The main leads have to be praised for holding together the drama. Without them, I would have dropped this drama halfway through. The chemistry that they share, no just in duos but the three of them together as well, was worth spending 16 hours on. There are scenes which you will rewind and watch again and again because they were too funny or too sweet (The drama has abundant amount of both of those, don't worry). The actors bring alive the characters that were too conflicted otherwise.
The story was 1) Nothing striking 2) Not thought through 3) Illogical 4) Eve frustrating, after a point. But you love watching the leads so much that you decide to bear through that. I'm a very impatient person and sometimes -major confession comping up- skip parts that bore me to death. And I just skipped a little bit in one episode through the later part of the show I think. That's rare. The main low of the drama arrives after the 9th episode. You start to feel that the story is being dragged and you're being dragged along with it, the show tempts you many times to drop it, but you still don't. The thing is, even though the story is.. not so good, it moves at a decent pace. Before you can get annoyed enough to drop it, you have another illogical thing to focus on. So basically you don't even realize that while moving from one silly plot to another, you reached the finale and made it through! But I should still mention, beware of some serious character warping towards the end. You'll want to smash the writers' heads for distorting perfectly great characters into a morbid shell of what they were earlier, especially Kang Mu-Gyul's (JGS) character. Had me grimacing throughout the last few episodes.
The main leads chosen were simply outstanding. I'm a JGS fan through and through and thought I'd be rooting for the girl to end up with him till the end but I've never been proved so wrong. True, JGS's character Mu-Gyul was pretty attractive and appealed to me, but I was more confused than Mary between whom I would choose! Kim Jae Wook was a brilliant surprise for me. I'd seen him in Coffee Prince of course but, there wasn't really much to see was there. Here.. Woah, I was blown away. Half the time I was thinking I wouldn't mind it if Mary ended up with Jung-in (Kim Jae Wook) either. Then my JGS fan-side would chide me for being a traitor and gushing after another. But I loved him nonetheless, he acted really well. Superb acting by all three of them actually! There were some majorly annoying characters though. All the parents in this show (not counting Mary's mother since she wasn't actually there) - pathetic. No parenting skills whatsoever. God knows how the three leads ended up being so good. And Mary's friends.. Agh, I cringed every time they were about to get drunk, I would either end up banging my head against the table or run away if I had such noisy and whiny friends, but I should give them credit for being helpful and loyal though.
The music of the show was another reason you sail through the illogical story. The main song of the show 'My Precious' seemed off to me the first time I heard it and then later, I found myself wishing for it to come up at every situation possible. The rest of the score was okay, nothing noteworthy but bearable at the same time. Overall, I didn't find anything specifically wrong in the Music department.
Like I said, there are many adorable and hilarious scenes in the show which you don't get tired of watching again and again. For them, and them alone (and for the main leads of course) the rewatch value imo is 8. I might not watch the whole drama another time but I can sure see myself opening specific episodes and watching those great scenes again.
Verdict:
Definitely not the best drama I've seen, but I've seen worse. This is definitely a drama that should be seen as a breather between heavy ones to just freshen up your mind. If you're looking for a story that makes absolute sense and if too much mush makes you gag, this drama is not for you. But if you want to laugh, scoff, giggle, gush - you won't regret watching this. Just remember to switch off the logical side of your brain, it'll get fried anyway.
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The story is very shallow to being with, but they made interesting twists to keep it alive. That is, after the writers was left just as confused as the viewers. The last episodes are barely just people talking about the same things they always have been talking about, and it's just not fun to watch anymore. It's also very predictable near the end.
The music is okie. I like Jang Geun Seuk's voice, and his song 'My Bus' was great. To be completely honest, that song was also part of the reason to why I decided to watch this drama.
All in all, I was disappointed in this drama. Previously I have watched mr. Seuk in You're Beautiful, Baby and me and Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. If I hadn't watched those, I probably would have ended up disliking him. He shows off in all of the above, but he's just a sad sight in Mary Stayed Out All Night. The acting overall is dry, and the characters are just left as big questionmarks in my mind. I am still puzzled as to what happened to Moo Gyul's mother and so on.
