Completed
mira
0 people found this review helpful
Aug 13, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 5.0

Adorable and humorous, but a bit too long, with the wrong male lead.

I started watching this drama around the time it was released for the first time, but it didn't catch my attention much—I didn't see where the story could be going, and although i tend to enjoy Park Minyoung's works, this one didn't feel as promising, mainly because of the male lead who I thought was quite annoying.

Well, now that I decided to actually finish the show, that fact didn't change. Most of the time I still found Kim Jaewook's acting bland, lacking of expression, except for maybe a couple times when he seemed natural. Thankfully, I learned that aside from him, the whole cast is absolutely amazing, I was endeared by so many of them—they portrayed the relationships between the characters so vividly and realistically that I couldn't help smiling at their antics. I adored everyone including Seonjoo, Eungi, Geonwoo, the guy who works at the coffee shop and whose name I always forget, and even Director Uhm Sohye made me laugh several times. This is definitely one of the funniest korean dramas I've seen so far.

Despite being entertained so many times, I found the backstory of the characters and the actual "drama" part of the show disappointing—I don't understand why it was necessary to connect the dots that way, it simply didn't move me as it should've. It felt rather ridiculous and sappy, and the fact that I wasn't able to connect with Ryan Gold's character emotionally didn't help with that situation either. I was even quite bored towards the end as they dragged on the story and ended it with possibly the most corny thing one can choose for a romantic comedy.

If it wasn't for the male lead and the overly dramatic elements, this show would probably be one of my absolute favourites, and something I'd rewatch for comfort. This way, it's rather forgettable, but still a nice experience with lots of sweet moments in it. If you don't expect a life-changing show but one that you can watch when you have nothing else to do and be entertained, Her Private Life is something you'll have fun watching.

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Completed
romantic-at-heart
0 people found this review helpful
May 27, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Part cute part dramatic

This was a typical all-in-one romcom that unfortunately didn’t just give us cute and fluffy but also added in heavy drama and the usual amnesia and linked childhood tropes as well.

The cute parts were what I enjoyed most and seeing the FL as a fangirl made me smile. Her romance with the ML was more mature than most romcoms although there was some misunderstandings in the beginning to build a little bit of tension. Kissing was passionate and even led to the bedroom with sweet morning after scenes.

I would have been happier without all the darker elements in this story as I was in the mood for something light and fluffy. After having watched my fair share of modern Korean dramas, it is getting hard to find one that surprises me in a nice way. This drama used common elements to spice it up and I could predict what was coming next quite easily. A better watch if you’re new to Korean drama.

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Completed
universara
0 people found this review helpful
Aug 26, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 4.0
Story 1.0
Acting/Cast 5.5
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.5
This review may contain spoilers

ass.

i hate this kdrama with the entire fibre of my being. you will never understand how much i HATE this drama why did i even watch it?? it wasted so much of my time MIND YOU i watched this kdrama during COVID when i had NOTHING BETTER TO DO!!!! i shouldve literally done nothing instead of watching this trash show. why was it so revolved around the female lead being so obsessed with her idol that she STORES THE WATER BOTTLE HER IDOL THREW IN THE CROWD (and coincidentally caught) IN A GLASS CONTAINER LIKE ITS A PIECE OF ART???? girl. thats so scary. her outfits did eat though. anyway. THIS SHOW as its written is literally about her private life of being a weird fangirl obsessed FREAK over a boy band!!!!! did i mention that the love triangle was so unnecessary and stupid.....? anyway. i watched this in covid and let me tell you i have such a hard time remembering the details of this drama other than the fact that it was so horrendous and trash and ass and all of the above. i wont even attempt to rewatch and to change my mind. it took me FOREVER to complete this kdrama because of how dumb it was. the male lead was fine though. dont waste your time with this trash show. dont. dont even think about it. watch vincenzo. or the devil judge. gangnam beauty is better than this.

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Dropped 9/16
KoosKoos
2 people found this review helpful
Jan 8, 2020
9 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 4.0
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 5.5
Rewatch Value 1.5
I pushed myself to keep going forward by episode 6. It was around there that watching the show became a chore.
I love the two lead actors which is why I picked up the show, but the story quickly became dull and ridiculous. I kept watching because I am in love with Kim Jae Wook (ever since Coffee Prince!) but I couldn't handle the stupidity of the writing. Gah.

