200 Pounds Beauty

This is a movie that follows a typical happy romantic comedy.. starts off happy, goes down.. back up.. and it hits the top and stays there. But then again, 200 pounds beauty is SO much more! On the surface it is already a great movie. The fat girl protagonist Hanna is very cute and kind, later she turns into beautiful and thin but still kind and innocent Jenny. So there's a bit of eyecandy, both cute and sexy throughout the whole movie. But then there's the funny bits, the movie has hilarious little kicks throughout the whole movie, making you laugh at all the right movies.

But then there's a deeper side. This movie talks about themes such as the superficial view of the world, how beauty becomes an obsession, how the most beautiful heart can hide inside a bigger girl, how people will give everything to a girl with beautiful face-- superficiality yet again.

The sad parts that touched deep to the heart of the film are very well scripted and acted.. I cried so many times watching it to see an 'ugly' girl turned beautiful, but having to give so much up and yet not quite happy with the shallow joys that this new body and face have given her.

A small disappointment however was that the story's villain did not do much and disappeared for the majority of the movie and out of the viewer's mind, rendering the character pretty useless and taking away a little something more the movie could have had.

Overall, a feel-good movie that is a definite must watch! It goes above all my initial expectations and is guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, love and think!

There's a reason this movie dominated the Korean box office over the holiday season. It was more popular than Night at the Museum and many other American films. It accomplishes many things that recent Korean romantic comedies have failed at. Basically, this movie is the star vehicle for new actress Kim Ah-Jung. She gives a great performance and fits the role perfectly. Even though the plot is simplistic, it is very witty and provides consistent comedy. The movie does not take itself too seriously like a lot of Korean movies that are all like "OMG LET'S BE FUNNY FOR THE FIRST HALF AND MAKE IT ALL DEPRESSING IN THE SECOND HALF!" While it provides many laughs, the story is still touching and meaningful. And what's amazing is that Kim Ah-Jung did all of her own singing, despite never having sung in a movie before nor being a singer. The soundtrack for 200 Pounds Beauty has topped the charts in Korea and "Maria" is one of the most popular songs in Korea right now.

Since this is basically my first review, I want to emphasize that I wanted to write it because no Korean movie has touched me this strongly since I saw My Sassy Girl.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a satisfying romantic comedy. 10/10

This movie was a big success in Korea when it first came out. I personally thought it was a bit over hyped after watching the movie, but it's still a pretty good movie with many aspects and elements that work. I found it sort of interesting how the main actress went though plastic surgery in real life and she goes through plastic surgery in this movie. The movie has a message that works and understandable, like how you won't know how certain people feels or going through without being in their shoes and to not be judgmental of other people. And has other messages as well. So for a simple plot the movie has depth for the most part. The movie comes off a bit shallow at times but for the most part it's a enjoyable film, just a bit overrated.

7.6/10

I will admit that I have not seen many Korean romantic comedies, so I can't say definitively how it compares to others. But I have definitely seen my fair share of U.S. romantic comedies. Frankly, the genre has become so clichéd, it's nearly impossible to find any decent new romantic comedies.

When I chose to watch "200 Pounds Beauty," I expected more of the same formulaic plot twists, etc. Yet I was pleasantly surprised at how beautifully produced this movie was. The actors did a superb job. My only contention is that there were several unexplained plot contents. I won't spoil it for any potential viewers, so I'll leave you to figure those out for yourselves.

Bottom line: if you want to watch a cute, funny and well done romantic comedy, then this is your movie. But make sure you have some Kleenex on hand! There are a few tugging-at-the-heart strings scenes.

This could have been a disaster. A story about a "ghost singer" (think Milli Vinilli) and phone sex operator changes her whole appearance, going from 200 pounds to becoming beautiful and shapely via full body plastic surgery, it could have been a silly film. It has silly moments, where guys are awestruck by her beauty, but this romantic comedy has a lot of heart. It succeeds in having Hanna, played by the beautiful Ah-jung Kim, and the guy she likes, Sang-jun, not become too serious, but also not become parodies of themselves. The movie, as you may have figured out, plays the fat card, but does it with restraint. Hanna becomes Jenny after her makeover, and works with Sang-jun. One thing I wished didn't happen thankfully didn't: She didn't all of a sudden begin sagging before our eyes. The music is good, some songs in English, some in Korean (I liked how they remade Blondie's "Maria"). Ah-jung Kim is a good actress, she plays Hanna/Jenny very well. I think you will get a lot from this film, and that is without the film being preachy about how everyone is beautiful, no matter what. There are nice sentimental touches in this film. I liked it a lot. I think Ah-jung Kim is someone to watch, she played the role perfectly. Its a feel good movie, so go ahead and see it.