Reviews

I have to say that this drama was one of the biggest disappointments ever. The first episodes are hilarious in all ways. The actors are great and I really felt that "Yes! This might be one of my new favorite dramas" - then something happened. Almost all of the characters randomly starts to change personality out of no particular reason.

Happenings that in the beginning of the drama was really important is later on forgotten without an explanation.

Maybe it was such a big disappointment because of the wonderful beginning.

I won't write: "Don't give it a try". But don't have too high expectations.

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This is not a very popular drama, nor is it well known. I think its having 40 episodes can be a little "scary" at first, the viewer may be led to think it's dragging.

Which is not, thanks to its atypical structure, devided into 7 different stories.

The advantage is, one can skip the story or stories one finds less appealing or interesting and jump to the next without having lost much in terms of development. Even a long break between them is possible, which I personally found refreshing.



I found them all enjoyable, each with a completely different flavour and connected only by the common thread of the Say Yes Enterprise, a pretty improbable cupid agency. The acting is not stellar, but it's solid and realistic and the music varied and very appropriate.



All in all, an enjoyable drama.

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Two reviews, two comparisons.

The movie made me think of Luc Besson's "Leon", one of my favourite films ever. The feel is the same, and so is the awkward yet deeply touching relationship between Tae-shik and So-mee.



Won Bin's performance is superb, his misery and loneliness enphasized by the constant darkness of the setting and the few sharp lines he is asked to deliver. But just as brilliant is the kid's acting and that of the two schizoid criminals with their dark humour, one lamenting the blood on his Dolce & Gabbana's shirt, the other toying with eyeballs.



Stay away from it if you are easily disturbed by blood. This movie is violent and pretty graphic, and the ethic underneath the blood shoking and insufferable. The Korean police are doing what they always are in Korean films: nothing. Except being activated to a frenzy by the only hero of the story.

At times, one wishes one could enter the screen ad shake some sense into the police force. I can only hope this is a dramatic device, more than a window on reality.



The action scenes are brilliantly enacted, with enough close cut shots to make them believable and felt.

Overall a superb movie, not to be watched while eating, though.

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This show was hyped up as one that would speak to a new group of drama watchers---the indie mid-20s sect who would rather hang out at dive bars drinking cheap beer than sit at home in their PJs watching dramas. Yeah, I think those kids are still at the dive bars. This show was a major disappointment. The plot seemed promising enough: oooh, family debt; arranged marriage to forgive debt; fake marriage to get out of arranged one; two husbands--what!?! And then the plot just started to meander into Never Never Land. Things picked up a bit when the writer changed half-way through the show, but when the most interesting plot twists happen in the last episode, that's a drama fail. The music, for the most part, is pretty decent since they try to stick to the overall indie vibe, which means we get some good tracks with Jang Geun Suk rocking out ("Please, My Bus"). Basically, this show has a lot of cute moments, especially between the main couple, but it's not enough fluff to last 16 episodes.

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There's just something about this drama that's so right! Even Daniel Henney's terrible acting couldn't mask how amazing this show is. A woman and a younger man engage in a dating contract, and just so happen to fall in love. Of course, there is the ever present obstacle of the ex-girlfriend who shares a sad past with our hero, but it's not a drama without that little bump in the road. The main theme by Clazziquai ("She Is") perfectly captures the mood of this story, which is pretty frank about its depiction and discussion of sex. Plus, "She Is" has great replay value. Overall, this is a rom-com in its own league---quite possibly the most mature and adult drama I've seen so far.

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I watched this drama because of the good recommodations and because I really love the fantasy/historical genre. After I watched the first two episodes I was so exicited to watch the rest of it. The story started really good and I longed to know how the reborn characters will react when they meet each other again. But then it went all down. The story developed into a total bad direction. I endured it, believing that the story will turn around the next episode. It didn't. The ending was the worst of it all and left me totally unsatisfied (Normally I am not that satisfied with endings, but this one was the worst of all I've ever watched).



It also has it good points, though, if you leave out the story and the acting between the maincharacters in terms of their love relationships. They spend much money for creating the drama. I've never seen such good special effects. The war scenes were impressive and the music really suited the drama. The landscapes were really beautiful and this made the drama in some ways worth watching.



That's the reason why it's hard to rate this drama. The production itself is magnificent, but thinking how they abused the story makes me cry. This could be the best drama I've ever watched but they destroyed everything with the story. They could have made so much out of it, even an ordinary plot would have been better than this. Thus I am still shaking my head thinking about the wasted effort

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I didn't have great expectations for this movie to begin with - and still it managed to really disappoint me.

First of all, I couldn't like the main characters, and that is always a problem. I just couldn't relate to their lives or problems at all. In my eyes, Ha-Young was just irritating, spoiled little girl screaming, making faces and throwing tantrums all the time. Hyung-Joon wasn't any better, he was definitely arrogant (as the movie's name suggests), mean and self-centered. I could have still forgiven these flaws of theirs if they had had any good and amiable side in their personalities but I just couldn't find enough good in them to make me like them.

Secondly, the whole setting of the story was just too weird and twisted to my liking. I'm normally okay with dramas or movies that have all sorts of marriage/sibling/dating/cohabitation agreements in order to provide the main characters enough interaction so that they can fall in love with each other. However, this "Enslavement Agreement" was too much for me. My dislike for this agreement was further strengthened by the fact that the girl was still underage and the boy in college (call me prudish if you like). Had they had a pure, equal relationship, then it might have been okay, but in this case, the setting was just too weird.

Thirdly, I wasn't convinced that the characters really fell in love with each other. I acknowledge the obvious time limitations of a movie compared to a drama but still, there just was something missing. Fourthly, I really didn't get the humour in this movie. Even the numerous day-dreaming scenes of the main heroine didn't really work or weren't that funny. I was actually really surprised to notice that Ha Ji Won played in this movie. I liked her in "Secret Garden" so I'm tending to believe that this movie wasn't so bad because of the acting but because of the storyline.

For those who now think that I seriously underrated this movie, please feel free to give it a better review. I am no longer teenager, nor am I Korean, so maybe there were just some things I didn't get, but personally, I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. You'll just feel stupid afterwards for wasting your time on it.

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