Needless to say that with my admiration for the Asian cinema, and with a high regards for the South Korean cinema, that I jumped at the chance to sit down and watch the 2012 movie "Dancing Queen" (aka "Daensing kwin") when I was given the chance in mid-2019.
This movie, from director and writer Seok-hoon Lee, may seem a bit stereotypical in terms of being a romantic comedy at times, but the movie does actually manage to differentiate itself from the countless of generic romantic comedies available in the South Korean cinema.
While the movie runs at just about two hours, it does have a good story to tell, and there is a good amount of heart and soul put into the movie. The storyline is entertaining and it is well-written, which adds so many layers to the movie. However, running at two hours was just a bit too long. The movie felt a bit too long, and it was a test of endurance at a point. If the director had opted to trim the movie down to the usual hour and a half, it would have been much smoother sailings, and perhaps even a point higher in its rating from me.
The two lead performers really carried the movie quite well, both individually, but also together on the screen, as there was a good chemistry between them. And they were both quite good in portraying their individual characters. All in all, the character gallery in "Dancing Queen" was quite good, and they had lots of nice acting talents to perform the various roles and characters.
"Dancing Queen" is well worth taking the time to sit down and watch. Just prepare yourself for a movie running at about two hours. I didn't know that, so it was, at times throughout the movie, a bit prolonged. But overly an enjoyable and entertaining movie, for sure.
