Minyeo-neun goerowo (2006) Reviews

• Best Korean romantic comedy I've seen for a while.. and that really means something.

  aredotwice2007-04-03

  There's a reason this movie dominated the Korean box office over the holiday season. It was more popular than Night at the Museum and many other American films. It accomplishes many things that recent Korean romantic comedies have failed at. Basically, this movie is the star vehicle for new actress Kim Ah-Jung. She gives a great performance and fits the role perfectly. Even though the plot is simplistic, it is very witty and provides consistent comedy. The movie does not take itself too seriously like a lot of Korean movies that are all like "OMG LET'S BE FUNNY FOR THE FIRST HALF AND MAKE IT ALL DEPRESSING IN THE SECOND HALF!" While it provides many laughs, the story is still touching and meaningful. And what's amazing is that Kim Ah-Jung did all of her own singing, despite never having sung in a movie before nor being a singer. The soundtrack for 200 Pounds Beauty has topped the charts in Korea and "Maria" is one of the most popular songs in Korea right now. Since this is basically my first review, I want to emphasize that I wanted to write it because no Korean movie has touched me this strongly since I saw My Sassy Girl. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a satisfying romantic comedy. 10/10

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• Fantastic movie, period...

  le_renard2007-06-09

  I will admit that I have not seen many Korean romantic comedies, so I can't say definitively how it compares to others. But I have definitely seen my fair share of U.S. romantic comedies. Frankly, the genre has become so clichéd, it's nearly impossible to find any decent new romantic comedies. When I chose to watch "200 Pounds Beauty," I expected more of the same formulaic plot twists, etc. Yet I was pleasantly surprised at how beautifully produced this movie was. The actors did a superb job. My only contention is that there were several unexplained plot contents. I won't spoil it for any potential viewers, so I'll leave you to figure those out for yourselves. Bottom line: if you want to watch a cute, funny and well done romantic comedy, then this is your movie. But make sure you have some Kleenex on hand! There are a few tugging-at-the-heart strings scenes.

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• Funny, sweet, romantic, all-time awesome movie ever!

  chibifiedeyes2007-05-11

  This is a movie that follows a typical happy romantic comedy.. starts off happy, goes down.. back up.. and it hits the top and stays there. But then again, 200 pounds beauty is SO much more! On the surface it is already a great movie. The fat girl protagonist Hanna is very cute and kind, later she turns into beautiful and thin but still kind and innocent Jenny. So there's a bit of eyecandy, both cute and sexy throughout the whole movie. But then there's the funny bits, the movie has hilarious little kicks throughout the whole movie, making you laugh at all the right movies. But then there's a deeper side. This movie talks about themes such as the superficial view of the world, how beauty becomes an obsession, how the most beautiful heart can hide inside a bigger girl, how people will give everything to a girl with beautiful face-- superficiality yet again. The sad parts that touched deep to the heart of the film are very well scripted and acted.. I cried so many times watching it to see an 'ugly' girl turned beautiful, but having to give so much up and yet not quite happy with the shallow joys that this new body and face have given her. A small disappointment however was that the story's villain did not do much and disappeared for the majority of the movie and out of the viewer's mind, rendering the character pretty useless and taking away a little something more the movie could have had. Overall, a feel-good movie that is a definite must watch! It goes above all my initial expectations and is guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, love and think!

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• Not another romantic Korean comedy, this is 200 pound beauty.

  halmonee2007-04-11

  Everyone knows the routine for a romantic Korean comedy that tugs at one's heart; but 200 pound beauty sets itself apart from the typical film. The humor in this film is placed in all the right moments, making you laugh at a moment so simple but right. This film definitely opens the eyes of individuals going through what Hanna does, or those who believe superficial beauty is the only beauty. The message of this film is not that plastic surgery is the key to being happy or successful, but any beauty is so much more beautiful and real than the superficial one. After you get done with this movie, I guarantee that you will either cry or feel a different air about the controversial topic we all face through in life.

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• If you thought Bill Maher did fat jokes...

  proterozoic2013-07-01

  "200 Pounds Beauty" is the story of Kang Hanna, a talented pop singer whose life is void of purpose because she is a sickeningly obese, nightmarish grotesque of a cow (a size 16). She hits the pit of despair (literally, falls through the floor because SHE'S REALLY FAT) and goes in for a full body hack-and-slash makeover that brings her money, respect, love, preferential treatment by traffic cops and general good fortune, so she can realize that true beauty lies on the inside. Overweight people don't come across too well in any movie industry, but this is some of the most relentless fat-bashing I've seen outside of a middle school. First, for reference, google an image of Queen Latifah in 2006, where she's about the size of Pre-Op Hanna. You may notice two things - she looks pretty sexy, and she has a visible jaw line. The Korean art department, on the other hand, stuck the actress inside a fat suit that made her head and neck look like a swollen thumb, a la Mama June of Honey Boo Boo fame. The immense, distended face bottoms out in a rolling sac of flesh that only makes anatomical sense on someone the size of Gilbert Grape's mother. From the first scene, Hanna is a human wrecking ball, a disaster on legs that crashes through man-made environments like a grizzly bear in ballet flats. Other characters react to her weight with either disgust or astonishment, when they're not ducking for cover. This is the unchanging tone of the movie until Hanna goes under the knife, and it's an incredibly alienating experience. A woman who barely rates as obese on the BMI chart is treated like a freak of nature that society isn't even equipped to handle. Floors can't support her, paramedics can't lift her onto a gurney, and her dementia-riddled father only goes lucid to tell her that she's fat. To all this, add the sexism, aggression towards subordinates and mistreatment of lessers that seem to be the bedrock of social relations in every Korean movie, and you have a downright abusive piece of work. After the bone-crushing overhaul, Hanna suddenly finds herself desired and popular. The rebuild allows her to get the attention of her previously unrequited crush, who is a K-pop producer. Hanna's big late-movie dilemma is how to hide her "work" from this guy who sternly tells her that he only dates all-natural women, even though his whole career is built on shilling the same beauty standards that drive women to get plastic surgery in the first place. It's like Donald Trump coming out against tacky casino decor. Post-Op Hanna is plagued by the usual crises, but who can stay mad at someone that skinny and pretty? I'll leave you to guess whether she manages to triumph in the end and win the devotion of the man who had to choke down barf to hug her when she was fat. But the important thing is that she learnstoloveherselfforwhosheis. Boom. People call "200 Pounds Beauty" touching and cute because it makes a last-minute, barely detectable feint to talk up "true inner beauty" and wag a finger at shallow pop body standards, but it's undercut by the fact that the movie is, start to finish, a meretricious celebration of those standards. The main take-away here is forgiveness for people who used to look ugly if they currently look pretty. It's about as romantic as American Psycho, and perhaps even more depressing.

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