![]() It’s during a visit to Jong-gi’s that Pan-su stops off at a ramen joint he used to go to in his youth, only to discover that the young woman who owned the restaurant all those years ago has moved on which is why his favourite dish doesn’t taste like it used to. Old habits die hard, however, as his current problem is his minion’s failure to put sufficient pressure on the last holdout in an area they’ve earmarked for redevelopment – Jong-gi (Kim Kwang-kyu), the earnest owner of a carpentry firm intent on holding on to the family business. Less a story of two men from different generations learning from each other, Kang’s film leans heavily into patriarchal myths as its jaded hero is given a second chance at youth and discovers he may have made a grave error in choosing to reject love in favour of advancement.ġ7 years after breaking up with high school sweetheart Mi-sun (Ra Mi-ran), Pan-su is a high flying “businessman” in the newly corporatised world of suited gangster thuggery. The Dude in Me was screened at LFF on the 9th October.“What’s more important than being with your family?” – A cynical crime boss is forced to reconsider his life choices following a series of crises which see him inadvertently swap bodies with a dimwitted high school boy in Kang Hyo-jin’s take on the classic genre, The Dude in Me ( 내안의 그놈, Naean-ui Geunom). Edited and scored like a Paul Feig comedy, UK audiences will feel at home in this South Korean take on a popular genre. But there is no denying that The Dude In Me is a lot of fun, albeit the type of fun that overstays its welcome. Pre-judgements are rarely helpful but knowing that a body swap comedy never needs to be two-hours long was mildly prophetic. There are further twists and turns that involve a paternity test, an excessive number of combat scenes and a disturbing potential romance. Trapped in the teenager’s body, Pan-soo unexpectedly reunites with his first love. Where The Dude In Me may begin to lose the audience is in its over-the-top story. The foundations of the body swap comedy are firm. When Pan-soo eventually wakes up, experienced actor Park is able to join the game in good form as the teenager in a middle-aged body. The performance is a solid effort that never distracts from or undermines the screenplay’s humour. Jung does a convincing job of pretending to be Park playing Pan-soo trapped in Dong-hyun’s body. The same was not going to happen here, either. Christopher Nolan wasn’t going to cast Harry Styles in Dunkirk to have him be unrecognisable behind prosthetics or a gas mask. This transformation ought to have been expected. ![]() As per expectations, a new Dong-hyun – with a lean torso and defined cheekbones – emerges. ![]() In order to do the real Dong-hyun a favour and deal with the bullies at school, Pan-soo decides to participate in a training montage to get his new, chunky body in shape. As he is greeted with a deluge of weight-related quips, he certainly doesn’t look like the heart-throb fans of his music have come to recognise.īut the filmmaking team knew what they were doing when they cast a handsome popstar in the lead role. To physically present the kid, Jung begins the film wearing a fat suit and facial prosthetics. One of Pan-soo’s biggest challenges in Dong-hyun’s body is managing the overweight teen’s ambitious appetite. ![]() Whilst Dong-hyun, now within the older man’s body, is trapped in a coma, Pan-soo must try to manage the chaos unfolding in his crime organisation whilst donning a school uniform and being a son to a man he has never met. The mob boss wakes up, but he doesn’t recognise his body, and no one recognises him. So, when Kim Dong-hyun (Jung) falls from a rooftop (a fatal misstep when retrieving a stolen shoe from bullies) he lands directly on top of Pan-soo. Having already performed well at the South Korean box office at the start of the year, The Dude In Me hopes to charm international audiences into seats with the premise of a middle-aged mob boss suddenly finding himself in the body of an introverted, chubby teenager.Ī mysterious restaurateur decides to intervene in gangster Jang Pan-soo’s (Park Sung-woong) life of crime by placing him in the right place at the right time. Lady Gaga has A Star Is Born and Jung Jin-young (member of K-pop boy group B1A4) has The Dude In Me – a flamboyant body swap comedy. 0 LFF ’19 – ‘The Dude In Me’ is Funny but Overstays its Welcome. ![]()
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