1
Fairy Tale Mashup
This is not complicated. It's very much the "Shin Eun Soo Show" with a stock plot, stock supporting characters, stock high school setting, etc. The plot is almost verbatim "Ugly Duckling". Shin Eun Soo's Se Ri is not an exceptional student, comes from a middle class family and although she has a few close friends, is not particularly popular. Her defining feature is her persistently curly hair which she dislikes and blames for her romantic misfortunes.
Cue the cutest boy in her class recognizing her existence.
Cue her crush on said cutest boy.
Cue entrance of new, nice boy that does anything Se Ri needs.
Cue serpentine series of events of dealing with hair curls and high school crushes.
The supporting cast is actually pretty strong. Cha Woo Min, Yoon Sang Hyeon, Kang Mi Na and Choi Gyu Ri all are as good as the script allows them to be (which is unfortunately pretty limited). Gong Myung probably isn't the best choice as a credible high school boy but when a production needs a laconic, slightly depressed, quiet type, that's Gong Myung.
But as noted above, this is really a beginning-to-end spotlight vehicle for Shin Eun Soo and she mostly delivers. It's a departure from the high school students she's played previously. Her character is not a rebel, is not angry at the world, is not griefstricken or living in an abusive home. Se Ri is a fun, typical teen but Shin Eun Soo brings her to life as an exuberant, extroverted, energetic bowling ball of harmless mayhem. She's far from perfect. She'll cook up a selfish scheme.. She has no shame in asking her friends to go along with her impulses. She is oblivious as, well, most real life teens are. But she's easy to root for because she's genuine and warm and kind underneath the frenetic exterior.
Is it award-winning fare? No. Is it going to transform Shin Eun Soo's acting career in to a stratospheric, A-list juggernaut? Also no.
But it definitely does enough that it wouldn't be a surprise if sometime in the near future, this actor does have that transformative, breakout performance.
Not a must see but recommended nevertheless.
Cue the cutest boy in her class recognizing her existence.
Cue her crush on said cutest boy.
Cue entrance of new, nice boy that does anything Se Ri needs.
Cue serpentine series of events of dealing with hair curls and high school crushes.
The supporting cast is actually pretty strong. Cha Woo Min, Yoon Sang Hyeon, Kang Mi Na and Choi Gyu Ri all are as good as the script allows them to be (which is unfortunately pretty limited). Gong Myung probably isn't the best choice as a credible high school boy but when a production needs a laconic, slightly depressed, quiet type, that's Gong Myung.
But as noted above, this is really a beginning-to-end spotlight vehicle for Shin Eun Soo and she mostly delivers. It's a departure from the high school students she's played previously. Her character is not a rebel, is not angry at the world, is not griefstricken or living in an abusive home. Se Ri is a fun, typical teen but Shin Eun Soo brings her to life as an exuberant, extroverted, energetic bowling ball of harmless mayhem. She's far from perfect. She'll cook up a selfish scheme.. She has no shame in asking her friends to go along with her impulses. She is oblivious as, well, most real life teens are. But she's easy to root for because she's genuine and warm and kind underneath the frenetic exterior.
Is it award-winning fare? No. Is it going to transform Shin Eun Soo's acting career in to a stratospheric, A-list juggernaut? Also no.
But it definitely does enough that it wouldn't be a surprise if sometime in the near future, this actor does have that transformative, breakout performance.
Not a must see but recommended nevertheless.
Was this review helpful to you?
