It may be surprising, even to me, but I haven’t written a review for this blockbuster from a few years back. So here’s a well-overdue review, ahead of the Hollywood remake later this year.
My Sassy Girl (엽기ì ì¸ ê·¸ë…€, Yeopgijeogin geunyeo)
Cha Tae-hyun, Jeon Ji-hyun
Dir: Kwak Jae-young – Korea – 2001
My Sassy Girl was when released in 2001, one of the biggest east Asian movies, supposedly even making comparisons with Titanic as one of the best selling films ever in the Far East. Based on true stories posted on a website by Kim Ho-sik, My Sassy Girl tells of the encounter of a hapless young student, Gyun-woo (Cha Tae-hyun), with a drunken, unnamed girl on the subway (Jeon Ji-hyun). When she passes out, he is forced by circumstances to look after her, only leading him into trouble, before a budding yet quirky romance develops.
My Sassy Girl is a bold comedy exploring the perils of falling in love and the hurdles in the way. Key to the comedy are the characters themselves, a girl who is dominating yet gracious, and a cute guy whose fairly normal world is turned slightly perverse by the personality and quirks of the girl and what she wants him to be. The storyline is completely novel, and yet one that probably any guy could relate to (I recognise that the girls I know have seen it didn’t quite so relate to the story!). But in terms of execution, you couldn’t have picked a better pairing of lead actors, and indeed, this film really did give their careers a boost.
All in all, My Sassy Girl is genuinely very funny and its likable qualities are evident from the interest and box office takings in East Asia. It wasn’t the most heavily promoted movie ever, but word of mouth drove much of its success in cinemas.
It’s interesting to hear that Hollywood is remaking My Sassy Girl in a trend that has brought many Asian films, such as Infernal Affairs (The Departed) and another Jeon Ji-hyun film, Il Mare (The Lake House), successfully to screens out west. Interesting I say because My Sassy Girl is very much an Asian film, playing on specific characteristics and mindsets of Asian people, and how that is translated for western audiences is going to be very difficult. Nonetheless, I eagerly await to see if Jesse Bradford and 24′s Elisha Cuthbert will be able to match the chemistry that Cha Tae-hyun and Jeon Ji-hyun.
As for the Korean original of the movie, however, this is one I classify as must-see.
Rating:
Links:
IMDb entry for My Sassy Girl (2001)
Wikipedia entry for My Sassy Girl
The original internet serial from which the movie was based, by Kim Ho-sik
Buy this film at YesAsia