Kaechimi

When I stumbled upon the 2013 South Korean romantic comedy "Kaechimi" (aka "Steal My Heart") here in 2024, I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it. Sure, I had never heard about the movie, but I've watched enough South Korean movies to know that chances are that I might be in for something enjoyable here.

And thus, I sat down to watch director Hyun-Jong Lee's movie without knowing what exactly I was in for.

However, I have to say that writers Hyun-Jong Lee and Yoo Yeong-Ah put together a script that proved rather bland and generic. The movie was watchable, for sure, but it just was lacking forward drive. And running at 115 minutes, then the narrative just didn't have enough drive or punch to keep it being entertaining or interesting all the way through. It took director Hyun-Jong Lee forever to literally go nowhere in this narrative. And it was a long movie to sit through, so very, very long, given the slow paced narrative that was devoid of excitement, fun and thrills.

The character gallery in the movie was a bit one-dimensional. There wasn't really much of any chemistry between leading actress Kim Ah-Jung (playing Yoon Jin-Sook) and leading actor Joo Won (playing Lee Ho-Tae). Sure, they performed well enough in the movie, but there just wasn't a spark between the two, and that made it a somewhat disinteresting love romance to sit through.

It should be noted that the acting performances in the movie were good, and they definitely had a good cast ensemble put together.

There are far better romantic comedies of this type on the South Korean market. And "Kaechimi" came and went without leaving much of a lasting impression. And it definitely isn't a movie that I will spend another 115 minutes on watching. This was, for a lack of better words, a disappointing viewing experience.

My rating of "Kaechimi" lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars.

This film essentially begins with a smart detective by the name of "Lee Ho-tae" (Joo Won) setting a trap for a serial killer and, just before making an arrest, watches in horror as the serial killer is hit by a speeding car. Twice. To that effect, although they now have the serial killer in custody, their new priority now becomes trying to identify and catch the hit-and-run driver who inadvertently interfered in their stakeout. Needless to say, being the extremely intelligent detective that he is, it doesn't take Lee Ho-tae very long to identify the suspect as being a famous burglar named "Yoon Jin-sook" (Kim Ah-jung). The problem, however, is that Yoon Jin-sook just happens to be his ex-girlfriend and has only recently moved in with him. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an entertaining comedy which benefitted from good acting on the part of both Joo Won and Kim Ah-jung. Admittedly, there are some scenes which were somewhat difficult to understand but, even so, I enjoyed this movie for the most part, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

I think this film is just being entered into IMDb. Yesterday, there was no entry for the film--and today it just popped up but all the cast information is missing. So, just in case they aren't uploaded to the page, I'll give some of this information in my review.

Steal My Heart is a cute little romantic comedy from South Korea whose plot makes absolutely no sense. So, provided you can ignore the impossibility of just about everything in the film, you'll probably enjoy the movie. It has cute characters and some occasionally wacky moments that will catch you by surprise. All others who want a film that makes sense are advised to proceed at their own risk!

Ho-Tae (Joo Won) is a brilliant young criminal profiler. However, his attempt to capture a serial killer is not quite the success he hoped it would be. Although he was able to perfectly predict who the killer was and where he would be, just as the police are about to capture him, an errant driver runs over the killer—killing him in the process! Believe it or not, this is a very funny scene. However, now Ho-Tae has to locate the hit-and-run driver, as she sped away and the cops couldn't catch her. Ho-Tae quickly locates the criminal but is shocked to see that she is his lost love—a woman he hasn't seen nor heard from in a decade. And, because he has so much old baggage surrounding this lady, he can't bring himself to arrest her and looks for excuse after excuse to delay the inevitable.

During this lengthy period, he even lets her stay at his house and Ho- Tae assumes that Yoon Jin-Sook (Kim A-Joong) is the sweet and innocent lady you see in his flashbacks. However, over time, he comes to realize that she is not quite so innocent. First, he learns that she doesn't even have a driver's license. But, more importantly, it turns out she's already a wanted woman—and is a master thief. In fact, she's so good that she even offers classes to would-be thieves! Although much of the film made little sense so far, once Ho-Tae realizes she's a career thief he STILL hides her. And, in the process of trying to reform her, he ends up getting drug into her world of crime. Soon, the police are not only looking for her but her male accomplice…a man who looks just like Ho-Tae! In fact, it IS Ho-Tae but his co-workers haven't come to realize this.

How all this eventually works out makes zero sense—zero. But, if you suspend your brain and only look at the film as a slight rom-com, you probably will be able to wade through all the insane plot twists. Just don't think about any of this, as you head just might explode!!

The actors and director (Lee Hyun-Jong) did a fine job with what they were given to work with. However, Lee Hyun-Jong ALSO wrote the film. He had a great eye for dialog but the plot often made little sense and, to me, would have been a much better film had some of the weird story elements been worked out better—such as Ho-Tae's promotion at the end (huh?!?!). Not a bad film at all but not one that without problems.