My Sassy Girl

Yann Samuell's version of 'My Sassy Girl' is pretty much 95% a scene by scene copy of the beautiful Korean film. The hackneyed plot really lacks soul. It's not as bad as the trashy Indian version called 'Ugly Aur Pagli'. The friend character in this American version is annoying and one of the many Hollywood clichés including the Hollywood ending. The Americanized rewriting also makes the characters clichéd. For example the sequences of Charlie's and his friends discussion about relationships is something we have witnessed in numerous sitcoms and movies. No marks for creativity. Jesse Bradford tries to make the best of Charlie (despite the poor writing). Charlie comes across as whiny but remains tolerable because Bradford manages to make some of him likable. Elisha Cuthbert has never looked better but she fails to deliver in the comedic scenes. She's better during the more intense moments.

I loved Jae-young Kwak's 'Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo' which is one of my favourite romantic movies. So I was curious about this remake more so because I liked Bradford in his other movies and Cuthbert is quite pretty. This movie is no match for the original but it's not absolutely terrible (like the Indian one). Watch Kwak's movie if you haven't seen it yet and then give this one a try if you really want to.

I usually do not like remakes of movies but this one wasn't half as bad as the ones I have seen in the past. I mean look how honest it was and remakes usually don't do that. I mean this remake really had me thinking how does one get over a great love. And yes her way was a little crazy but she also helped him in a way only it takes awhile to realize it.I think they tried to make it as honest as possible for Americans which I love. We like to censored our movies more than other countries but even so not that bad people. I know that us as Americans love movies we don't have to read, but sometimes reading subtitles is truly worth it. This movie was great but the first one was better because it was funnier and it had way more emotion. And I like how in the original the girl had no fear she did what she wanted when she wanted. Especially the train scene that they did not put in the remake. Maybe remake movies would be better if you make them exactly like the first one in our languages.

But I love the fact they picked Elisha because she has that whole sweet innocent crazy girl going on like her movie the girl next door. She is really growing as an actress.

Watch the Korean version first. This version will just act as a spoiler. This is Hollywood just taking the short cut. Look at what is huge in other countries and ripping it off. I was fortunate enough to see the Korean version first, if I hadn't this would have lessened the impact.

The acting was only OK. A lot of the emotion was zapped out of the story. In the Korean version the Sassy girl was played and presented better. You knew there was something intriguing about the girl. She seemed emotionally hurt. In this version she seemed more psychotic, She just seemed to attack.

I must admit when I first heard they were making an American remake of My Sassy Girl my stomach kinda churned. I wasn't sure that Hollywood could recreate the amazing korean film from 2001. Now there's good news and bad news... let's start with the good.

I like how they added a bit more playfulness to the movie giving it strange cut-scenes in between the main story. This added to the fun factor of the movie, but some may see it as just a simple waste of time. Using New York as the place setting for this film seemed typical but executed decently. And using one of the most recognizable cities in the world helped users become semi-comfortable. Both leading actors do a decent job, nothing too overly noticeable but decent.

Now the bad news, though the actors did a decent acting job.. you could still tell they're acting. When an actor feels his role and becomes the character the more enjoyable a film can be. For example Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight, he did an amazing job. I wish the actors did the same, but to be honest it seemed to be stale at times.

Overall the movie is 1/2 bad. As a stand alone rom/com it does a pretty decent job. But for the hardcore fans it's really obvious that this movie will just never be as good as the original. It's definitely worth watching once, that way you can develop your own idea on this film. They did an OK job trying to port the movie, a lot of things were lost in translation and unfortunately with that happening it simply makes the movie OK.

Not seeing the original My Sassy Girl, a Korean film from 2001, I appreciated it more than I probably should've. Once in a while, on a weekday, I'll watch a romantic comedy for the hell of it. I'll usually wind up liking it, but sometimes I don't want to watch something very negative and I'll just turn on something uplifting and positive like this film. There isn't much really to hate on a film like this.

Basically, you know the story. Guy meets girl, they fall in love, they break up, they get back together. Movie is over. This one decides to tweak the formula just a bit to try and stand out. Charlie Bellow (Bradford) is a high strung up and coming businessman who just wants one thing; to succeed. One day he is in a subway and finds a girl (Cuthbert), drunk out of her mind, who is about to get struck by a train. He pulls her intoxicated self to safety, and chemistry begins.

He takes her back home to his friends apartment where they await her recovery. When she finally does, the relationship from the two is a bit rocky, but soon they become closer and closer. That is when both realize they are beginning to fall for each other. Of course the audience has known that since the beginning.

Jesse Bradford was also the guy who played the misogynistic jerk in I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell a year later. It's fun seeing him actually fond of girls. Especially after he played such a simple minded character acting on impulse. It's nice to see him appreciate women. Elisha Cuthbert is also a gorgeous, and wonderful add to the film. Neither her or Bradford do anything wrong and their chemistry is believable.

It's not hard to get me to like a romantic comedy. If the story is cute, the characters are believable, the dialog is realistic, and it doesn't seem forced it works for me. In the grand scheme My Sassy Girl doesn't stand out, but it's enough to keep you interested. Still, I will go ahead and assume the original is the one worth seeing.

Starring: Jesse Bradford and Elisha Cuthbert. Directed by: Yann Samuell.