Sex Is Zero

SEX IS ZERO is a rather funny film in the style of, as others have noted, AMERICAN PIE. There are three differences: the characters are Korean; the scene is college; and the Third Act is Overwrought Melodrama that completely undermines all the gross out gags of the first hour.

Anyone familiar with Asian films will not be all that surprised by the movie's sudden shift in themes. Tackling a serious topic like abortion in a movie where characters masturbates at just about EVERY given opportunity??? It provides an odd dichotomy, to be sure.

Still, the film is reasonably funny enough, even if all of its gags are telegraphed about 10 minutes beforehand.

6 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie)

Korea's answer to American Pie and the like sees clutzy university freshman Eun-shik falling for dream girl Eun-hyo (Ji-won Ha of Phone and Nightmare fame). But while his rather pathetic attempts to woo her fail to register, Eun-hyo is swept off her feet by dashing - and frivolous - playboy Sangik. With Eunhyo unable to see past her new lover's infidelite ways, Eun-shik must try to mature his image to save his dream girl from making a terrible choice.

"Sex Is Zero" starts off in hilarious fashion, with Eun-shik and his similarly sex-obsessed friends trying to score with as many college girls as is humanly possible. Throw in a couple of jokes about manhoods and cosmetic implants and we're talking comedy heaven. Unfortunately, as I've noticed with a few Korean films of late, the director chooses to veer off into other, more serious, genres in the final reel and this really puts the dampeners on the humour. There's one particularly shocking revelation around the hour mark which is so serious for a comedy that the film barely recovers - but of course I won't spoil it here. Put it this way, you know in a Hollywood production of this ilke that the good natured guy is always going to get his girl at the end... Korean productions are far more unpredictable!

Acting is excellent from all the main cast and the director brings a funky, lively and very energetic approach to his duties resulting in a highly entertaining mix of comedy, drama and weepie rolled into one. Comedy fans should be satisfied with the opening hour - people looking for a little more substance will lap up the finale. All in all, a recommended movie - ***.5 / *****

SEX IS ZERO (2002): Raunchy comedy/drama starring pop idol Lim Chang-jung (see JAKARTA) as a hapless college schlub who falls for Miss Popularity, who conveniently happens to be dating the biggest prick on campus and is therefore blind to Lim's hopeless overtures until she gets knocked up and beaten silly by her embarrassed mother. Often feels like an idealized male-centric filmization of the director's unrequited college romance, except that here the dream girl is made to suffer unspeakable anguish before she wises up to the man who really cares about her (a made-for-the-movies conceit if ever there was one). The dramatic scenes are uncommonly powerful, but they seem almost too heavy in places for a comedy that tries so hard to be base. You may never look at bread or frying pans the same way, though. UNBELIEVABLE FACT: if you watch the making of doc on the Korean DVD, you'll learn that the scene where a secondary female character throws up on her date WAS NOT FAKED. Man, talk about suffering for your craft: the girl downs two full 1.5 Litre bottles of water, mixed with one cup instant noodle soup and voila! Real barf! Which the actor then has to enjoy while he kisser her in the same take. Probably the most f'd-up thing I've ever seen in all my years of movie watching.

Korean movies found their marks with comedy, lavishness, and bit of romance or sexploitation. This is one of the earlier movies of this type that has good plot, and many funny moments.

The movie is about a Korean cheer leading competition, with romance that goes along the way. Many good looking athletic women and men show their skills on screen. I'd say maybe 70% of the entertainment is from the eye candy factor. There aren't any vulgarness to the movie although there are many sexual innuendos.

Korean movies have come a long ways, and the quality of actors have really gone up. The story isn't seamlessly smooth, but this problem goes away with Sex is Zero 2. The movie was pretty experimental when it came out, so that's OK.

I'm all for these cleverly done K movies, and I hope they'd continue making good movies like this one.

Some movies occasionally try to mix serious drama with absurd humor. Most doesn't succeed at all. SEX IS ZERO does succeed, though! Slapstick jokes, some very funny, some very stupid and some lost in translation are mixed with extremely serious drama towards the end, and then goes slowly into the comedy genre again - with great results.

Very nicely done movie that are probably most inspired by movies like BRING IT ON and American PIE. However, this is a Korean movie, and that means it's weirder, better acted, slightly more surprising and original.

Be prepared for serious drama mixed with high-school humor, though. And be prepared for lots of cute girls! :) 7 of 10.