Jambok-geunmu

I am a huge fan of Asian cinema, and this Korean movie is worth a watch.

The story of a police officer having to go undercover in a school, and no one really wonders about her age? Yeah, already there is the first laugh.

The dialogue is good and funny, the scenes are well put together, and the movie works well all throughout. And the characters are well portrayed and have that sparkling on-screen chemistry going on.

The lead women, Seon-a Kim does a marvelous job in her role as the undercover police woman.

However, if you are unfamiliar with Asian cinema, you should know that many things in these movies are fairly extreme and out there, so you should approach this movie with the intention of being entertained and not having to think too much about what is going on.

It is a movie that you will pick up again later and watch it for a second time. It has good entertainment value, and could use a sequel for sure.

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.

It just amazes that people critique a film as though they were film critics and such connoisseurs. When I pay money to see a movie, it's an investment of time for me. Then the questions that arises are; was it entertaining, was I able to escape from reality, and did I feel like it was worth my money, waste of my money or just ehhh? This movie fulfills 2 out of the 3 criteria. It was entertaining and I was able to suspend my disbelief for the duration of the movie. I loved the gym teacher, I loved her commanding officer and I loved Kim Seona.

I loved how this movie subtly teaches what goes around comes around. She beats up the high school bullies then the PE teacher disciplines her. I love the relationships in the movie. I won't go into much details of the movie, but it wasn't a waste of money nor was it a more than my money's worth. But if you want to watch a movie that allows you to escape for a coupla hours and be entertained, this is the movie for a nice Friday or Saturday night snuggle with the significant other.

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

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.