All in all, this is not a drama I am willing to watch again. The drama had a great cast and had great potential, but it just didn't work out. Being a person who always scores a drama of the impression I'm left with at the ending, it's difficult for me to remember the 'good parts' since they were greatly outnumbered.
Sorry, but my overall is a 3.
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The acting wasn't bad. The actors did a decent enough job portraying their characters, but overall.. I just couldn't come to like any of the characters. Starting with the parents. I really just can't grasp why the writers made them out to be so controlling and insensitive to their own children. I mean forcing a marriage that either side really didn't want in the first place is ridiculous, and then Moo Kyul's mom was pretty much irrelevant in this drama. All she did was cause her son pain, mooch off of him and Mae Ri, and cause problems the whole time and it got old real fast. Seo Joon was annoying as well. The type of characters I hate most are when the 2nd female leads become so jealous and angry because they can't get the man they wanted that they start meddling with the main couple's relationship. And I get it's supposed to make the main couple stronger in the end, but to me it was just a nuisance to watch. And then the 3 main actors: I felt Kim Jae Wook was a little stiff in this drama.. I don't know if it was just his character's own trait, but to me he was always very mono-toned and did a poor job in portraying his emotions. Mae Ri was too weak of a character to like. Letting herself become bossed around by the 2 fathers when she's pretty much old enough to make her own decisions. I thought Moo Kyul was okay in the beginning, but as he started realizing his feelings he became to over dramatic. Never letting Mae Ri explain herself when he would see something between her and Jung In and letting himself completely misunderstand. He was a little pouty to like as well. But I don't think it's the actors fault for that, all the blame definitely goes towards the 2 writers.
The OST wasn't that bad.. Some of the songs were actually enjoyable, but I couldn't help but wonder who picked out the background music for this drama. I mean the one with the random meows or the angelic sounding ones? Whose bright idea was it to pick that?
Overall.. I'm disappointed with this drama. I think it could have been a lot better if it was maybe written differently, but I'll always be left with what could have been. The ending wasn't exactly to my liking, but it wasn't bad either. Poor Jung In got the short end of the stick though.. I've gotta say, I didn't really like him in the beginning of the drama, but I definitely softened up to him towards the end. Overall.. I personally didn't like this drama. Some people may have, but I didn't. Therefore I will probably never watch this again. It was cute and some scenes were laughable, but it just wasn't to my liking. Watch it if you want, but I don't recommend it.
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Even the talents of the actors couldn’t save the show from boringness. The change of the writers around the 11th episode helped the plot a little but it was too little too late. The show was doomed. There was a lot of cute moments but that’s not what make a good drama.
I don’t know how to feel about Mae Ri character. She’s cute like a button, but not really reactive. I don’t know about her dress code either. It’s more looks like a hall stand. It’s like stylists kept putting clothes on her in order to look bohemian. FAIL .
Also the feminist inside me was screaming of anger the entire time. Two man fighting for a female without asking her opinion about anything is a bit too much for me. Plus a father selling his only daughter to a rich family in exchange of money… Isn’t it illegal ? I know it’s just a drama but I can’t help to be a bit confused about the all situation.
The good point about that drama is Waffle Porn (nickname I gave to Kim Jae Wook), I was able to see him growing up as an actor. Ok, the two dramas he starred was huge disappointment for me (Bad Guy and this one) but he’s getting better and better.
My heart aches when I think about how good this drama could have been. sigh .
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I watched it because a friend of mine kept recommending it. She is a Geun Suk fan, so I should have known that she is super biased. Still, it took me a long time to finally watch it, because it just seemed like a dumb concept... I should have trusted my instincts.
I gave the story an official 1, because it was too ridiculous for me. The reason why the parents wanted her to get married, her plan to get out of it, their 100 day resolution... all of it was dumb to me. The only slightly interesting part was the dramaception (drama within a drama) concept, but that wasn't done well either. Most of the episodes are Mary trying not to get caught, which gets old quick. Instead the show relies heavily on the cast, which is decent, but I still didn't like them enough.
