She's on Duty

Personally, I enjoyed this movie immensely because Kim Sun Ah (main actress) plays a character very similar to the character she recently played in an outstanding TV Drama/Comedy "My Name is Kim Sam Soon". I watched this movie about two weeks after the series MNIKSS had ended, and personally, the movie was very special.

The movie itself, however, is full of clichés from both Korean and American action comedy films. The storyline is too weak, some parts of the movie had definitive plot holes, and... there really wasn't anything impressive about it.

Kim Sun Ah once again manages to portray a very unique and lovable character (though how she pulled that off is still a mystery to me, considering the average~weak script that she was given), and Nam Sang Mi also plays her role very well. Kong Yu I was not convinced, and to put it simply, there were way too many actors/actresses playing comical, cartoon-like characters (the bullies, the gang boss, the gang members, Jae-In's friends, the teacher, the detective (Jae-In's partner) and, at times, even Jae-In (Kim Sun Ah's character) herself) This is a good movie to burn time on, because it is certainly funny. Perhaps I'm being too harsh on a movie that only wants to be a laugh-off action comedy. It achieves what it wants to achieve, and in that respect, She's On Duty is a great film. But using a more generalized criteria...

5/10

After ruining a sting operation which might have apprehended a top-ranking South Korean criminal named "Cha Young-jae" (Kap-su Kim), a female detective named "Chung Jae-in" (Seon-a Kim) is subsequently assigned a mission in which she has to keep tabs on the criminal's daughter, "Seung-hee" (Sang-mi Nam). This requires her to go undercover--as a high school student. Not only that but she has to somehow make friends with Seung-hee and at the same time try to fit in. Neither of these are very easy. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it I will just say that in order for this particular type of film to work it typically has to have some really good comedy to back it up. That being said, while there is certainly some comedy here, I didn't see anything special about any of it. Even so it wasn't too bad for the most part and as a result I suppose it was worth the time spent to watch it. Accordingly, I rate it as about average. But no more and no less.

I spent the entire day feeling bored, so I decided to indulge in watching an old classic Korean film. My main reason for choosing this film was because it stars a rookie Gong Yoo. :)

The plot revolves around a female police officer who is assigned a mission to apprehend a gangster. To accomplish this, she goes undercover as a high school girl in order to get close to the gangster's daughter.

The storyline was somewhat predictable and had a few weak points with some plot holes. However, despite these flaws, I found myself enjoying the film, primarily due to the strong performance of the female lead (Kim Sun Ah) The fight scene and the ending kissing scene were particularly well-executed and added a delightful touch to the overall experience.

This is a light-hearted cop comedy about a young female policewoman who reluctantly goes undercover in a high school. Her assignment is to get close to the daughter of the second in command of the "Whacker", the biggest crime syndicate in Seoul. Actress Seon-a Kim is wonderful as Detective Chun Jae-in. She has the kind of plastic face and flexible body that can perfectly convey comedy in a physical way, a useful asset in a foreign language film where words and phrases often don't translate well. It's interesting to note that she is roughly ten years older than Sang-mi Nam, the actress who plays Seung-hee, the daughter of the crime boss. Sang-mi Nam was about 21 years old when the film was made, yet Seon-a Kim is totally believable as her peer. The film is a bit weak in the occasional action set pieces, and a lovely female gang member is woefully underutilized. Still, the movie, whose English title is "She's On Duty", is charming, delightful, and quite amusing. The DVD, which I picked up in New York City's Chinatown, looks great and has some decent extras: a still photo gallery, a music video, and an enjoyable video of the photo shoot for the film's posters and box art.

This movie seems more like a pilot episode for a TV-show than a regular film, although I don't know weather or not this is actually the case. The story is not that complicated and the telling of it offers no surprises. The actors generally do a good job, but the only one who stands out is Kong Yu as Kang No-Young who was thankfully given a more understated roll than the leading actress Kim Seon-a (as Chun Jae-in). Perhaps it is simply the contrast of his character against the rest of the film, but something about him caught attention (and I'm not talking about his good looks, although there certainly is no lack of that either) and held it in every scene. Given the chance I would definitely watch him in another movie.

This is a movie to watch when you are in the mood for something light and easily chewed, and you really, really don't feel too analytical or criticizing... It does have some darker sides to it, but nothing that will spoil the general cheerfulness. If this came on TV (fat chance... *SIGH*) I'd watch it again, but I wouldn't spend money on it - nor would I recommend anyone else to do so.