I really liked the romance between the two main characters, but the writing got so weak and there wasn't really a story to watch anymore.
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Completed
IzzyDramaLover
1 people found this review helpful
Apr 14, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 4.0
I'm not into K-dramas but this wasn't too bad. It wasn't very original but I was expecting worse so I'm not really disappointed. However the drama could have been better or atleast much shorter.
The storyline was fun till a few episodes after they got together. After that it was kinda dull and the last 2 episodes were completely unnecessary.

I loved the chemistry between the leads and the fact that the male lead was actually charming and not an asshole. :)♡
I didn't care much for the side characters other than Cha Shin Ah + their mother and Hyo Jin ...the others were just meh...like the usual typical boring side characters shown in most K-dramas.

I don't know if anyone else feels the same but I found Deok Mi's outfits and hair in the drama too distracting..o.o not in a good way.. plus the product placement was just so obvious lol..

Kim Jae Wook though..♡

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Completed
jwhites
1 people found this review helpful
Jul 25, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 5.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 3.5
Rewatch Value 5.0

Cultural Cliches

South Korea's largely homogenous population's expectations caused the writer's bad choice in the script to become an issue of "acceptable" bigotry and xenophobia, and I found it increasingly offensive as the series continued. ML's name was Ryan Gold. Everyone in Korea pronounced it "Lion". It's not that they COULDN'T say it correctly, it's that they chose to mispronounce it - every single character who had cause to use his name, probably 98% of the time. They introduced him with the mispronunciation, too. And, frequently, they laughed about him being a lion, drew pictures of lions and so forth. He tried correcting them - it didn't stick, so having some social skills, he just took a deep breath and acted as though he thought it was funny, too. It didn't matter if he was Korean by birth; he had been raised for the other 29 or so years of his life in an English speaking country and afahk only had an English/American name. Doesn't matter if he was Nigerian, Australian, Intuit, whatever -- it's insulting to not even try to say their name correctly.

Making this social faux pas even more appalling is the fact that he was the Big Boss of the company where all these folks worked. I don't know about you, but if my big boss had a name that I found hard to pronounce, I would darned well practice it in front of a mirror and on a recording so that I SHOWED RESPECT FOR MY BOSS BY SAYING HIS NAME RIGHT! If your name were "Jin Gwa Ber" and all of your subordinates, neighbors, and friends called you "Jingle Bell" over and over and over again, and laughed over how witty they were being, I guarantee that you would become more and more offended each time they did it.

Sadly, this pretty well ruined the series for me. It was typical fluff, generally sweet trying to seem deep from time to time, well cast and had some very nice sets. The music was repetitive and annoying, though. I don't think it passes the Bechdel test either. I wish I could say I liked it, but I found it increasingly appallingly bigoted as it went on --and as repulsive as a roomful of farting dogs.

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Dropped 6/16
Colum H
3 people found this review helpful
Jul 18, 2019
6 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 2.5
Story 1.5
Acting/Cast 5.5
Music 3.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
I thought the concept could be interesting and the first couple of episodes were OK. I soon found my interest waning as I became less and less interested in the lead characters. I just didn't feel any chemistry between them.

The chemistry between the two Parks fangirling was far more convincing than the main couple's push and pull.

Attractive stars, boring story, anytime anything interesting happens they just back off next scene.
If you are a fanboi or girl of the leads it might be worth watching but for me...

Got to episode five, got bored, skipped through six, gave up...

Already forgotten ...

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Dropped 13/16
grace
1 people found this review helpful
Aug 8, 2019
13 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 5.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 4.0
I don't know if it's just me getting older or KDramas nowadays are just not as great as they use to be. The main reason I kept watching was because of the main lead's relationship. However, when they got together and the only thing that was left was the plot, it got boring fast. There were so many interlocking complications between all the characters that it got confusing and frustrating. I also did not care for the side characters especially the love square going on with Da Bin and Eun Gi.

