Original rom com drama.....look simple but worth to watch
Watch episode 1 without any expectation but it catch my attention with their cinematography and both lead look soo refreshing. They suit the rom com genre. Kim minjae has a wide range of acting even he still young and for park gyu young look soo classy in this drama.The story is simple but still made me smile watching it as the funny scenes happen so natural without any forced. Jin moo hak and Kim Dali match and complete each other even though their character is totally different. I never though i would enjoy this drama and this couple one of best couple for this drama out of all the drama i watch.
I give credit to kim min jae as he acted as jin moo hak very well and i surprised to see him acting. Jin moohak character is very hard to act if you did not had a wide range of acting. I glad kim min jae took this role and it one of his best character at least for me.
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Pretty good, although I did get bored and took me a year to watch the rest
Right as the title says, it was pretty good. But I did get bored around episode 13. Was watching when it was airing but completed it at the beginning of 2023 and I'm now writing this. Anyways it was a very nice K-drama, very funny the comedy wasn't too much it was the perfect amount (wish I could add emojis I sound incredibly dry rn). Now I wouldn't say that this series was boring, it really wasn't but I get bored too quickly. The acting was great and Kim Minjae really suited Mohak's character a lot lmaoo. And DALI WAS SOMETHING ELSE BRO I LOVED HER. She was so elegant all the time and so beautiful and should be the definition of a strong female lead. And Park Gyuyeong delivered that so perfectly. The plot was very interesting as well so we love thatttt. Tbh I don't think I'm gonna rewatch it anytime soon for now. And I'm sorry but the OST was straight up ASS, only one single song that I liked and it was a rap song. And I don't really focus on OSTs I only really notice if I like them or despise them, and sadly she got the wrong type of recognition. Although I did praise it a lot I didn't give it a very high rating, idk it just didn't feel right or honest to rate it higher, nor did it feel right to rate lower. So I think a 7 would be good enough. I think it's because they were dragging it on too much.Was this review helpful to you?
Perfectly balanced mix of all things K-drama that is both good and entertaining at once.
what can I say that has not already been said, probably nothing and I have actually not read most of the reviews for this on here but this is just one of those few (ok not few) dramas that have all the reasons one fell in love with K-dramas in the first place with heart fluttering romance that will make you go all ohh and they are just so cute.... it has suspense, will keep you guessing just enough, and make sure to address some pretty important issues on the side without any of these taking over or distracting from the main attraction of this dram which is the romance.I once wrote that all the great love stories start off with someone being vulnerable... and well here the screenwriters made use of vulnerability in such varied and creative ways that I regretted not waiting with my article till after I had seen this... But then there is always room for a part 3... anyway besides the 20 shades of vulnerability shown the drama does a great job talking about family bonds, distribution of wealth, social mobility, power relations and shows very clearly moetery capital vs cultural capital in a fun and easy to relate kind of way the leads come of as pretty interesting characters that complete each other perfectly having different types of capital, different types of intelligence, different needs and a whole lot of love and respect for each other. ok yes there is the classic wrist grab and some other stuff but the male lead can actually back off if told to back off, SHOCKING but true.
The female lead is portrayed as lacking in some ways but extremely booksmart, capable, caring and fun. I have seen Park Gyu Young in several dramas, all very different, in this drama she does a great job showing that she indeed is very talented and can pull off a variety of roles.
The male lead is portrayed as an illiterate uneducated cokey pretty boy that only knows and cares about money and food but is shown pretty competent and caring as the show progresses and is just the cutest little teddy bear. That actually does say some of the wisest lines in the whole drama. Kim Min Jae delivers his line beautifully as well as gets several chances to show off his very well sculpted body.
The side characters are mostly well written and fun and are very well casted, but the male leads family was a bit too much and annoyed me, I felt bad for the actors of these parts because I know they are otherwise good so it was not them it was the writers... That family is what pulled down the score of this otherwise close to all I want in a k-drama, drama.
All in all definitely worth watching, easy to binge and just an all round good and entertaining K-drama done right.
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A delight!
