200 POUNDS BEAUTY

200 POUNDS BEAUTY
Minyeo-neun goerowo

Director: Kim Yong-hwa
Starring: Kim Ah-joong as the incredibly beautiful Jenny (Hanna when in fatsuit) and Joo Jin-mo as the handsome manager, amongst other great actors and actresses.
Screen date (Kor): 2006

Date seen: 18.07.08
Reviewed by: neko

Trailer:

Review: Where should I start? Maybe I should begin with proclaiming that this is the best feel-good romantic comedy I’ve ever seen? I guess I got your attention?

The plot starts out quite simple, and you’ll know how the story will develop from the very beginning. But it’s the things that happen in between that makes 200 Pounds Beauty such a great film! That’s why I don’t mind spoiling the story:

Ah-joong with the fatsuit (Hanna) is a fat, ugly girl with a very low self-conscience. Of course it doesn’t help that her two only talents is her job as a phone sex operator and being the (well hidden) voice of the very famous lip sync pop star Ammy. Especially when she has the biggest (no pun intended) crush on Ammy’s manager, played by Jin-mo. As she overhears Ammy and the manager talking about how they only use Hanna to make money, she decides to kill herself. But as she lies in bed waiting for the apartment to fill up with gas, one of her most demanding regulars calls her up for some more phone sex. She remembers that he’s a plastic surgeon, and the next day she heads to his office to extort him to transfer her into the girl she thinks others wants her to be.

Hanna is no more, the girl who comes out from the bandages is now Jenny - incredibly beautiful. Strange Korean music starts to play when men fall for her, and the stage is set for a lot of good laughs. Jenny decides to spy on her big love, the manager, and does so with great effort. Finally she auditions for him, and suddenly she’s famous. No wonder! When she sings the movies theme song Maria, I got shivers trough my entire body!

Jenny’s popularity rises and she almost gets her prince and the kingdom too. But Ammy is jealous, and somehow finds out that Jenny really is Hanna. Jenny tries to hide her old self to the extreme, and almost ruins everything. Of course it all ends well, but it’s important to see that this is a story not only about love, music and laughs - but also about accepting yourself as you are. A well used story in the film industry, but still so very important, especially in a country like Korea!

I love this movie for how it made me feel so incredibly happy and moved that I laughed out loud and even shed a few tears! I enjoyed it for it’s beautiful music, especially the way Maria was preformed. And I didn’t tire of it, even tough I’ve heard the story before. Because it always found ways to surprise me, ways I haven’t seen been done before in this kind of film. See it today or any day, and buy a copy for your mom and friends!

In words: love, music, confidence, friendship, culture, popularity, plastic surgery, idol, family

Reminds me of: This sets the standard for future movies.

Trivia: In Korea, it’s not unusual to marry your daughter to Vietnamese men if she’s overweight. It is in fact so popular, that it has become a million dollar industry doing dating services between the two countries.

Buy: From YesAsia with free worldwide shipping.
Or from our friend, Amazon.