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Nothing happens... I mean it...nothing...
It's raining...the woman is packing her things to leave her too nice husband (she's at least mental, as her husband is Hyun Bin, and you should be at least mental to leave Hyun Bin)...it's raining...the guy us making coffee for his cheater wife...she's suddenly hitting his chest with her hands...a cat appears...then their neighbors come to look for the dat...then again they are alone (though the cat is somewhere in the house)...the guy is again cooking for his cheater wife...then he is washing his face...she's decorating the pasta they're going to eat...the cat appears...it's raining...the end...
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Story: A straight forward and simple story - a nation's in crisis, they need a king, but assasins have been killing off all potential candidates until there was only one possible candidate left: an exiled prince. A fighter was sent to search and protect the exiled prince. Excellent fighting scenes followed. There was a budding romance between the prince and his protector and the unrequitted love between a vassal and her lord/leader. All these come together to form a solid storyline for a movie.
Acting/Cast: Very convincing, excellent fighting scenes and good script. What can I say: I am drawn into the world of war, assassins and martial arts by the cast.
Music: Not much to comment there. The music suited each scene but because most of them are instrumental with either sombre mood or fight mood, the music did not stand out in this movie.
Rewatch value: An excellent and quick 1 hour plus entertainment that you can rewatch whenever you feel bored. I enjoy watching the fighting scenes. They were well choreographed.
Overall: Highly recommended!! It is truly a gem that was not given its due recognition!!
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Story: Good storyline and after a long staple of rom-coms where the woman falls in love with a rich guy and the comedy that follows the story, this drama started a new genre of "noona love" - the romance between an older woman and a younger man. However, this drama still follows the long-proven formula of rich man and average/poor woman with a refereshing twist of realism. My Name is Kim Sam Soon (MNKSS)is the pioneer in rom-coms involving older women and younger men and this is perhaps the secret of its success. It is also a story between an average Jane Doe with the "prince", making this drama the first to depict the relationship between the average everyday gal with a fairytale-like man. The script was well written. The story has a form of realism in it mixed with the usual comedy. All in all, it is a drama that teaches the audience about being realistic in love and that even though one may fall in love, one may also one day fall out of love, but that should not stop us from living our lives to the fullest and enjoying the moment.
Acting/Cast: Overall, it is a wonderful cast and acting was good. The actress playing Kim Sam Soon had to gain weight in order to fit into this role - something many actresses in Korea would hesitate to do. So, kudos to her for her sacrifice. She successfully depicted the average korean woman - slightly "meaty", loud, occasionally foul-mouthed and with a big appetite for life and love. As for Hyun Bin, I must say that this is not his best acting, partly because this is one of his earlier works, hence the lack of experience. The other characters were very well done and I have no complains there. The only thing that got to me is the lack of chemistry between the two main leads. No matter how I look at it, they fail to bring out the "ah~~~" feeling from me when they kiss or fight. The interaction between them was so neutral that you know you are watching an act. There was zero chemistry between them. My heart did not pound, my breath did not get caught, I did not wait for the next kissing scene etc. Most times, I had the sneaky feeling of watching an older sister bullying her younger brother in scenes where they were supposedly having a lovers' fight. Therefore, I gave the acting a 7/10, recognising the talents of the cast but also the essential lack of romantic chemistry between the leads.
Music: What can I say - I am not a big fan of its OST. The OST is a patch-work of work from various artists put together with only a couple of songs that are originally made for this drama. Hence, I would say that the drama did not have a big focus on OSTs.
Rewatch value: When you run out of dramas to watch and you just want a lazy evening on the coach with a glass of wine to relax, this is a possible choice. It is safe, neutral and no fuss (you do not need your brains and tissues to watch this one).
Overall: Considering the impact it first aired and the then new concept of love between an older woman and younger man and the concept of love between an average woman and the arrogant rich man, plus its good cast but neutral chemistry between the leads, plus the average OSTs....I give this drama a 7/10. Also, I was thinking of all the crappy k-dramas I'd watched and compared to those crappy ones, this one is still considered ok. Just do not let the lack of chemistry between the leads get to you overly much.