I totally loved this drama and binged it in a couple days around school and work!I love the strong cast! The lead characters are great!
I don't want to give away spoilers but there were several typical Kdrama cliches that I thought were coming a bunch of times throughout the drama and they kept tricking me!
This drama is a great mix of romance and comedy with some mystery too! Anyone looking for a drama that does not involve making you yell at the TV and brings you lots of smiles, this is the drama for you!
I can never state the rewatch value right after finishing a drama. I am saying no right now but I could see that change and could see myself wanting to rewatch the romantic/comedy scenes.
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A True Gem
To be honest I’d passed this by on several occasions but I finally made the decision to watch it and I’m so glad that I did. It’s one of those dramas that you’re sorry to see end, it was a joy right from the very start. The chemistry was lovely, light and flirty in some parts and yet simmering with passion in others but throughout the series it was clear that the ML and FL had a great deal of respect and fondness for each other and it showed. The rest of the cast handled their parts well and the story dipped and rose naturally with nothing feeling forced or out of character. There were emotional highs and lows as well but nothing overwhelmingly traumatic even though there were moments that could have gone either way. All in all I loved it, every part and I truly recommend that you watch it. It was a wonderful journey that put a smile on my face more times than I could count. I hope you enjoy it as much too.Was this review helpful to you?
Simple but Something Unique!
I started this drama without any expectations and fell in love with this. I wanted to watch an ongoing drama and only started because I saw somewhere it had high ratings for the first episode. Started it with two other dramas, but this took all my attention. A story where opposite attract, yeah, sounds cliché but it has a lot of fresh moments. A loud man who loves money more than anything meets a studious woman. Sounds more cliché, right? You may find it a bit uninteresting in first few episodes, But believe me, it is the best romcom of the year. No unwanted fillers and no unwanted characters, it never failed to entertain me. A perfect start and a very Perfect Ending.The production of this drama was awesome, from the start of the episode, costumes and to the end, everything was aesthetically pleasing, especially the Netherlands part. This drama is a mix of Romance, Comedy and maybe a bit Mystery? The Humor was on point, there were funny scenes even in between romance. You would never get tired of the funny scenes, had a good laugh watching this. Its not just romance and comedy, but includes fighting for justice and shows how the world is and how money controls everything.
Jin Moo Hak is the star of the show. His loud behavior is really an eyecatcher. He is a man who can't tolerate the things that he don't like and doesn't live to please anyone. A person who is uncultured when looked by the educated people. He is rich, not by birth, but by working day and night. That's what makes him special. He is not a person who is toxic , sits back and give money for everything the FL wants and treats her as crap and love her secretly, but supports her to the extend he can and let her earn the fruit of her own hard work.
Kim Dal li is not a simple innocent girl as often seen, she is educated, really hardworking, kind, don't judge people just by their behavior and not ready to sacrifice her life for others. She could be seen as weak sometimes, but she always gains back her confidence and try to learn the situation and find a solution. She is a studious girl and could realize every artwork in one look. But I am a bit unsatisfied cause her knowledge of artwork could've been shown more, but it was limited to the first episode. She is not a person who obeys everything others say, but has her own opinion.
The side characters did a good job, Won tak and Moo Hak could've had a really nice bromance, but the screen time was limited. Jin Moo Hak's secretary is not only a person who shows him his schedule and drives his car, but she really cares for her boss as a friend , maybe because its how sincere he is. I loved her character so much. I found Moo Hak's parents really annoying at times, but liked them at last. Chak Hee and Jang Tae Jin also did a great job. Won Tak was a brother like friend who took care of Dali very much. I was afraid if it could be a love triangle, but thanks to the makers for making him a really good friend. The gallery workers were also very good in their characters.
Their chemistry is out of the world. What I loved most is how they supported each other without being egoistic or jealous of each other as seen in other dramas. They loved each other and want to enjoy the rest their life together. I usually get tired clichés and skip some scenes when watching a romcom, but these people didn't let me take my eyes off the screen. Yeah, there are no drama without clichés but these people did not let me take my eyes off the screen. The only problem was that there could have been more screen time of them together. They were not together every time, may be that's why this was relatable. It have broken many stereotypes often seen in K dramas. Each episode ended with a cliffhanger and I always wished if I could watch one more episode and eagerly waited for the subs to be released the next Wednesday.
