SON Tae-il(CHA Tae-hyun) is a super problem child of Kang High. He has an incredible IQ of 148, but, unfortunately, he's only interested in marrying his first love Il-mae(SON Ye-jin). When Tae-il demands marriage with Il-mae and strays farther away from school, Young-dal(YOO Dong-geun) and Il-mae come up with a proposal to 'bring Tae-il back to the right track.' He openly declares that he would allow Tae-il to marry his daughter Il-mae if he could raise his rank up to top 3, 000 nationwide from his current status of 300,000.
Tae-il accepts the ridiculous proposal without a second thought. And 2 years later, he does pull up his rank up top 3,000 nationwide and is admitted to the Law School of Seoul National University. However, fooled by Young-dal's skillfully touching(?) performance, incorporating tears and snots, Tae-il gets softhearted and promises Young-dal that he'll keep Il-mae 'pure' until he passes the judicial examination. A man's words weigh and worth as much as thousand gold! From then on, Tae-il's ultimate mission is to protect Il-mae from all the sleazeballs who approach her~!
Tae-il's new job as Il-mae's personal bodyguard has begun. However, his double-duty of studying for the judicial examination and monitoring Il-mae's whereabouts is keeping him awake 24-7. On the other hand, Il-mae, who wants to enjoy her college life and date boys, gets frustrated watching Tae-il, who only focuses on his study and even rejects Il-mae's approach to kiss him. What she doesn't realize is that he's doing all this to be with her.
After countless night of no sleep and nosebleed, Tae-il finally passes the 1st level judicial examination. However, at his congratulatory party, Il-mae drops the bomb by confessing her love for another man. Tae-il can't believe his ears. Can this be really happening? Will Tae-il be able to regain and keep his first love?
he consequence of having starred in a brilliant movie that earned blockbuster status (read: My Sassy Girl) is that your next movies for review are placed under closer scrutiny. One can't help but compare. Such is the fate of Cha Tae-hyeon.
So, the movie. Admittedly, it has a good plot and had the makings of a romcom drama that could equal, say, My Sassy Girl. In fact, given the right touches, it could even be more poignant and more funny than My Sassy Girl.
Here's the story. Tae-il has one ambition in life - to marry his childhood love, Il-mae (Son Ye-jin). Sadly, that is his ONLY ambition. He doesn't care much for school and is constantly on a war path. Il-mae's dad, who happens to be Tae-il's homeroom teacher, believes that there's more to Tae-il than the latter would admit. So he offers a proposition - Il-mae's hand in marriage if Tae-il would raise his rank from No. 300,000 to No. 3,000. Tae-il impressively rises to the challenge. The dad takes it a bit further - finish law school. Tae-il accomplishes this, at Seoul National University, no less. And while Tae-il is busy making himself the impressive son-in-law, he still finds time to protect Il-mae from her countless admirers, and from himself. D-day comes when Tae-il passes his bar exams and the dad finally allows him to marry Il-mae. Problem is, Il-mae is already engaged to a wealthy womanizer. Heartbroken, Tae-il now has a new mission in life - to win his first love back.
A good storyline, but a mediocre presentation. Once again, the people behind the movie made the common mistake of magnifying everything so the movie will be something it's not. I'm talking particularly of the comedy. It's disappointing really, the way Cha Tae-hyeon portrayed his Tae-il role considering the natural ease with which he portrayed Gyun-woo in My Sassy Girl. There was too much shouting, and granted that they utilized the Busan dialect, did he have to sound so...Japanese? A lot of potentially funny scenes were wasted because they weren't presented right. A pity, considering that there were naturally funny clips far and in between. The drama was somewhat butchered due to the confusing story surrounding Il-mae. It felt like the scriptwriter lost track of his own narrative. I ended up being baffled in a scene that calls for sympathy. Again, a pity, considering that this movie had strong drama potential.
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