[HanCinema's Film Review] "The Best Romance"

It is a popular opinion that a well paired romantic couple is the single most important thing for romantic comedy in Korean drama. Even if everything else is bad, surely fun and cute interactions will save it. Sadly, a boat full of holes is doomed to sink, no matter how much one cheers it on. The same goes for any story and genre, including romantic comedy in film. 'The Best Romance' is a light, sometimes fun movie, but it also has a great flaw.

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Kang Jae-hyeok (Lee Dong-wook) has worked hard to become a detective. Jae-hyeok suffers from aichmophobia, a fear of pointed and sharp objects, which he suppress for work. Choi Soo-jin (Hyun Young) is an entertainment reporter who has gone from a fighter in college to embarrassing herself for any gossip she can score. During an unfortunate meeting, Jae-hyeok gets accidentally stabbed by Soo-jin. The two do not get along, but they have to cooperate when the cases they are on turn out to be connected.

The element which gives this work most of its value is the cast and how appropriate they are for their characters. Lee Dong-wook is an actor who appears to have no issues with looking silly and his tendency to overact, which is usually a flaw of his, turns into fuel for comedy here. The ever so quirky Hyun Young is great with characters that combine commonly accepted traits of femininity with craziness and lack of grace. The supporting cast is also great and they create fun scenes with what they have.

The movie combines romance with action comedy and crime fighting. Unfortunately, the action and crime case overshadow the romance by the end. Despite that, the two actors have nice chemistry, both in their bickering and the unfortunately short attraction part between them. The romantic side of the plot had potential and despite being so very different, the actors could have made it work.

Sadly, not much really happens in terms of the pair's flirting, so this will likely not be the best work for fans of romance alone. Jae-hyeok and Soo-jin are a comedic duo more than they are a couple or even two people who are attracted to each other. The humor mentioned is another problem with the movie. While it has its moments of brilliance, it can also get too tiring and repetitive, with a lot of the interactions relying on that alone. This makes the character relationships paper-thin.

Paper-thin being a good descriptor for the rest of this story and the plot for it. There really is nothing much happening here. A detective and a reporter meet, they bicker a lot, bad guys sell drugs, good guys are after the bad guys. There is very little development of story or characters aside from that. The movie also suffers from bad editing and feels more like scenes lumped poorly together without a sense of an overarching plot design being followed.

'The Best Romance' is a typical movie of its kind. There are jokes, unbelievable situations, action and a lot of verbal arguments for the sake of that romance. Much like many films within these genres, it also lacks an interesting story and suffers from a messy plot and often poor presentation. The romance is cute for what it is and it is an enjoyable enough film to spend a little time with. It just does not offer anything more and its good parts are not enough to make it a great action comedy or romantic comedy. This romance is not the best, but it is fun enough.

'The Best Romance' is directed by Kim Jeong-woo, written by Dong Hee-seon and features Lee Dong-wook, Hyun Young, Lee Jung-hun and Jeon Soo-kyeong.

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

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