Comic talent can't save 'Two Guys'
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When actors Cha Tae-hyun and Park Joong-hoon team up in a film, it is not hard to guess the outcome. "Two Guys", opening Friday, is an unabashed comedy about, well, the Two Guys.
Cha is one of Korea's leading actors, especially for comedy. His quirky yet mischievous style worked well in the Asia-wide hit film "My Sassy Girl". Park has also established a reputation as a top-rate comedy actor through numerous hits such as "Two Cops".
All this leads the audience to expect laughs, no matter how the story unfolds. Nevertheless, "Two Guys" falls flat with its flimsy story line, shallowness, and reliance on an all-too-familiar "buddy movie" formula that offers nothing new to bored viewers.
In the film, Hun (Cha Tae-hyun) is a part-time parking valet for a bar. Though he has a huge overdue credit-card debt, he doesn't care, as he is an expert at evading collectors.
One day the notorious debt collector Joong-tae (Park Joong-hoon) shows up, introducing himself as an "angel of death" and demanding the money within 12 hours. Joong-tae threatens Hun, saying if he doesn't get the money, he will sell off Hun's kidney.
Joong-tae follows Hun wherever he goes. When Hun tries to get away, Joong-tae forces him to swallow a pill containing a microchip for constant monitoring.
At the bar, Hun picks up a drunk American customer and drives him home with Joong-tae sitting next to him. When they reach their destination, they realize Hun drove the wrong car. The customer, who is quite fluent in Korean, goes wild, making a fuss about his car and an important briefcase inside.
To calm the American, Hun heads for the bar to retrieve the car and briefcase, and Joong-tae is left behind as a sort of hostage. While waiting for Hun to return, Joong-tae stays at the man's luxurious apartment and witnesses his murder by mysterious agents.
Now the briefcase, which contains priceless computer chip information, is in the hands of Hun and Joong-tae, and they are on the run from unidentified evildoers.
The chase makes up most of the film, resulting in a trite plot in which the two characters get to know each other through petty fights and arguments, only to become best buddies in the end.
The acting, to be fair, is not that bad. Cha is faithful to his comic image, constantly complaining while Park fights and bites, often with his trademark playful smile on his face.
Unfortunately, their acting talent can't save a film so lacking in substance and based on a tired old cliche. As if that weren't bad enough, some of the supposedly funny scenes are not funny at all. Meaningless toilet humor and exaggerated gestures abound, producing halfhearted laughs from an audience that went to the theater with high expectations.
When the two initiate negotiations with the mysterious thugs to trade the briefcase for a huge sum of money, the ending is not hard to predict. After all, in a slapstick buddy movie like this, who can really expect a surprise ending?
By Yang Sung-jin
Cha is one of Korea's leading actors, especially for comedy. His quirky yet mischievous style worked well in the Asia-wide hit film "My Sassy Girl". Park has also established a reputation as a top-rate comedy actor through numerous hits such as "Two Cops".
All this leads the audience to expect laughs, no matter how the story unfolds. Nevertheless, "Two Guys" falls flat with its flimsy story line, shallowness, and reliance on an all-too-familiar "buddy movie" formula that offers nothing new to bored viewers.
In the film, Hun (Cha Tae-hyun) is a part-time parking valet for a bar. Though he has a huge overdue credit-card debt, he doesn't care, as he is an expert at evading collectors.
One day the notorious debt collector Joong-tae (Park Joong-hoon) shows up, introducing himself as an "angel of death" and demanding the money within 12 hours. Joong-tae threatens Hun, saying if he doesn't get the money, he will sell off Hun's kidney.
Joong-tae follows Hun wherever he goes. When Hun tries to get away, Joong-tae forces him to swallow a pill containing a microchip for constant monitoring.
At the bar, Hun picks up a drunk American customer and drives him home with Joong-tae sitting next to him. When they reach their destination, they realize Hun drove the wrong car. The customer, who is quite fluent in Korean, goes wild, making a fuss about his car and an important briefcase inside.
To calm the American, Hun heads for the bar to retrieve the car and briefcase, and Joong-tae is left behind as a sort of hostage. While waiting for Hun to return, Joong-tae stays at the man's luxurious apartment and witnesses his murder by mysterious agents.
Now the briefcase, which contains priceless computer chip information, is in the hands of Hun and Joong-tae, and they are on the run from unidentified evildoers.
The chase makes up most of the film, resulting in a trite plot in which the two characters get to know each other through petty fights and arguments, only to become best buddies in the end.
The acting, to be fair, is not that bad. Cha is faithful to his comic image, constantly complaining while Park fights and bites, often with his trademark playful smile on his face.
Unfortunately, their acting talent can't save a film so lacking in substance and based on a tired old cliche. As if that weren't bad enough, some of the supposedly funny scenes are not funny at all. Meaningless toilet humor and exaggerated gestures abound, producing halfhearted laughs from an audience that went to the theater with high expectations.
When the two initiate negotiations with the mysterious thugs to trade the briefcase for a huge sum of money, the ending is not hard to predict. After all, in a slapstick buddy movie like this, who can really expect a surprise ending?
By Yang Sung-jin
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