200 Pounds Beauty

Starring: Kim Ah Joong, Joo-Jin Moo
Directed by: Kim Yong-hwa

It's been a while since I last watched a Korean movie. I heard about this movie being the blockbuster hit of 2007 in Korea, but it was only when my friend suggested me to watch it that I finally did.

200 Pounds Beauty is about Kang Hanna (Kim Ah Joong), a 200 pound obese woman who works as a phone sex operator. Unknown to many, she is also the real voice behind Ammy, a popular pop star. As in, she provides the real singing voice while she's tucked hidden behind the stage, while the pop star Ammy lip sings on-stage ala Milli Vanilli. Kang Hanna has very low self esteem because of the fact that she's obese, and that she's usually the butt of jokes... usually made by Ammy herself. She bears with all of Ammy's insults just because of their handsome producer, Sang-jun (Joo-Jin Moo), who Hanna has a crush on. One night, Hanna over hears Sang-jun and Ammy talking about how they are just using her. Being hurt over this, she tries to commit suicide. But before she can kill herself, she receives a call from one of her phone sex customers. This customer happens to be a top plastic surgeon. Desperate to change completely and be beautiful for once, she blackmails the surgeon to give her a total plastic surgery makeover. Now beautiful and sexy, Hanna comes back to the scene after a year, now hiding under the name 'Jenny'. What will happen?

The film is the usual romantic comedy. Most of the humor comes from Hanna's obese form... and after her transformation, on how she adjusts to her new form. The plot of the story is actually good, and gives a good insight on the subject of plastic surgery, which is all the rage now in South Korea. The conflict of how Hanna copes up with her new looks; how she deals with old acquaintances; how she builds her own confidence; and finally, how she gains her redemption actually works. Most of the drama though is in the end, which is a definite tear jerker.

Besides the superb portrayal of the cast (specially the lead star Kim Ah Joong), the real highlight of the movie, in my opinion, is the soundtrack. And it's actually Kim Ah Joong who sang all her parts, which I think is really impressive. There's even a great cover of the 1999 Blondie hit, "Maria", sung by Kim Ah Joong herself.

In a nutshell, if you love romantic comedies (and Korean at that), definitely watch 200 Pounds Beauty. It's a no brainer since it's actually a mega hit in Korea. So watch, watch.

Trailer


'Maria' by Kim Ah Joong