First, Moon Geun Young as Mae Ri is super annoying. I honestly didn't get her appeal, nor did I find her cute. I know she represents late blooomer/socially awkward girls, but she was often so selfish that I could not stand her. Her acting was good though, not amazing, but believable. I'm only realizing now that I've not only seen her before in The Village: Achiara's Secret, but she's also in one my of my favorite movies "A Tale of Two Sisters". I guess I didn't recognize her because of her epic hair. Speaking of hair..
Hair is clearly the star of this drama!
The hair MVP in this drama is Geun Suk. I could tell he's in his element in this role. He looked good, he was charming, his outfits were killer... he loses some appeal towards the end, but his performance was solid. He's also the main reason why the love story works at all. I assuming many fans of this show are imagining themselves as his "Merry Christmas". His music performances however start to get super annoying. you have to be a true fangirl to tolerate the amount of times "my preeeeeeecious..." is sung.
Kim Jae Wook's hair is less impressive, and so is his performance. I still empathized with his character the most. He was just so chillaxed all the time that he was borderline boring. I thought there were many cute moments between Mae Ri & Moo Kyul , and a few between Mae Ri & Jung In, but I will admit that there were many times when I thought Jung In had better chemistry with Moo Kyul. There are definitely some ambiguously gay moments, that could have made the story MUCH more interesting, but I doubt a KDrama is going to go there... especially in 2010.
The rest of the cast is pretty cheesy. Kim Hyo Jin was great, and the crew of bffs were great, but they just didn't have enough interesting things to do besides meddle, and sulk, and drink a lot. The Hallyu star and the manager were pretty useless. Then there are the parents... *deep sigh* This show has the most irresponsible, irrational, dysfunctional, abusive, unfit parents ever. Jung In's dad is a psychopath. I wanted to strangle Moo Kyul's mom. I also could not stand Mae Ri's dad, even though he was the only one who's motivation made even the slightest bit of sense.
Rewatch value? Never. I still really don't understand why I didn't drop it.
The OST? Well, music is a huge theme of this show, so there's a lot of it, it's repeated often, and it's still haunting my nightmares. The smeagol ballad "my precious" is probably the most annoying. The "hello" song was cute the first few times, and then it started driving me slowly insane. If you are a Geun Suk fan girl I could totally see this OSTs appeal. The OST is just a method for you to love him more.
Overall, this drama taught me a valuable lesson about needing to drop dramas I don't like. The ending did resolve things, but it didn't bring me any sense of relief. I was so frustrated that I stopped caring anyway, so what's the point? One of the themes the characters keep referring to is loyalty, and maybe that made me feel guilty about dropping it. Who knows. After forcing myself through this process I can only recommend that you not do the same, unless you really REALLY love Jang Geun Suk. Even then, maybe just look at a slide show of stills from the show while playing the OST instead. I would have probably found that much more entertaining.
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This review may contain spoilers
Wow. Okay this drama was very conflicting, but lets get started on Mary Stayed Out All Night--
Story: First things first, I did enjoy the story. The whole girl meets boy, boy and girl take a while to develop feelings and BAM! There's drama (Cliche but I loved it anyway). Now i'm never too crazy about love triangles, in fact.. i really do hate them, but I made an exception because this is a story I really did like. However, as the drama went along, I found myself trying to rush to the end ( I kinda went from first episode WOO second episode omg this is my favorite.. then 7th -16th was meh. ) to write a review on this because some elements of the story really made me want to quit watching.
Acting: I LOVED, the acting. Especially between Jang Geun Seuk and Moon Geun Young. The chemistry between the two was remarkable, and it made me want to continue watching the show even after some of the cast really got under my skin. Although these two were really the ones that made me not drop this drama completely, there were other characters that caught my attention, such as the second lead Kim Jae Wook. But! The parents in this story..now those are a different story. It wasn't their acting so much, but the way they portrayed themselves in the story.
