Jakeob-ui jeongseok

Like his father, Seo Min-jun (Il-guk Song) is a rich playboy, he knows the way to a woman's bed, a lot tricks to reach it and then move on. Han Ji-wan (Ye-jin Son) knows the art of seduction too, and meticulously uses it to find the perfect husband. One day they become their respective targets, and a war begins.

This romantic comedy is like a pre-engagement "Mr. and Mrs Smith" without weapons and spy plots, or a light version of the war of the Roses if you prefer. The two main characters, while apparently playing the roles of a dating couple, engage an escalation of lies, denigration and accidents. Each of them tries to take control on the relationship, and mostly ends failing, thus generating an humorous interaction, with the help of the said father, a stubborn ex and the omnipresent single female friend. The premise was appealing, and most of the film was too. Towards the end it takes the inevitable romantic route losing some of said appealing, but the ending wasn't so typical as i thought.

As most of Korean comedies the photography is warm and neat, the actors are valid, there is a "hidden dragon, crouching tigeresque" scene and words appear on screen every now and then. Not too bad.

Actually, unlike other people, I knew that this movie was going to be good. For one, I have yet to see Son Ye Jin play any "rambunctous" character. She's always been the quiet, pretty, and others like to say "damsel-in-distress". And watching this, it really confirmed that Son can play any role, whatever the character. She truly is amazing in this movie.

Il Gook is also very good playing a player father's son. It good to see him in a romantic comedy too. These two put together makes a great film. There are soo many funny scenes and overall is worth watching twice.

Truth be told, if I were to come across Son Ye-jin's Han Ji-wan character, with those bambi eyes and pretty face, I would go jelly too. But that'a about it. I guess I pretty much ruled myself out of the dating scene, for the time being at least, to fall for her manipulative charms. Perhaps it's true that a pretty face can turn a monster into a mouse, and boy, does Son Ye-jin turn heads.

She plays a "player/swinger" Han Ji-wan, a private banker who uses her good looks to win customer confidence, or uses it to seduce any man she fancies, for whatever multiple reasons. If anything, players/swingers are quite insecure folks, despite the confidence they project on the exterior. Audiences might have noticed her playing opposite Korean heartthrob Bae Yong-jun in April Snow, where her character was mostly calm, composed, demure, quiet. Here, she goes to the opposite end of the spectrum, with her gregarious, scheming nature in full contrast with the former character's. She also seemed to have slimmed down a bit from her chubbier April Snow outing, but yeah, nobody's complaining ;-P Playing the alpha-male seducer, her counterpart/rival/mark, is actor Song Il-guk. As a good looking architect, Seo Min-jun is a chip off his father's playboy ways. Like Ji-wan, he too is able to turn on his charms to snag the woman he desires, and when he's tired of it all, after reaching his goal, he brings them to a setup fortune teller, using Fate as an excuse that things will not work out.

So The Art of Seduction presents to you, the tricks both sexes use on their prey. And it turns up the heat, when the two players meet. Here's where the usual tricks don't seem to work, especially when used on experienced, first-rate players who have worked the ground using similar tactics, and counter-tactics. The narrative was played out rather ordinarily, with one side being presented a scenario created by the other, and how they wriggle out from, then the tables are turned using a different scenario, and it goes on. And unfortunately, for far too long.

It does get to you after a while, as you'll start to feel the length of this 100 minute movie. Some of the tactics used were recycled, like Ji-wan's expensive car accident trick, and Min-jun's cost of cigarette statement. For non-Korean speaking folks, you might get lost during the early sight gags where MCQs in Korean flashed on screen. Thankfully this technique isn't used for the entire movie.

Many situations presented in the movie also pushes the envelope of believability - how much would a man go to satisfy the unreasonable/weird demands of a girl? It's the games people play, and how much do you want to get involved? And it does seem weird that the men Ji-wan snags (with her skills) always turn out to be the ah-peks (older men have all the fun?) while Min-jun does well with better choices (by better I mean more pleasing to the eye).

On the whole, the movie is pretty campy fun, despite some scenarios not being reasonably plausible. You get to laugh at the jokes (some being quite weak though, and can be seen a mile away), toilet humour even, but more importantly, depending which way you swing, the eye candy on screen would be satisfying enough to forgive the flaws.

"Seo Min-Jun" (Il-Guk Song) is a playboy who loves the "thrill of the chase" but quickly gets bored with his conquests and is always looking for his next challenge. "Han Ji-Wan" (Ye-Jin Son) is a beautiful young woman who also plays around but her interests are somewhat more mercenary. In any case, Min-Jun decides to target Ji-Wan at about the same time she decides to turn the tables on him. This results in a collision course between two first-rate players with the ultimate outcome clearly in doubt. But one thing is sure-neither of them like to lose. Now as far as this movie is concerned I thought the first half of the movie was quite humorous and showed good potential. Unfortunately, the latter part of the second half was a bit of a let-down which I believe took some fun out of it all. I especially didn't care for the rather dull ending. Even so the movie was still good for a few laughs and Ye-Jin Son certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way. Accordingly, I rate the film as slightly above average.

The continuity of the story seems lacking here with a strange screenplay that seems to have plot holes and gaps. Son Ye Jin is pretty and sweet and fans of hers will like to see her in a grown up comedy role for a change. It's a little daring but not crude or explicit. Not a must see.