GIRLFRIENDS DVD (Gyeolpeurenjeu) (2009)

SYNOPSIS: Song-i (Kang Hye-jeong) starts dating her handsome co-worker Jin-ho (Bae Soo-bin). But when she suspects Jin-ho might be cheating on her, she sets out to meet the "other woman,'' only to learn that he has not one, but two, other "girlfriends'': Jin (Han Chae-young), Jin-ho's first love, is a sexy and successful party planner, while Bo-ra (Heo Yi-jae), is a fearless, young college student. Strangely enough, Song-i finds that their similar taste in men to be the basis for a great friendship.

MOVIE REVIEW:

We know that it isn’t the fault of the filmmakers, but we have to begin our review of this Korean rom-com by commenting on how terrible the English subtitles for the movie was. Not only were there plenty of grammatical errors which distracted the viewer from the movie proper, some of the translations just did not make sense at all. It was in this context that we viewed this movie, but rest assured that we have attempted to be as objective in our review as possible.

We state that because we aren’t too impressed by Kang Seok-beom’s rom-com as well. At the centre of the story is Song-I (Kang Hye-jeong) who discovers that a handsome co-worker Jin-ho (Bae Soo-bin) she is dating is actually seeing two other girls at the same time- one the beautiful party planner Jin (Han Chae-young) and the other an enthusiastic young college student Bo-ra (Heo Yi-jae). The twist here is that rather than competing for Jin-ho’s affections, the trio actually become great friends- that is, until they inevitably decide to turn selfish.

Writer No Hye-keong tells the story from Song-I’s perspective in flashbacks, but this doesn’t excuse the choppy and somewhat incoherent storytelling. Kang fails to give the film enough continuity from scene to scene, and especially wanting is the lack of much buildup from the time the girls find out about each other’s existence to their subsequent friendship. Indeed, No’s screenplay gives little explanation why these three women would put aside their supposed rivalry and instead regard one another as friends.

Just as unconvincing is the relationship between Jin-ho and any of them. There is little to suggest that whether Song-I, Jin or Bo-ra have anything close to a strong emotional connection to Jin-ho, and it doesn’t help that Bae Soo-bin (who plays Jin-ho) gives a bland performance that does not suggest any chemistry with either of his co-stars. Why these three women would fall in love with him is necessarily suspect, and that lack of reason weakens the very premise of the film.

Pacing is also a problem in the film, in addition to inspiration. If there isn’t much romance to be found, so the same can be said of the comedy. Most gags raise at most a chuckle, and Kang’s repeated use of Song-I’s imagination of her ideal romance with Jin-ho before going back to reality ingratiates. Because the film is nowhere near as funny or as romantic as it should be, the pace plods, and at 114 mins, seems at least one hour too long.

Yes, in this day and age where rom-coms are dime a dozen, “Girlfriends” just doesn’t do enough to justify your time. There is also only one eye candy in the movie- Han Chae-yeong- and she isn’t even the lead actress here. Of course, the movie might be more enjoyable had we not had to spend a fair bit of effort trying to decipher what the subtitles meant, but even so, this is one rom-com that you can pass on.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The Dolby Digital audio is clear and reproduces the Korean dialogue cleanly. Visuals have an odd sepia tinge, which paints the picture in green and yellow hues.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Gabriel Chong

Posted on 26 June 2011