R E V I E W
MY WIFE IS A GANGSTER
Bear Entertainment.
2001. 108 minutes.
Directed by Cho Jin-Gyu
With Shin Eun-Kyung, Park Sang-Myun, Ahn Jae-Mo
MOVIE
Plot: A deadly female lieutenant in a criminal gang decides to marry in order to fulfill her beloved sister's dying wish. The 35-year-old bachelor she eventually marries has no idea what she does for a living.
Performances: Very good.
Production: The set-up seems like a sure-fire recipe for laughter. And, indeed, there's plenty of humor in the attempts by Mantis (the deadly female's gang name) to act like a stereotypical woman, first in the dating game, and then in her marriage to a rather slow-witted civil servant. Mantis' relationship with her sister is sketched in lovingly to provide an emotional center.
Somewhere along the way, though, the story loses it's way. It may be that the director and scriptwriter were simply too ambitious. Black comedy does not mix easily with slapstick, sight gags, jokes, ridicule, clownish behavior, and serious gangster action (including brutal violence and murder). It seems the filmmakers were conscious that the one-joke premise (gangster must marry to please dying sister) could only go so far, so they introduce another joke (which I won't disclose to avoid spoilers) that only serves to extend the running time.
I've read other reviews that were much more enthusiastic. As with most comedies, much depends upon your sense of humor and your mood, so you may enjoy this film much more than I did. In any event, it's well worth watching, and I'm glad to see an effort to do something different with the gangster genre.
Rating: Category IIB equivalent. Reflects considerable profanity, some brutal and bloody violence, several explicit sexual situations, and extremely brief partial nudity.
DVD
Look: The letterboxed presentation looked very good, with solid color reproduction, deep black levels, and realistic skin tones. The source print appeared very clean.
Sound: I listened to the Korean DTS track, and it sounded excellent, delivering the goods during the action scenes. Also included is a Korean DD 5.1 track.
Subtitles: The white removable English subtitles are a bit of a pain. Many mistakes are littered throughout (mostly misspellings) and at times they obscure the meaning of the dialogue. Quality control fell down on the job here, especially in comparison to the quality of the transfer. No other subtitles are provided.
Features: Sixteen chapters can be selected from a multi-page video capture menu. The theatrical trailer is included on disk one. Disk two has the bulk of the extra features. I skimmed through a number of these, which all appear to be behind-the-scenes footage divided into segments. Because the features do not have English subtitles, you need to be a dedicated fan of the film to sit through them all.
Note that the disk is marked as Region 3, but it played in my Region 1 machine.
RECOMMENDATION
Rent. Entertaining but uneven comedy that can't quite maintain a consistently engaging tone.
(Reviewed by Peter A. Martin; April 11, 2002)
Copyright 2000-2002 by Peter A. Martin. All rights reserved.
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