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In order to be fair, I have to give this drama what is its due. Script, acting, direction, music are VERY good. The script is downright brilliant, with many lines worth of being quoted. Kim Sun Ah is fantastic: self-ironic, convincing, funny and determined. Hyun Bin has to portray a distasteful character, and does so with a seemingly effortless performance. All the side characters are wonderfully characterized and likable.
The music is perfectly chosen too, with just the right mixture of irony and pathos-building required by the story.
But I also have to be honest. And to do so I have to admit I didn't like this drama. I spent more time cringing and shivering in embarrassment than laughing or falling in love.
Each character is unique and wonderfully portrayed, but for the duration of 16 episodes I kept on asking myself: why? Why should these two like each other?
When I watch a drama and instead of rooting for the main couple I concentrate on the scenery, the cake, the old mother or the child it means something is wrong, at least for me. And when the first kiss doesn't make me smile in delight, something is even more wrong.
I could never feel sympathy for Sam Soon & Jin Heon. Not as a couple. By the middle I was terribly annoyed by both: by him because he couldn't be a man and decide; by her because she slowly morphed from the anti-conventional woman she used to be into a sort of human ivy, spying on her "man", shouting too much, crying too much, asking for rings, declarations and all the most conventional paraphernalia attached to your usual relationship. Had I been the man in the situation, I would have flown to Mars in order to escape the torture.
Possibly, the acting is too good: had the characters been more wooden or less expressive, I would have felt nothing for them and had had no reason to cringe. How ironic is this?
To summarize: I believe a review has to be fair. When confronted with a good show/movie/book/painting one has to be objective and recognize its value. This is why I gave it an overall 8 when, on a mere emotional and personal level, I would barely have given it a 6.
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The rewatch value...Id ONLY watch it again only up to the 11th episode (or was it 10) where it shouldve ended. lol
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I'm always a bit weary of movies that play with the whole fat-to-skinny dynamic since they tend to lazily default to tasteless jokes around how disgusting and lazy overweight people are. To this movie's credit, apart from one awkward joke in the beginning, it navigated around that tension well, finding humor in both Hanna's post and pre-surgery appearance and focusing more on the absurd reactions of those around her as opposed to making her the butt of the jokes. Well done, film.
Where this movie lost me was in the writing and the characterization. The plot barely has such a haphazard framework that the scenes seemed to be just random occurrences with barely any connection between them. Worse, the characters were extremely 2-D. The main antagonist barely has any screen time, and her machinations occur off screen so tension never really develops between her and our heroine. In fact, she's not even the catalyst for the movie's climax: why have an antagonist at all? As for the main love interest... Well, don't watch this if you're looking for a love story. His flat performance and inability to garner any sympathy would have ruined it for you anyway.
The exception to the above is main actress Kim Ah Jung, who perfectly captured the artificiality and fragility of "plastic" women that I found myself wincing and worrying that her nose would just pop off mid-line. Her singing voice is also beautiful and saved the terrible Korean covers of various English songs from being too torturous to my ears. I expected better from a movie set in the music world. Unfortunately, Kim Jung Ah could not escape the terrible script, and her character also suffers from 2-dimensionality. I had no idea that she was suffering an identity crisis until the climax, and because of that, the ending seemed forced, insincere, and just plain cheesy. Once again, honest words and tears smooths over all problems, believability be darned.
I do think 200 Pounds Beauty had the potential to be a good film if it had more weight to it. There were laugh out loud moments, but there could have been more, especially given the unexpected dark turn the movie took toward the end. A drama adaptation, in which characters and back stories are explored in more depth, would be more than welcomed on my part in the perhaps misguided hope that this story can be done justice.
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Its also fast pace as well and not draggy at all which I love. Van Ness Wu OMG man he is one gorgeous HUNK and An Ady she is soo pretty! The lil kid OMG is so adorable and so bloody mature for his age.
The music was just LOVE LOVE LOVE. Especially the theme song, its on repeat on my itunes. XD
The only reason why I didn't give it 10 out of 10 for the re-watching value is because I really don't wanna go all emo again.