So concluded, I liked this drama as a whole, every scene in it. Trust me, It's worth it!!
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This review may contain spoilers
A bit annoying
First of all, rich arrogant guy & unfortunate girl. Ok, but what's wrong with female lead. Wasn't she introduced as intelligent & workaholic. Suddenly she is all sad and crying and everything gets resolve by its own. Jin ki chul revealed the video, Moo hak & tae Jin helped in exhibition. Tae Jin destroyed assembly ahn. She did nothing. When she got beaten up she did nothing. SERIOUSLY? SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE INTELLIGENT ONE?Overall, the story is cute & funny but characters are annoying, the secret of death isn't big too. At the end, they broke the break up stereotype.
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Good for a Korean Drama
The drama shines with realy well written characters, amazing acting and a nice spin on a lot of classic cliches. Definitely one of the better KDramas I've seen over the years.However it has one big problem, which is a running thing in the vast majority of kdramas: It focuses to much on the Problems. At the beginning it was better than kdramas usually are in that it split the screentime more evenly, but after around a third it dropped into the usual split, where 75%+ of the time aren't spent showing how a problem is solved, or how the characters working on it might solve it . Instead thosee 75%+ is just spent to show us the problem from different angles, how it came to be etc. creating an overall negative experience while watching it.
And while this shows is still one of the better korean ones in that regard, all to often problems still just get solved out of nowhere, with maybe a 30-60 second explanation on how the solution came to be tacked on later.
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Funny and Cute with a Mystery
I enjoy this drama. It was cute, funny and the chemistry between the actors was great. The dramatic scenes kept you worry and all the twist and turns kept you wondering but then the lead characters would come a long and put a smile on your face and you would have to say "They are so cute". I enjoy the story line with all the mystery. I also enjoy that the lead male character was the not so smart naïve character instead of the female lead character. She was smart and seem naïve but you could not pull a blanket over her eyes and she was tough. The actors performance was great and very good direction until the end. I hate to wait until the last 10 minutes of the last episode to give us a happy ending and I was confuse with the ending so I watched the last episode twice to make sure I understood the ending.Was this review helpful to you?
Very cute Romance. Meh... everything else.
Dali and the Cocky Prince is a classic opposites-attract RomCom that sucked me in from the start. It's also partially a mystery which both underwhelmed and bored me. This drama doesn't take long to jump into the romantic chemistry part which I loved, and the two leads are quirky in the best way (shout out to whoever styled both character's outfits), but unfortunately, too much of the drama revolves around a mediocre corruption plot that was so uninteresting and repetitive that I was tempted to skip a lot of those scenes, at least the non-comedic ones. The best parts of this drama are when it doesn't take itself seriously.Park Gyu Young plays Kim Da Li, a rich but odd art expert. It's my first time seeing her as the main female lead, not a supporting lead with unrequited or unfulfilled love (It's Okay to Not Be Okay, The Devil Judge), and she played the role well. It was nice to hear her show off some English fluency and really great outfits, but I did have some issues with the way her character was written. I honestly wondered if Da Li might be slightly autistic at some points. I understand that the character was meant to be sheltered, eccentric, and naive but her extremes were just too intense at times. The innocent wide-eyed blank stare that I've seen Gyu Young do in other dramas didn't help. It made her seem less cute and more "undiagnosed" or "too heavily medicated" or just waaaay off. I liked Da Li but her naiveté and stubbornness also frustrated me A LOT! Speaking of extremes, she is matched with Kim Min Jae as Jin Moo Hak who is super confident, outspoken, and stylishly tacky (although I loved his suits too). Even though his character is meant to be obnoxious, his charm and smile are what stood out the most. Maybe I'm biased because he has my birthday (#teamscorpio), but he was by far my favorite character! He played right at the line of being unapologetically cocky where it was admirable instead of annoying. Together they were a great match, and even at their cheesiest (and it gets very cheesy). They were cute without being too childish and they are what kept me watching. That's a warning to anyone who doesn't like their odd banter from the start, complete with sound effects, arguments, awkward smiles and giggles... if that's the case then you should probably give up on this drama. These are the best parts in my opinion.
