My Sassy Girl

I saw this film a while ago now, but I didn't forget it. It simply is one of those films that not a lot of people know, not a lot of people like, but I am one of those people. It just has something magical inside. I will confess that I've never seen the Korean version, but I do like this one very much. The cast was brilliant, the story, the film itself was so artsy, if that's the right word. Just beautiful. Now, I will not go into the details, because I may not remember everything clearly, but I do remember the end and as we all know, the endings are the best part and this film had a brilliant one. http://citizen-cinephile.blogspot.co.uk/

This movie is an American adaptation of the Korean version of the same name. Cuthbert and Bradford both fail to recreate the integral chemistry of the characters from the original version. In comparison to Jun Ji-hyun's portrayal of the "sassy girl", Cuthbert's performance was uninspired and often times painful to watch. Jun Ji-hyun's organic performance of a lively yet complex girl becomes forced and unconvincing in Cuthbert's attempt. One is awkwardly aware throughout the film that Cuthbert is trying to mimic a character rather than becoming the character herself. Besides Bradford's "good boy" image, he contributes nothing to the role. He lacks the emotion and passion of the original character. As for the movie, it is a scene by scene copy of the original version, each more poorly executed than the next. Rather than a cute romantic comedy created by the natural interactions of the characters, this movie feels fake, choppy, and poorly made for budgeted movie. If you're going to watch both versions, make sure you see this one first before the original. To do the opposite would be akin to reading the book and then seeing the adapted movie.

I am sad to say I do not believe anything in this movie.

I don't see any attraction or chemistry between the main characters.

I don't believe that any man would endure the level of abuse and controlling behaviour longer than a day. It's not goofy, it is infuriating.

When he says he's the happiest he has ever been, it comes off as a joke. The story arc gives us no reason to come to the same conclusion. She's way more irrational and mean than she is cute, and he only comes off as a goofy victim.

The letter at the end tries to explain and in some way make up for her behaviour but certainly not for what the script makes him endure. And the last scene is just a pitiful final twist to give us a resolution that I, at least, didn't care for anymore.

I can't say I understand the "original versus remake" fight. Yes, it's a remake, so what? The original one may be better, but this doesn't make this one unwatchable! So, for all remake haters: how much people do you think would've heard of this movie in it's original version as long as we know it's a 2001 film and the publicity it had was really weak? The remake it's really good fun, it's a romantic comedy, love story, fairy tale, whatever you wanna name it, it's gooood !!!!

I liked this movie because of the story, it's uncommon, it's unpredictable! Honestly, I'm tired of the classic comedy where boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy get's girl back or vice-versa. This one actually made me feel the story and believe the characters.

Totally watchable. Totally underrated. Totally...excellent!

Enjoy!

Yann Samuell's version of 'My Sassy Girl' is pretty much 95% a scene by scene copy of the beautiful Korean film. The hackneyed plot really lacks soul. It's not as bad as the trashy Indian version called 'Ugly Aur Pagli'. The friend character in this American version is annoying and one of the many Hollywood clichés including the Hollywood ending. The Americanized rewriting also makes the characters clichéd. For example the sequences of Charlie's and his friends discussion about relationships is something we have witnessed in numerous sitcoms and movies. No marks for creativity. Jesse Bradford tries to make the best of Charlie (despite the poor writing). Charlie comes across as whiny but remains tolerable because Bradford manages to make some of him likable. Elisha Cuthbert has never looked better but she fails to deliver in the comedic scenes. She's better during the more intense moments.

I loved Jae-young Kwak's 'Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo' which is one of my favourite romantic movies. So I was curious about this remake more so because I liked Bradford in his other movies and Cuthbert is quite pretty. This movie is no match for the original but it's not absolutely terrible (like the Indian one). Watch Kwak's movie if you haven't seen it yet and then give this one a try if you really want to.