Movie Review

Movie Review - '200 Pounds Beauty'
미녀는 괴로워 (Mi-nyeo-neun Goi-ro-wa)

Cast - Kim Ah-Joong (김아중) and Joo Jin-mo (주진모)

'200 Pounds Beauty' is a sleeper hit from Korea, surpassing its predecessor 'My Boss, My Teacher' as the most successful Korean comedy of all time earning 6.23 million admissions. It is a romantic comedy about an overweight but talented singer named Kang, Hanna who is the lip-sync voice of K-pop singing sensation, Ami. While Ami struts her stuff on stage, our heroine is always in the background, hidden from view and singing her heart out. Her secret admiration for music producer Sang-Jun is her only hope for love. Aware of Hanna's affections for Sang-Jun, Ami seize the chance to humiliate her during the latter's birthday party and broke her heart. After turning her back on a suicide attempt, Hanna blackmails her sex line client, a plastic surgeon into performing the full-body alteration. The next part of the movie is just hilarious as she grapples the attention of being beautiful while unable to shake off her sub-conscious pounds. The scenes where she followed Sang-Jun to a car dealership and ended up buying a car in the process after being complimented on her looks were funny. Subsequent episode of our new Hanna rear-ending a taxi but getting out of it simply of her good looks were rip-roaring and ridiculous. Soon, Hanna work her way into the record label as Jenny, an American-Korean singer who floored Sang-Jun with her vocals, winning a record contract in the process. The rest of the movie centres around of their working relationship, blossoming romance and Jenny finding her true self while Ami probes into the disappearance of Hanna. This movie surprises me in being very entertaining and having a fresh feeling about it despite an age old storyline.

The finale where Jenny confesses her past and true feelings on her maiden concert really tugs the heartstrings at a high rate of gushing tears. What truly amazes me is that actress Kim Ah-Joong who plays Hanna/Jenny actually sang the theme songs featured in the movie. Every time she bit her lips and look at you with those big teary eyes simply melts the popcorn in my mouth.

Ratings: 4 out 5 - Just for Kim Ah-Joong alone......