There are other good performances in this drama too. Moo Hak's family (especially his Dad), the nosey Museum staff, the nosey restaurant staff, a 2nd lead for each lead, a classic greedy businessman, and a creepy rich ex... most are pretty cliché but the characters are great. My favorite among the supporting cast was Hwang Bo Ra and Moo Hak's secretary. Yes, the roles she plays are often similar (even with short hair and a suit this time), but she is always hilarious. I thought she and Moo Hak made a great team. I do think Kwon Yool as Jang Tae Jin is worth mentioning as well. I think he did a good job too, but I just wish he was a little less dull. I still don't understand why Da Li ever liked him in the first place, or why he was so enamored by her. Maybe if his character was a little creepier, or more charming, I would have been less bored by the rest of that story. Not that I blame him completely. I just think that part of the story wasn't strong enough on its own. Other characters, like both 2nd leads, and Moo Hak's stepbrother could have had slightly stronger storylines to make them feel less like filler characters, but maybe less of them wasn't so bad. I'm glad they weren't used too much to distract from the main couple. I'm glad this drama avoided drawn-out love triangles... besides the main one, which was more a third wheel plot than a real triangle.
The non-romance part of the story is filled with the usual corruption and greed tropes and involves Da Li's dad's death leaving her with a mess of bills, responsibilities, and unanswered questions. When everything starts going wrong for Da Li, instead of actually caring, I was just waiting for Moo Hak to show up. There are no real big plot twists or surprises, just characters finally realizing what's obvious. It is all resolved pretty neatly by the end, which was nice, but the love story is still all I cared about.
Would I watch this again? Sure! Because what I enjoyed the most was the main couple's antics I can see myself rewatching them and just skipping or zoning out during the other parts, Maybe that's too harsh, since some of the other characters are entertaining too, but I think just focusing on the romance would be my only reason to rewatch this. It's also a light drama, which is perfect if you're in between dramas and if you're not in the mood for something too emotionally heavy or serious.
And the soundtrack is pretty good. I didn't fall in love with any of the songs but they fit the drama's mood perfectly. The "don't take it so hard" lyric always seemed to come in right at the perfect time. I also liked the whistled version of the Habanera from Carmen.
Overall, this is a surprisingly good romance drama for what it was, and I would definitely recommend it to light romcom fans. I loved that this felt like a classic romcom, but the leads didn't necessarily follow the predictable romance drama path, even if lots of popular romcom tropes were in full effect throughout. They could have explored classism a little more deeply but that probably would have made the story too serious. Although the premise is a high end spoiled art-world elite vs a low brow hard-working nouveau riche entrepreneur it's really about making a genuine connection unexpectedly and having someone who truly will be there to support you no matter what ( a ride-or-die if you will) who seems all wrong but compliments you perfectly. The take on the art world was a bonus, and also played up for comedy in a way I thought was hilarious, It seemed to be done as a comedic love letter to the art crowd. If this drama was a painting I wouldn't call it a masterpiece by any means but it is the kind of painting that makes me smile when I see it, and that was enough for me.
Oh, and if art isn't your thing, maybe pork is? There's plenty of pork appreciation too lol! I can appreciate both! Win-Win!
