"Two Faces of My Girlfriend" (aka "Du eolgurui yeochin") is not your average generic romantic comedy that the South Korean cinema do so well. Sure, the movie starts out like such a movie and does hold up that facade a long way along the playtime, but then the movie changes pace and tone dramatically.
I am not going to be serving up any spoilers here about the turn of events or the twist to the storyline. That is something you should have to watch as the movie unfolds. But this change of pace and tone definitely is something of an acquired taste, and I doubt that it is something that will fall upon welcoming eyes with all whom watch the movie.
I did enjoy it, but was wondering why writer In-ho Hwang would opt for such a drastic change. Was it something that made the movie better? Well, yeah, I think so. Despite the fact that if they had opted to just carry on with the light-hearted romantic comedy style, then the movie would probably have been equally enjoyable.
There are some nice enough laughs throughout the course of this movie. However, this is hardly a movie that will have you toppled over and cramping up from laughing. There are better South Korean romantic comedies with more laughing contents if that is what you seek.
Ryeowon Jung (playing A-ni and Ha-ni) carries the movie quite well with her performance, and this is definitely a movie that is made quite enjoyable because of her performance. So a big applaus to her for her performance. Tae-gyu Bong (playing Gu-Chang) is more of a funny sidekick to introduce a comedy element to the movie, and he actually manages to do that well enough.
"Two Faces of My Girlfriend" is definitely a watchable movie, just keep in mind that it might be a movie that is not readily suitable for anyone sitting down to watch a romantic comedy. My rating of this 2007 movie is a six out of ten stars.
Keywords: romanceschizophrenia
Plot summary
Naive and awkward Gu-chang is on his seventh year of college, constantly failing job interviews and living off of an allowance from his divorced sister. The almost 30-year-old virgin has never had a girlfriend, or even kissed a girl before. One day, he picks up a wallet at a dining hall and meets its owner: sweet, innocent and bashful Ani. He falls in love with her instantly and the two begin dating. But just when everything seems to be going well, he discovers another side to Ani: she becomes overly aggressive, drinks too much and cusses loudly. He learns that his girlfriend has multiple personality disorder, and that wild and violent Hani is one of her two personalities.
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A romantic comedy with a heavy dramatic twist...
Surprisingly good
The main reason to have low expectations for Two Faces of My Girlfriend is that it is an unapologetic knock off of the far superior My Sassy Girl. But before I go too far with unfavorable comparisons, let me hasten to add that it's possible for a less than perfect imitation to be a good movie in its own right, and that's what Two Faces of My Girlfriend is - a very good movie.
Gu-chang is a poverty stricken college student struggling to establish a career. One day he finds a lost wallet and "borrows" some money from it to buy a meal. That leads to a friendship with the owner of the wallet, Ani. Ani is sweet with a childlike innocence and the two hit it off immediately. Everything's perfect, right? Well, not quite. As luck would have it, Ani suffers from multiple personality disorder and her alter-ego, Hani, is a vicious street fighter who mercilessly beats up Gu-chang whenever her personality is in control. Add in the plot twist that Ani's multiple personalities are a byproduct of unresolved grief over a deceased boyfriend and the similarities to My Sassy Girl are obvious - college student falls in love with abusive girlfriend who needs to find a way to put her former love behind her.
So the plot isn't too original, but the movie is so well done that I didn't care. There are many truly funny moments, superior acting, and likable characters that I wanted to see happy together in the end. I especially like the way that Hani gradually develops a grudging respect for Gu-chang's devotion to Ani. Two Faces of My Girlfriend is an enjoyable film that deserves a look.
Wish it kept the momentum of the beginning but still a good romantic comedy
Now I seen plenty of movies of a guy and a girl switching bodies or the other way around. Or a girl acting like a guy and guy acting like a girl in movies before. But this one is a romantic comedy that has more comedy and the conflict arise when a college student that is almost 30. Never kissed a girl before and down on his luck meets a girl with multiple personality disorder. One of her personality is Anni who is a naive and innocent girl that is a bit of a dunce and the other is wild a ferocious character name Hanni. The movie really picks up steam and I couldn't stop smirking for about 30 or 40 minutes in. The humor really works for the first 30 or 40 minutes and couldn't help but smile. But afterwards it becomes just alright and goes in a warm romance movie for the last 30 minutes. Which is okay but I personally would have enjoyed this movie more if it had the humor level that the beginning of this movie has. Bong Tae-Gyu is once again playing a loser down on his luck student character and he is good with these types of roles. And by the end of the movie he develops into a likable character. But the main show stealer is Jung Ryeo-Won who nails the delicate and naive girl and the wild and brash one. I wish it kept the momentum of the beginning most of the way through but as a whole it's a good romantic comedy.
7/10