Good gravy, how many films a year does Asia produce about a meek misunderstood girl going after the BMOC? I feel like I’ve seen some form of this tale in Chinese, Korean, Phillipine and Indian form a dozen times in the past few years and I’m only getting what makes it to the San Francisco Bay Area. Alas, here we go again.
Lee Geun-Yeong (Yuan Shanshan) is tabloid reporter … you know, the kinda of person we always root for. Her record of discovering the truth is abysmal, so when she fails –again- to get scoop, story or truth, she is fired. Not sure what China’s libel laws are, but I imagine even in a country with a dearth of free press, you don’t get to be right only 12% of the time. “Fox News, Jim, Fox News.” Oh. Well, let me retract that last statement. I have no idea why Lee is fired, but she is. And she takes out her pain on Korean idol Hoo Joon (Park Chanyeol).
I Married An Anti-Fan finds our heroine disturbingly quick to violence. I counted either three or four unprovoked attacks on management and bodyguard personnel during her rampage in the first 15 minutes of film. At one point, she gets the bright idea to apologize to Hoo Joon, which he accepts in limited fashion. The limitation sets her off which begs the question, “why did you bother with this nutcase?”
So, naturally, the two are thrown into a reality show together – the celebrity and his anti-fan. Ha ha. If you are of the age and temperament at which you find this material bedazzling,
you probably won’t automatically know what’s coming next, even though the title is a dead giveaway. Speaking of which, I’ve seen three different English titles for this film: I Married An Anti-Fan, No One’s Life Is Easy, and So I Married an Anti-Fan – the latter perhaps to cash in on the relentless popularity of So I Married An Axe Murderer. That particular twist might have been cute – instead of falling in love, the disgruntled employee starts trying to kill her popular co-star on the set. Sigh. I’m just making up my own film now.
I suppose there were a few cute moments – the part where Lee inexplicably cuffs her foot to Hoo Joon’s arm led to a few smiles … also Shanshan has that irrepresively bubbly personality endemic in Chinese comedic heroines. And everybody loves the ugly duckling-to-swan transformation. From a distance, however, this film is trite and forgettable. The two stars are for the Chinese teen coeds this film is supposed to impress. If Park Chanyeol is your ideal botanical garden, well, you’ll find this film tolerable. For the rest of you coeds, give it a miss, Miss.
♪There she grates
There she grates, again
Bugging in the rain
And I just can’t contain
That personified stain
There she grates
There she irritates
Smacking my best mate
And I just can’t relate
To whom she’d want to date♫
Not Rated, 120 Minutes
D: Kim Jae-young
W: ??
Genre: Films to excite oppressed teens
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Southeast Asian pre-adult coeds
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: People who have seen Notting Hill
♪ Parody inspired by “There She Goes”