The fangirling in this drama honestly confuses me. They set up a storyline with a saesang that not only stalks the idol but also pits fans against the girl the idol is supposedly dating. There's no consequence that she faces for doing that. I just hated how they handled it. Saesangs are a real problem that idols have to deal with and what they do is actually messed up and illegal.

Although there were many things that I hated, there were also a couple of things that I thought were very different which was refreshing. I think the lead's relationship was very healthy. They both communicated their feelings to one another and that's something we don't see often. (However, their relationship seemed way too perfect to be real so it didn't feel human.) I also really liked Seon Joo's monologue about her husband. How he shielded himself behind their status and their circumstance. I felt some real emotions there and that was honestly my favorite part of the drama (aside from that ep 10 kiss.)

I'm kinda glad I dropped it because from what I read, the last few episodes probably would have driven me insane.

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Dropped 5/16
Simba87
2 people found this review helpful
Dec 20, 2019
5 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 3.5
Story 2.5
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.5
This review may contain spoilers
Her character is just unbelievable. First of all I found it quite hilarious that, she had the time to both manage her job as a good professional in a highly competitive field and the fan site. I suppose in her perfect world all of the group events are after her day job and ideally White Ocean only had one schedule overseas(for the entire duration of the drama), like com' on that is absurd. Also I have personally been to a lot of k-pop concerts in Asia and let me tell you some of the fan sites are not nice sweet ladies(girls) who will pat you on the back and give you cookies. Personally I think this character is way off from the real deal.
Apart from the fan moments(which were the reason I started the drama in the first place) the story is just lame. Really if I wanted to see two man fighting over a girl, I would have gone outside to a crowded bar or something and the chances weren't even equal. The I have it all rich, guy and the one that she always considered her brother. *Where is my chair? I want to hit myself with it*
I managed to watch it up until 4th episode and after that, I went through the episodes skipping them just to see if anything interesting will happen. I gave up at episode 10.

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Dropped 7/16
zimzalaminho
1 people found this review helpful
Jan 3, 2020
7 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 5.0
Story 5.5
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 4.5
This is the classic kdrama that had a lot of potentials but stuck to follow the classic drama stereotypes.
It starts really good and funny, I was a delight that the argument of sasaeng was treated in more a funny way that usually known. But after the funny sasaeng episode ends, and the couple is made, fade into nothing.
It starts to follow the classic full of clichè dramas, where a few accidents happen and the story is elongated till the 16 episodes just because they had to finish it...

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Dropped 6/16
Pnax
1 people found this review helpful
Jul 16, 2022
6 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 4.5
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 5.5
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

This is the most cringe drama I've watched after Business Proposal

I don't think the writer have ever met an artist in real life or even know a single thing about art and painting.
The ML needs only 1 sec to judge a painting? Lol! Even Picasso wouldn't dare!

I loved Park Min Young in "When the weather is fine". She was pretty good in "What's wrong with Secretary Kim" but here the overacting was pretty bad. Not as bad as the FL in Vincenzo and Business Proposal though. Didn't care about the ML or the story. I liked the brother of the FL.

The only thing this drama accurately depicted was how stupid and embarrassing "fangirling" really is! I guess Korean people/writers are expert in that department.

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Dropped 4/16
yuukisakura
5 people found this review helpful
Apr 25, 2019
4 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 5
Overall 1.0
Story 1.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
Maybe I don't like this drama because I'm not a fan girl but I feel that some scenes were way over the top and forced. I'm not feeling much chemistry between the two main leads mainly because the main guy seems to be lacking emotions and the girl is too passionate about her idols. Watching them both interact makes me cringe. I thought that I would like this drama because the summary sounds promising but it disappointed me. I find the girl's passion for her idols to be annoying and unrelatable. I disagree with a lot of her sayings throughout the drama. And the main guy seems to be lacking every emotion except anger. I feel that this is another one of these drama with the mean guy (who is secretly soft) gets tame by a nice girl. I tend to avoid those dramas as they are meaningless to watch. There were a few bits and pieces in the drama that made me laugh but there were nothing interesting enough to led me on. I would not recommend this but maybe to a fan girl/boy.

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Her Private Life (2019) poster

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  • Score: 8.3 (scored by 69,158 users)
  • Ranked: #969
  • Popularity: #27
  • Watchers: 134,312

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