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Best Chemistry
The drama is very good and So funny!! I can't stop laughing at jin moohak. He has a great humour and is very rich. Their fashion sense are so elegant ! Also The cast played their character very well . I never get bored watching this drama, Hoping there will be a good ending! , I need Dali to live a happily life with Moohak and Wontak, looking forward for the next episode.I very recommended this drama to everyone , this rom-com drama will gave you butterflies ,
NOT RELATED ; can kdramalist stop putting a minimum for 500 characters, so annoying
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I have never seen a more genuine couple in my long history with kdramas
Dali and the Cocky Prince is really something special. I've gotten accustomed to writing reviews about dramas that don't offer anything new but are enjoyable nonetheless, but Dali is not that. It's a lot more. Sure the premise is simple and has been done before, but the execution is brilliant. The characters are wonderful, from the leads to the side roles, and they bring the story to life in a way that feels refreshing and new. They're entirely believable.Moo Hak is an eccentric male lead, which was a really popular trope for a long time, and he's the poster-boy for that trope. He has his tacky, flashy designer suits and his expensive watch, he's extremely bad at English and he's not well-versed in common cultural knowledge and phrases. But his shortcomings are balanced out with his business savvy and his very genuine predisposition. Moo Hak is not a polite man by any means. He's rude and brash and loud, loves money, and commands attention when he walks into a room. But he's honest, more so than anyone else in the drama, and he's passionate about everything he does. Food is important to him. He runs a restaurant chain, never skips a meal and cares not only about how food tastes but also about how well it will fill his customers' stomachs and how affordable it is. And when he's passionate about something, he puts a lot of care into it. And that's just what we learn about him in the first few episodes. The characters are multi-faceted and deep, enough to feel like real people.
Dali, on the other hand, comes from a very different world. Where Moo Hak is uneducated and had a rough childhood working for his father's business, Dali comes from a prestigious family who has owned the Cheonsong museum for generations. She's well-educated and passionate about art but has trouble taking care of herself - even eating and sleeping on her own. Reality hits her when her father passes away suddenly and she's sent from the Netherlands to Korea to deal with the estate, the art museum, and the many debts her father left behind. But she's resilient and determined to take care of the museum that her father loved, even at the expense of all that she has left. To her, Moo Hak is a strange but incredibly interesting man. He makes her laugh and gives her the help that she needs to try to protect Cheonsong, even if the ways he does so are crude and frustrating to her at times.
As I said, the story itself, if you're just looking at it from a plot perspective, is nothing new. It's how it's handled that makes it special. With a drama like this, you can easily look back at your previous experience with similar stories and imagine what plot twists and dramatic turns it's going to take, and know where you're going to end up in the end. Except that a lot of those common pitfalls don't happen here. The misunderstandings, the sudden revelations, the big reveals and family please for the couple to part - all those annoying subjects crop up exactly where you're expecting them to, but Dali isn't so easy, and it's going to subvert your expectations wherever it can. Those romcom climax lows where everything is suddenly going wrong and the characters who were best buds in one episode are suddenly enemies or apart for the next two or three? Yeah, no. Dali's not about that. And that's what I loved about it. It's one of the few romances I've watched in the past several months - maybe a year? - that doesn't use those tropes to pad out the last 6 episodes, and I'm eternally grateful. I enjoyed every minute of it, from beginning to end, with no dragging in the middle.
The biggest appeal for me, though, is the relationship between Dali and Moo Hak. They're genuinely in love. They have an adorable honeymoon phase, they're honest with each other and they prove how much they care time and time again. I've watched a lot of romances. They're my guilty pleasure when I'm sick or having a rough go of things. I've seen couples turn on each other or break up for several episodes just to add drama and pad the runtime. But every time these two go through one of these things that would, in any other drama, take several hours to resolve, they work it out. They talk to each other, they work it out, and they don't let the other person go. In addition to that, we get to see a lot of shows of affection between them that you don't see often in Korean dramas - butterfly kisses and implied sex (which is getting more common but not overtly so) to name a few. I could maybe see some people being turned off by just how much and how often these two are showing affection for each other, but when I'm watching a romance, that's kinda what I'm looking for and I loved it. I genuinely believed in their relationship, and I rooted for them all the way. These two are precious.
So watch Dali and the Cocky Prince. Just do it. I suppose if you prefer mysteries then maybe it's not for you, but I don't think you'd be looking at Dali at all if that's what you're after anyway. So just give it a shot. It's funny, charming, sweet, and brightens your day. What's the worst that could happen?
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