KR Films

Parody is not new in Korean Cinema. For those who have seen KWAK Jae-yong's MY SASSY GIRL (2001), you may note the parody of TERMINATOR and BICHUNMOO. However, there never been a film fully designated for parody like Hollywood film SCARY MOVIE. JANG Kyu-sung's FUNNY MOVIE, which shares the same structure as SCARY MOVIE, is a parody movie making fun of 28 Korean films.

The film takes a very large adoption for KANG Je-gyu's SHIRI (1999) starting from the first minute. The only difference is that this time is not the attack from the North Koreans but a Japanese organization called KT. The love between Hwang-bo and Sangmi is exactly the same as HAN Suk-kyu and KIM Yoon-jin in SHIRI.

Though FUNNY MOVIE is a parody, the production has shown their efforts in imitating the films in most of the aspects, from the background to the music scores. Parody from ATTACK THE GAS STATION! is one of the best examples giving the exact dressing as the four casts in that movie. Parody for FRIEND (2001) is also an example by taking the shot on the same bridge as that in the original film.

However, whether you enjoy the movie or not is highly dependent on whether you have seen most of the films appeared in this movie. Some of them are pretty dependent on the dialogues rather than the feeling. The parody of DITTO at the beginning is pretty base on the dialogue for the first tens of seconds, those who did not see enough films may find it not as good as expected. Besides the parody, the film does not offer much to make the film more enjoyable. Efforts has been given to squeeze as many parody as possible in the film while the effectiveness has been lessened due to over-polishing.

Actor IM Kwon-hee, who has just been in OUT OF JUSTICE (2001) as a police officer, has given plenty of chance to show off his skills as comedian in FUNNY MOVIE. His casting is accurate. IM is an actor highly suitable for comedies no matter the genre while this movie is the genre for him. Taking a sun-glasses with a raincoat, he automatically takes the images as AHN Sung-gi in NOWHERE TO HIDE (1999). IM is usually not in the leading role due to his looking but this movie is good time for him to show his potential.

What really surprises me is not IM but SUH Tae-hwa, acts as IM's partner. SUH's characters in movies are usually series like cameo as police officer in PUBLIC ENEMY (2002). This time he makes a total change to pick a comedy role also. His outlook as THE FOUL KING (2000) is more than what we expected. Relative to IM and SUH, the other leading casts - KIM Soo-roh and KIM Jung-eun are not as shine as expected. Probably KIM's comedian image has been too deep and he offers nothing more than his other films.

In short, FUNNY MOVIE is a good test for those who claim themselves knowing a lot on Korean Cinema. The more you can laugh with the film, the more you know about this new cinema.