Runway Cop (2012)
"Cha hyung-sa" (original title)

Detective Cha, a filthy and smelly cop must become a model to investigate the drug trafficking case around runway business. Can he change himself to solve the case?

Director:

Terra Shin

Stars:

Ji-Hwan Kang, Yu-ri Sung, Soo-hyuk Lee

Cast

Credited cast:
Ji-Hwan Kang	...	Cha Chul-soo
Yu-ri Sung	...	Go Young-jae
Soo-hyuk Lee	...	Kim Sun-ho
Young-kwang Kim	...	Han Seung-woo
Min-cheol Shin
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Woo-bin Kim	...	Cameo

Storyline

Detective Cha smells bad and is overweight. Nevertheless, he is a devoted cop who always tries his best to catch the bad guys. A new case then arises. Illegal narcotics are infiltrating into the fashion industry and a detective is needed to work undercover as a model. There are only 2 detectives taller than 180 centimeters required to work as a fashion model. One of them is Detective Cha and the other detective walks strangely due to to a hemorrhoid. Detective Cha is selected to go undercover as a male model in designer Ko Young-Jae's next fashion show. Designer Ko Young-Jae tells Detective Cha that he has to lose 20 kilograms in 2 weeks so that he can work as a model in her upcoming show. Detective Cha then goes on a strenuous regiment to lose the weight.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp] Official site [kr]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

30 May 2012 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Runway Cop

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Company Hong

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

A Nutshell Review: Runway Cop

Our desire to improve ourselves, especially in the physical sense, is fodder for Asian comedy films these days. It's no denying we'd generally like to look better and weigh lesser, and these are ready made premises that allows a comedy to be built upon, clearly taking a swipe at these flimsy wants. Japan had a restaurateur don a Handsome Suit in order to gain model good looks, while Korea played on the weight and plastic surgery issues with 200 Pounds Beauty. Here, we deal with poor hygiene and the lack of etiquette, conditions found acceptable by the sloth-like Detective Cha Chul-soo (Kang Ji-hwan).

From the get go, Kang Ji-hwan's titular character is primed for physical comedy, with excuses painted to explain why any man would degenerate into a helpless situation like his, being the ridicule of fellow policemen. His clothes stink as much as his mouth, and his ultimate weapon in interrogations torture is his socks. Be warned though, even though you're seated in front of the screen, these sequences are shot in such vivid terms, you'll probably be feeling just as nauseous as the unfortunate characters caught in Detective Cha's gunsights.

An undercover mission to pose as a male model will change all that, and job requirements meant transforming himself with great pain into a sculpted Greek god, unbelievable of course given the timeline, but this is movie fantasy after all. Given intel that the drug cartel had infiltrated the fashion industry, the cops enlist the help of rookie designer Ko Young-jae (singer Sung Yu-ri) to turn their only 180cm tall hope into a believable model for infiltration and investigations, with the latter using her launch showcase as a front for this purpose. And to add some value on the romantic front, both Cha and Ko turn out to be one-time classmates.

The movie is what you would call an inconsistent screwball comedy where everything goes, be it smaller, nonsensical moments being played out to fine effect, or larger scaled comedic sequences that felt overly long, losing its intended impact and effect on the audience. Director Shin Tae-ra seemed to have yet to find the knack to craft punchy scenes, and the middle section somewhat sagged due to unnecessary repetition of audition scenes, and the fish-out-of-water moments.

If compared to films like 200 Pounds Beauty and Handsome Suit, Kang Ji-hwan's character began as quite the lout, and didn't possess as much pathos as the lead characters in the other films, which makes him lose out in terms of getting the audience to sympathize with his predicament. More so as the challenge at hand didn't stem from deep, personal reasons, but more from a professional one. Jo-hwan did well as the sloppy looking detective, but didn't have much of a personality shine through when spending more time in the film as the slimmed down male model, relying on supporting caricatures to help lift the film through its limp stages. Yu-ri was equally culpable as the lead actress that wasn't really the best of roles, being average and generic for the most parts.

Runway Cop has an interesting premise and sets itself up for a rip-roaring fun time in the cinema, but ultimately got undone by sticking to a formula that allowed it to go all over the place narratively. It's understood that the nonsensical comedy style is a draw, but this requires skill to craft, that director Shin hasn't manage to possess yet.