Spy Girl

Just watched this movie. I definitely recommend it to anyone familiar with asian movies and to a lesser degree to anyone else. "Typical" movie goers might be slightly dissapointed though I think this movie had enough aspects that would please a wider audience then just asian movie lovers.

It's about a female spy who takes a job at Burger King to wait for her "target", a regular customer. The boys from the school next door all fall in love with her. One of them even devotes a webpage for her on his friends site that seems to offer a collection of the hottest girls in town. Unfortunately, this puts her mission in danger and she ends up dating the guy in order to make him delete the pictures of her.

Though the premise is pretty far fetched it works charmingly well. But it could have worked so much better. The movie can't decide if it's a romantic comedy or a spy comedy. What makes the movie stand out is the acting especially from the lead actress, whose charming presence adds quite a lot to the appeal of the movie.

"Spy Girl" has an inventive first half: it starts telling its story from the male lead's point-of-view, then it switches to the female's, sometimes covering the same events. After a while, however, it becomes clear that despite all the flashbacks, flashforwards, different perspectives, etc. the movie doesn't really have much story to tell. There is a little comedy, a little (goofy) action, but about 80% of "Spy Girl" is really a romance. To the film's benefit, the two leads are very charming. Yu Kong is likable as the nerdy, well-meaning college dropout, and Jeong-hwa Kim is incredibly beautiful, and well-cast as the spy-in-disguise who can draw male looks simply by walking and smiling. But the script meanders without much sense of direction, and there are a few too many "finally! they're together now - oh wait, not yet" endings. Recommended for romance fans, but not for action/spy fans. **1/2 out of 4.

Let me say it up front, this is one of the most romantic films I've seen in ages. Its also wonderfully, sweetly funny. And at risk of cursing myself I want to say that its a chick flick that guys will love too.

The plot of this film has a young beautiful spy from North Korea going south to capture another rogue spy. She goes undercover at Burger King and soon she's battling with her co-workers for the affections of the local boys, dealing with a culture clash between North and South, and a very cute young man who's posted pictures of her on a website of local "angels" possibly blowing her cover.

How do I describe this film? How can I sell this with out over selling it?

This is a great little film. Its a small little confection that will make you smile and feel good and give a big hug to the one you love.

The comedy is broad at times, crossing into slapstick, but more often than not its very clever. A good deal of it has to do with the fact that our heroine is a spy and can kick everyone's ass,only they just don't know it.

The romance... What can I say, its almost dead on perfect. What can I say about a modern film where they create tension as to whether two people will simply hold hands?

No, its not perfect. The problem is that some of it is so goofy, in particular the sub-plot about the loan shark and the old spies, that it seems to be part of another movie. The other movie is good, it just doesn't fully mesh with the one we're watching.

I can't recommend this movie enough. Its a wonderful fragile little creation that will make you feel really warm and fuzzy for all of the right reasons.

8 out of 10. Search this out and watch it with someone you love.

I had recently watched a decent string of Korean movies like 'Over the Rainbow', 'Chaser', etc and I was hoping for a good and relaxing comedy this time. Unfortunately this one turned out to be another one of those slow and terribly scripted movie. The acting was not good and neither was the editing. Half way through the movie, I realized the story had not progressed much! It's like telling a story at one statement per minute and the gap was filled with advertisements. I really felt that the movie tried too hard to be funny. There were moments that I felt could have been good but it was either untimely or not acted out well enough. Give this movie a miss!

Cute film. But the only reason I gave it 8 out of 10 is because it's extremely enjoyable just to look at Kim Jung Hwa. Not only is she staggeringly beautiful, but she has a graceful demeanour and delightful innocence which makes guys want to marry her and women want to be her. This is the main quality of the film.

The cinematography is adequate, the North Korea/South Korea plot is more significant if you're Korean (the old spies pining about the old days are quite funny), the comedy is too safe to be funny, and perhaps most frustratingly, the romance is kinda wack because the relationship never really develops.

The problem I tend to find with most Korean comedies is that they rarely actually make you laugh but keep you smiling at best. This is no exception although it has some nice touches.