don't have feelings you know) and that no matter if you can do something really good and you're a nice person, just change your body in order to grab that asshole boy you had the misfortune to fell for. 2006 was a wild year.
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A Predictable and Unoriginal Delivery of an Otherwise Positive Message
I won't say this movie was abhorrent, as it wasn't, but it was very disappointing for me. Even if it did deliver the positive message of being confident in your own body and staying true to yourself, the actual plot was just entirely too predictable. Every cliché that could happen in this type of movie did happen, which not only made me lose respect for the main character but also the movie itself. Any idea or moral that it tried to convey was undermined by an uninteresting plot. Unfortunately, it couldn't be salvaged by the romance either, as I felt almost no chemistry from the male lead. I am glad they managed to avoid vilifying plastic surgery (especially with the unrealistic beauty standards of the modern world), but there was a bit of fat-shaming in the form of slapstick comedy. Not a lot, but just enough to further diminish the power of the main message. Also, I won't say too much about the ending but it felt very sudden and a little unrealistic. This was a short review as I really don't have a lot to say, but I suppose I'll say this: For a movie from 2006, I can applaud how it's managed to stay mostly inoffensive until now among a veritable minefield of potential discretions, and maybe this plot concept was a bit more fresh back then. But viewing it now, the movie is entirely too predictable and uninteresting to be saved by an occasionally endearing performance from the lead actress. With that, I will recommend against watching this movie.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Where we supposed to like the main guy?
My thought throughout this movie: Are we supposed to be rooting for Hanna and Han Sang Joon? Because...I kind of think he is a douchebag. Let's keep watching. No. I feel like he is getting worse.Other than that, this drama movie came off like a quirky early 2000's girl power romance movie that I grew up watching as a kid and teenager (that usually starred Amanda Bynes). It had that nostalgic feel that I couldn't dislike. It had that girl power, "I am perfect the way I am" moment at the end that was cheesy but feel good.
I think the only thing that I wasn't a fan of was the romance because the main guy went through his little "oh...I'm shit person" moment at the very end, and because it was at the end...it didn't give me a chance to get to like him. Also, even though it did have that encouraging, "I am good enough, regardless of what I look like" moment, there were some undertones of "but it doesn't hurt to get work done; if you can, and want to, do it." Not saying plastic surgery is bad, do what you want to do, and be who you want to be, but the movie contradicted itself a bit in that credit scene.
Final thought, the OST was really good. I added Ave Maria to my playlist. And the main actress who played Hanna was really pretty and super cute and goofy. I want to watch more of her.
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Kim Ah Jung-in her first role-fits the role of the cute Hanna and the beautiful Jenny perfectly. She did all the songs by herself, despite not being a singer.
I like all the songs. my favourite is Maria, which is originally by Blondie. Actually the songs topped the Korean charts at that year.
"200 pounds beauty" was a super hit and won many awards and nominations including best actress and best film, so watch it. it is really a sweet one.
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Winsome. A feel good story with good singing
I wasn't expecting much as this is 19 years old and the topic wasn't that interesting to me. However, though it definitely has the look and feel of the "My Girlfriend is a Gumiho " era, and the fat suit was not all that convincing, it still had alot of charm. I found it surprisingly winsome, with really good singing ! The ending wasn't as trite as I expected (though it is a happy ending). It won me over & left me feeling like I'd want to definitely watch it again sometime in the future.Was this review helpful to you?