Characters: Although acting/cast and characters are pretty much the same thing, I need to split the two for this review because I have to get my thoughts out about how the characters were written. To be short, since I can't reveal any spoilers, Wi Mae Ri, Kang Moo Kyul, and Jung In's parents, were pretty much the worst parents anyone could have. I disliked their roles in the story because they aren't how parents should act at all and it sort of delayed the romance in the story. They almost made me drop the drama because of the absolute foolishness they put their children through based on their own desires. But, as i've said before the two main characters are what kept me from dropping because I wanted to see how they end. However it was really frustrating to see Wi Mae Ri, not stand up to her father. I mean she is 24 years old.. she shouldn't have to be forced into things such as marriage with someone she doesn't love. But i understand the whole respect she gives her father.
Music: I LOVED the music, along with the acting. The music is super catchy and I even started favoring the songs online. They fit the mood perfectly. I noticed dramas don't really have that many songs but rather repeated songs, and I don't even care because I loved the songs in this drama.
Rewatch Value: To rewatch... or not to rewatch. I don't think I would watch this all the way through again. The most I would do is watch a few scenes I liked, and skip around scenes that made me angry. ( Which ARE ALOT, thanks to the parents of this story) But, yeah. I doubt i'd watch this all the way through, just too many angry emotions.
Overall: So! The big picture is.. You should give this drama a chance if you are a PATIENT person. You need to be patient with this drama because there were many questions I would love to ask the characters about the decisions they chose to make and didn't make. This drama will have you thinking, but I am glad I watched this because It really was something interesting. It does have great moments! Dont get me wrong, and Jang Geuk's Smile is very adorable but.. there are things that will make you feel a lot of conflicted emotions. The end also left some questions unanswered..
Plus I love romance so.. there ya go.
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That’s until I’ve watched through 5 episodes.
This is the type of drama that just tells you, no matter how hot or how popular the actors are, if the story line is crappy, the drama ends up dead.
It was cute, yes. I would have to be honest with that. Seeing Wi Mae Ri strut in her fake voluptuous hair emphasizing her eyes, it was enough for me to go on and watch it. Then throw in the musician Moo Kyul with his long hair, pale skin and shiny shiny smile! Oh wait… not to forget the rich daddy’s boy Jung In, the angsty big boy with daddy issues and melancholic aura. Yes. I’d say they were quite good characters! The show could have been better but it just died with the plot line.
The story revolved in a never ending mess about being in debt, going broke, living a hobo life, making lies which made no actual sense, being employed, being engaged, being dragged around… it was going nowhere. The story went round and round with little bits of cuteness that couldn't save the drama. It was sad because the production had big name actors thrown together and yet they were not able to utilize them to their highest potential.
I won’t be recommending Mary Stayed Out All Night/Mary Me Marry, but if you like to get all gooey eyed to these eye candies… be my guest, just don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
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PS: Sorry for my bad English. For this reason, a review came out a little skimpy.
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And the musics! Gosh, they're lovely! Trax, like OMG, and Sukkie has the best voice, I have already watched a lot with him and I just love him more and more.
The story is full of confusions arround, and the characters get hurt so they won't hurt they're parents, this is really what captured my attention the most.
It really is a drama that enters your heart and where u can smile about, dream about and reflect
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the first episodes were so much fun and i love jang geun suk :)
the music was great i love all the songs
mary stayed out all night was one of my favorite drama's ever
what i didnt like about it was that jgs and mgy broke up and made up all the time it was getting boring but still i loved it.
the actors were great but sometimes a little bit to fake
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At first I quite enjoyed "Mary Stayed out all Night". Mae-Ri (the female lead) was cute but contemporary and Kang Moo Kyul was really cool (plus, this actor seems to be a pretty good one).
Enter Jung In and his father and the whole silly business of arranged weddings; really I've never seen a more elaborate plotline to form a love triangle! While I felt skeptical that it would work, it went fine for a few episodes... then it went downhill! More and more unbelievable situations (those who've watched know what I'm talking about)would arise and the characters just kept on going (to be fair most actors were good in their roles, except for the girl sometimes), accepting everything. When it entered the realm of the almost completely absurd (episode 13) I started to "speed watch" actually.
Would I recommend this series? No. The plot is very weak and random and although the characters are endearing, cute and charming and all that they can't make up for the complete lack of sense of the plot (which is also predictable, but that's a minor flaw).
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