English
Review

Focus Asia

FUNNY MOVIE

Korea (south) 2002
Regie jang kyu-sung
Darsteller kim su-ro, kim jung-un, lim won-hee, suh tae-hwa
Ja doch! Wir geben es zu: der Titel gehört wirklich nicht zu den originellsten des Jahres. Der Film aber dafür zu den witzigsten seit SCARY MOVIE beim Fantasy Filmfest für Partystimmung sorgte. Wie? Hat da jemand nach Handlung gefragt? Okay: böse, böse Buben wollen die voranschreitende politische Annäherung im asiatischen Raum verhindern. Nach dem Motto: Wir-sprengen-alles-in-die-Luft. Und wo sie gerade dabei sind, warum nicht auch gleich die Fußball-WM in Japan und Korea...

Im Feindesland angekommen, lässt sich dieses ausgesprochen doofe Sonderkommando nicht nur das ganze Geld klauen, sondern auch den Sprengstoff dazu. Da heißt es improvisieren. Aber zum Glück sind die good guys der koreanischen Polizei auch nicht viel heller... Auf dem Weg zum fetzigen Showdown bleibt bei FUNNY MOVIE kein Auge trocken. Und das besonders Schöne daran: unsere asiatischen Freunde lassen es sich nicht nehmen, so richtig auf die Pauke zu hauen und gnadenlos alle koreanischen Blockbuster von SHIRI bis JOINT SECURITY AREA zu verarschen.


FUNNY MOVIE is just that: a big-time, kick-ass, laugh-out-loud funny movie that not only spoofs all recent Korean blockbusters but also delivers genuine brain-bypass-jokes. The story includes bad guys (they're mostly bad at their job), good guys (they're really good at fucking things up) and lots of explosives. Did we mention weird private games involving golf rackets? Outrageously hilarious!
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Parody is not new in Korean Cinema. For those who have seen KWAK Jae-yong's MY SASSY GIRL (2001), you may note the parody of TERMINATOR and BICHUNMOO. However, there never been a film fully designated for parody like Hollywood film SCARY MOVIE. JANG Kyu-sung's FUNNY MOVIE, which shares the same structure as SCARY MOVIE, is a parody movie making fun of 28 Korean films.
The film is largely an adaptation of KANG Je-gyu's SHIRI (1999) starting from the first minute. The only difference is that this time is not the attack from the North Koreans but a Japanese organization called KT. The love between Hwang-bo and Sangmi is exactly the same as HAN Suk-kyu and KIM Yoon-jin in SHIRI.

Though FUNNY MOVIE is a parody, the production shows its efforts in imitating the films in most of the aspects, from the background to the music scores. A parody of ATTACK THE GAS STATION! is one of the best examples giving the exact dressing as the four casts in that movie. A parody of FRIEND (2001) is also an example by shooting on the same bridge as in the original film.

(...)
Actor IM Kwon-hee, who has just been in OUT OF JUSTICE (2001) as a police officer, has been given plenty of opportunity to show off his skills as a comedian in FUNNY MOVIE. His casting is accurate. IM is an actor highly suitable for comedies no matter the genre while this movie is the genre for him. Taking sun-glasses with a raincoat, he automatically takes the image as AHN Sung-gi in NOWHERE TO HIDE (1999). IM is usually not in the leading role due to his looks but this movie is good for him to show his potential.
What really surprises me is not IM but SUH Tae-hwa, acting as IM's partner. SUH's characters are usually in series in a cameo as police officer in PUBLIC ENEMY (2002). This time he makes a total change to pick a comedy role. His performance as THE FOUL KING (2000) is more than what we expected. (...) In short, FUNNY MOVIE is a good test for those who claim they know a lot about Korean Cinema. The more you can laugh with the film, the more you know about this new cinema." Pusan International Film Festival
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