Just Like the Series, Very Boring
The movie/series: See my full review for the series about the storyline, script, and acting. All of it applies to the movie too.The movie: Overall, they did a great job editing the series into a movie version. However, I wish they had fixed the weird editing choice from episode 7 because it does seem out of place and affected the mood for the next scene.
Random Notes:
You basically can skip the series and watch the movie version because there was very little that was edited out. As I stated with the series, you can wait to watch the movie until you have some time to kill and have nothing better on your must watch list.
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Loved the Movie Version Even More
I really loved this series, which got a lot of luke warm reviews with many comments directed to not believing late 20s guys wouldn't be aware of their sexual orientation. That's a fair complaint but certainly earlier generations were so far in denial that they got married, raised a family, and only later in life accepted their preference. I suspect that still goes on today, even with younger people. For me, this seems like a pretty realistic plot and we're spared a lot of the cliches of BL/Gay cinema. No one dies (always with the subtle message that straying from the "straight" path will lead to a life of misery or violent death). These are adults with established careers rather than college engineering students. There aren't endless scenes of anguish about coming out to parents, although there are two flashback scenes with each lead recalling a homophobic encounter with school classmates. I won't repeat my full review of the episodic version, except for a few highlights: The Korean film industry sets a high watermark for production values and I love the quirky, fast-paced direction of this piece. Nothing seems padded here. All three of the male principals are absolutely great together. Like other Korean BL dramas, this one is pretty timid. We get a couple of shirtless scenes and some lightweight kissing. There is one rather amusing scene where the main lead has trouble walking due to some sexual excitement. But this drama definitely doesn't push beyond conservative sensibilities. Aside from that the only real plot weakness is the unresolved fate of the third guy in the love triangle, but maybe there's a sequel where we meet him again? Anyway, this is one I could rewatch many times. Highly recommended.Was this review helpful to you?
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Great beginning followed by a bit of disappointment
I didn't read the synopsis prior to watching this movie (or maybe I had read it at some point, but I don't remember it, so...), so I had no idea what's coming and wow. This movie definitely started off strong. It was fresh, fun and maybe a bit crazy (but in a good way) and I actually caught myself laughing out loud every few minutes. And the characters were adults, so there was the potential to be a bit more daring with the humour and I'm glad the writers made use of it, even tho it felt a bit embarassing at times. Bonus point for a likeable female character!I can't compare this movie with the show (did I miss something not watching it?), but sadly I feel like Oh! My Assistant slowly started losing it spark as the movie progressed. Because somewhere along the way (thankfully it was towards the end) all the things I loved and named in the first paragraph were pushed aside just to be unceremoniously replaced with the most repeated and boring cliches known to the mankind. Misunderstandings, pretending and the last nail in the coffin, the "their best friend of years is actually in love with them". While the first two were funny maybe the first few times, repeating it over and over again without any talking (I mean, they talked, but kinda ignored it afterwards) was just frustrating. It's old, overused, and most importantly - it's not something that should be prioritized over the elements that were actually interesting and mainly - over the characters themselves. Because yes, it made the characters develop, but in a negative way. I mean slightly creepy second lead? Come on! You can do better. Another point - I don't know if the chemistry between the two main leads was getting worse with time or if it was almost nonexistent from the get go, but I feel that sometimes it would just be better to not make the main characters kiss and this is one of the cases.
The last thing I found kind off off-putting was the voiceover/characters saying out loud what they think or feel that happened every so often. It felt a little bit out of place - I don't know if those were remnants of the comic, lazy writing or just director's vision, but they became too noticable and honestly I don't understand their purpose. Wasn't there a less disruptive way to make the viewers understand?
But all in all, even though I named many things I didn't like, I still quite enjoyed watching this movie. As I mentioned before, it started off really strong, the actors were quite likeable and even though its potential wasn't used as much as it should be, maybe because the movie was rather short, it didn't get that MUCH worse, it was still fun and after it ended, I didn't feel like I wasted two hours of my time and was actually quite happy with it. But I would be much happier, if it just stayed light and fun without all the unnecessary drama.
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It was very boring but interesting, the acting and chemistry was off...
I liked it...but it just wasn't to my average liking, it was so stressful that I started to think it wouldn't even have a happy ending imo. I liked it and enjoyed it, but there was something that made it seem off. They hardly had on-screen chemistry, and it was so hard to believe they were even a couple in this movie, honestly. It was like they were friends or even brothers. But other than that the story in this movie was so confusing but interesting. I had fun watching this and the characters had good acting (besides the distant hugs because they were so far apart even when hugging), they were very funny at times, and I liked it.Was this review helpful to you?
All the ingredients are right and in the right quantities, but there's no food
I watched the movie from the get-go, so I have no idea whether or not there are differences compared to the series. These are just my thoughts about the story. I haven't read the webtoon either.The premises of the story are interesting, and the very beginning was funny. I was expecting it to be a romantic comedy for the most part: even though some parts were more embarrassing than fun, I didn't mind all that much. The characters all had the potential to make the story lively and memorable as well.
...so I really don't understand why did the writers decide to set all the elements of the plot and the interesting quirks of the characters aside, only to utilize two of the most annoying plot devices in existence (the miscommunication and misunderstanding tropes) and create one of the most boring BLs I've watched.
Out of all the elements in the synopsis (Seon Ho being an adult webtoon artist, him having lost his libido entirely until Mu Young becomes his assistant, Mu Young secretly being his fan), NOTHING is relevant in the plot. At best they are background elements, only introduced and not brought up for almost the entire film.
These are all things that I could easily let go of if the story was still good in some way, but it just isn't. Nothing relevant happens in most of the film. Unfortunately even the actors didn't do much to make it better: they spend more time thinking about what they (allegedly) feel, rather than showing it to us at any moment. Even when things actually happen in the story, the acting and the poor editing made the events feel unimportant and bland.
I don't recommend watching this nor the series. I'm usually nicer with shows that I was able to complete and give them at least a 6 out of 10, but this time around I can't. At some point I was feeling so bored and annoyed with everything that I almost dropped this title entirely, so I can't even say that I was entertained.
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A little bummer
You see, I've read the Manwha long before I've seen the movie and i really really loved the Manwha so i was excited to see the movie.Needless to say I was disappointed, they let out many many sweet scenes which were in my opinion relevant for the plot amd character development, the acting also lacks a bit but it is okay. In the Manwha the storyline was conclusive in itself and very sweet. As I said before i think they let out relevant scenes which makes it a bit hard to really emphasize with the character and understand rhe storyline to its fullest.
Overall I think it is still a good movie if you just want to watch something without thinking too much about it but if you are really interested in it you should read the Manwha (it has the same name).
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Good start ... Disappointing from mid
The movie started off quite well and I was really excited to see how the leads will fall for each other but sadly even when they fall and confess, the story got dragged for no good reason.The unnecessary misunderstanding on part of mun yeong was too childish to even accept.. i mean if a person tells you that he likes you, instead of confronting, you assume things and drift apart.. where's the logic in this??
Just to increase the movie time, the story was dragged which was very disappointing from my pov.
His friend was also not utilised properly in the story... He had lot of room for character development but was just wasted at his "Denial - acceptance- clingy" behaviour.
All in all if you are busy or have lot of lined up series in your watchlist, you can really skip this and keep it in watch later to be seen when you run out of options!
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