Overall a great drama that is just visually appealing to watch.
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Story: I gave this a 6 for story instead of the intended 5 because the story is what initially drew me to BFB. Age is an intrinsic part of how Koreans socialize with one another through their actions and communication. And so it was interesting to watch a 34 year old designer-wannabe struggle to play the role of the complacent youngster who's just a tad bit too opinionated when drunk. However, and this might be just cultural difference talking, her deference bordered on aggravating spinelessness. It didn't help that her immediate environment is populated with the most unlikeable people I've ever encountered both fictionally and non. These people were spiteful for the sake of spitefulness, including her own family, and although some characters are redeemed towards the end, I needed to tap into my reserve of perseverance to endure that long. The story towards the end begins to flag, hitting a rut in which actual narrative tension is replaced with design contest after contest after contest. This might have had to do with the extension given to BFB: it also seemed that during this extension the writer remembered that there was supposed to be a romance, and so decided to throw in as many rom-com cliches as possible to satisfy that aspect of the show. The extension did this show no favors.
Acting/Cast: Really, this rating belongs to Daniel Choi. This show belongs to Daniel Choi. This goofy smile that spread across my face every time he was onscreen belongs to Daniel Choi. My heart belongs to Daniel Choi. The number one reason why I didn't drop Baby-faced Beauty was because I couldn't bear to drop Daniel Choi, who was delightfully immature yet sincere as Choi Jin Wook.
Overall: I wouldn't say that this drama is bad, and there were many moments that I thought were downright great. I finished the last episode with a smile on my face and the happy warmth that usually indicates my love for a show. However, taking into account the MANY times I wanted to give up on this show and how I had to force myself to trudge through for just one more hit of Daniel Choi, the best I can say is that Baby-faced Beauty for me was just watchable.
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Mi Ho played by beautiful Shin Min A was just SO FRIGGIN CUTE and so innocent. I love how she was simple minded in terms of "I really really like him" and she never gave up on him and he slowly falls for her!
And man, Dong Joo aka NO MIN WOO. I am IN LOVE with him! He was just OMG he was like a bad ass who was in pain for a thousand years because he killed the love of his life. I just wanted to jump into the drama to hug him and never let him go. Did I tell you how GORGEOUS he is. ALL his airing time made me drool.
The ending of the drama was a tad disappointing, I mean that was so FAKE. Have they just decided to go cheap because it was the end of the drama?
If your into some Rom-com with a bit of fantasy mixed into it. Well here's your drama!
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I wasn't sure how I felt about Kwon Sang Woo before this but I enjoyed his character a lot. He plays an honorable son, prosecutor and a loyal, steadfast friend. He's hot headed, prone to fight and often very funny. Go Hyun Jung is wonderful, as always. I like her so much. She has such range; from What's Up Fox to Queen Seon Duk (Evil Misil!) to Dae Mul, she is an undeniably great actress.
This is one drama that uses its side characters well. They all orbit around the leads in believable ways. They are necessary to the story and not distractions, which if you have ever read any of my reviews, you'll know this kicks up a drama's rating for me.
At 24 episodes, I felt the pacing was just fine. It took me a long time to finish this but I blame the springtime glut of obsessive fare like Greatest Love and others for stalling me on this and not a lagging storyline. This drama is worth your time if you are into politics and more adult storylines. It's written well, directed well and most of all, acted well. There is some strange editing at the end/beginning of some episodes but they always clean up the story during the hour.
I'm giving it an 8 over-all. My Re-watch value is low. Not because I didn't like it but because I'm more apt to watch light romantic fare over and over rather than a long political drama.
Again, this drama is worth it if you like political stories or if you are a fan of the leads. They do a great job in this drama.
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There is obviously a 2nd season to this, and I really want to finish out the story, but I may wait a while b/c this part took so long to get through. I just really hate to leave things unfinished. Which is y I will prolly go and watch the 2nd season of the Japanese version; even though I really hated it. Damn my inablity to leave things unfinished. I will suffer through it just b/c I can't leave the story like it is in my head. Yeah I even make myself finish crappy books too. Stupid OCD.
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