Kwa-sok-seu-kaen-deul

It's little wonder how Scandal Makers turned out to be a blockbuster hit in South Korea. It doesn't have any offensive jokes that could put anyone off, relied on slickly crafted humorous situations that don't try too hard, and has characters that will endear and grow on you. It has some feel-good messages to impart without being preachy, and one would almost be surprised that this is a first time effort from writer-director Kang Hyeong-cheol.

Sure the premise may not be something that's new, and coming to mind is The Game Plan, where Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson finds his orderly, playboy life being abruptly interrupted by a kid claiming to be his daughter. Over here though, this Korean film upped Hollywood's ante by adding to the family tree complexity, and also to the magnitude of laughs. Hyeong- cheol's story has three generations living under the same roof, and it played out very nicely with little scenes that go to waste. I suppose with first time fearlessness, Hyeong-cheol provided the story with an air of freshness over a tried and tested formula about unexpected gate-crashing family members.

Nam Hyeon-soo (Cha Tae-hyun) is a radio DJ whose afternoon talk show gives him a new lease of life and popularity, especially with a single mother sharing her story on his show about her search for a long lost father. Bur his orderly, playboy lifestyle and bachelor pad get unceremoniously imposed upon when Hwang Jeong-nam (Park Bo-yeong) and her son Hwang Ki-dong (Hwang Seok-hyeon) come knocking on his door claiming to be his daughter, and grandson even! I think for any bachelor in the 30s (*ahem* like myself), this would either turn out to be a bad April Fool's Joke of mistaken identity, or horror-of-horrors, a tryst early in life that had gone totally wrong.

What more, with such a scandal – a swinging bachelor with a young adult daughter, who in turn is a single mom at a young age – it threatens Hyeon-soo's career and lifestyle, and so begins the comedy of keeping under wraps the situation, as well as to learn how to live and tolerate his new found family who have come from the village, where Hyeon-soo's only common ground with Jeong-nam, besides their talent for music, is their propensity to have early offspring.

A perfect dysfunctional family that serves up as a perfect scandalous story given the follies of youth. But this film is more about perceptions despite its title. We have a man who perceives himself as a major celebrity who would be ruined, as he has observed, should the paparazzi expose his childhood shenanigans. We have a daughter who perceives that it would be easy for her never-seen-before dad to accept her when she appears out of the blue with kid in tow. And the young kid too perceives that his crush (it's in this family's genes to start young) will only like him if he wears fancy clothes, rather than to rely on his musical talent.

While Cha Tae-hyun plays his selfish character, who through the course of the film learns something important about family, with aplomb, Park Bo-yeong's single mom role seemed to be too entrenched in her live-the-singing-dream subplot, and little is seen in the dynamics with her young son. In fact Hwang Seok-hyeon is the ultimate scene stealer here as the round-headed kid with curly hair, and his story-arc opposite Tae-hyun as grandfather and grandson is perhaps the best of the lot with plenty of laughs guaranteed. This kid just oozes charisma and charm, and from the moment he appears the magic got weaved and you'll find him totally endearing himself to you, the audience, with his smile-non-smile antics, and those crazy sleepwalking spells.

Scandal Makers is easy going fare that would appeal to a broad spectrum of audiences with its fine comedy and positive messages of love and enduring family ties that remind you of blood running thicker than water. Bring a date, take your whole family, and discover just why the South Koreans went ga-ga over this. It could be that kid Hwang Seok-hyeon, whose performance alone would justify the price of a movie ticket! Highly recommended!

I can tell why this film was such a big hit in Korea, it has a lot of elements that Asian audiences love to watch especially it's humor. The Korean humor of it fit right in with the movie, and although Korea really isn't known for making great comedies, this one really worked. And it's mix of funny, sad and touching moments kept me entertained throughout the whole film and although there is quite a bit of singing in this, it was well done as well, but wished they took the stuff about the kid in the story being a prodigy at playing cards, playing the piano, and etc in order to be likable. I also though the part of Cha Tae-Hyun singing in order to impress the teacher to be lame and not necessary, maybe it's cause he just doesn't have the charisma or cause he is just not a likable character. Anyways, nothing about this movie seemed really forced even the dramatic moments and the comedy worked fine as well. So any one who is into Korean movies, I recommend you check it out even if some of the Korean humor is difficult to understand for some.

7.9/10

The tone of this show is enjoyable funny and tightly written so each scene is fun and not redundant and never painful. Lots of endearing characters. The kid is amazing. PBY has her breakthrough performance and she is cute and believable. They all look alike GF daughter and grand kid. A well crafted comic gem.

Able to humor an audience even though there is a cultural gap for non-Korean viewers. Manages a couple of laugh out loud moments in a mostly G-rated family oriented film. If you have no problems with subtitles or situational comedies, this movie is worth your time.

The film stays away from preaching its value set. Rather spending the 108 minutes of run time on the situations that have been created out of the characters choices.

Tae-hyun Cha creates a solid performance. In a role that could have been an unlikeable character, yet he keeps the main character fun. Bo-yeong Park plays her role down the middle. A solid performance from the side-kick role, Ji-ru Sung appears to steal every scene he is a part of.

One of the best Korean movie I have ever seen. Really a master piece worth watching one. The grip of the movie is really effective two hours just felt like 15 minutes. Ground breaking story line which is even more uplifted by the actors. Each and every component of the movie is just perfect. A complete family movie and a promising mood lifter.