The Dude In Me (2019)

It is not often to find a K-movie that is so well paced and engaging throughout. More often than not, K-movies tend to have a boring/dry parts in the movie that just simply are NOT appealing or interesting, which really makes it hard to stay engaged and interested. The Dude in Me kept my interest the entire time!

The plot was fun, entertaining, and humorous - I loved seeing the 40 year old mob boss living in the teenager's body. Why obviously unrealistic, it was hilarious to witness. The actors did a phenomenal job portraying their respective behavior depending on which character was in their body.

The action sequences were extremely well choreographed too! They were entertaining to watch!

The romance was sweet and real, though not the main plot of the story, which didn't bother me. Seeing the character's lives change based on their meeting was the main focus and wonderful to witness.

The ending was a bit rushed for my taste and I would have preferred a bit more depth in how they came to their happily-ever-after, but it was satisfying nonetheless.

Great, fast paced, humorous action movie that I would recommend to the average viewer easily.

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This is typical example of body-swap movie. story 'in first 15 min and last 15 min' is dramatically over ruled. Some scenes are not well written. When a single mother wait father of her child for 17 years, both mother and daughter forgive him easily. Their easy breakup and then reassemble is overwhelming. That's why I reduce rating.

Overall acting was good, All main and supporting characters performance was good. Some supporting characters background not shown like Han Seo Yeon [Pan Soo's wife], CEO Han [Seo Yeon's father], because those are important supporting characters. The middle of story was too good, it was comedy, drama, action. Hey by the way, movie has romance factor, but there was no clue why it doesn't shown in the movie.

And also granny, supporting cast, who pretend to create this whole body swap mess, who is she? An angle or a doctor? Why she swap bodies was a biggest mystery in movie? Because single parent is not a new thing happening in the world. Why she united this family?

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This was an amazing watch! I can't express enough how good the acting was by our two main leads, Park Sung Woong and Jung Jinyoung. Honestly, no one else could have done those roles justice. As a bana I'm super proud of Jinyoung. The supporting characters played by Ra Mi Ran and Lee Soo Min were just as great.

I really appreciate the appropriate balance between the comedy and the more serious parts of the story. I laughed so much which is always a plus.

Overall, great movie that will not only tug at the heartstrings but will also make you smile.

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I really wanted to like this but it was just too corny for me. The only reason I wanted to watch this was for Park Sung Woong and he's barely in it. I saw good reviews and thought I'd give it a shot, but it's everything I've already seen in any show where a kid and an adult switch bodies, and I don't even think it was done well. This time there is a gangster in a chubby weak high schoolers body while the weak kid is in the body of the gangster. Most of the focus is on the teen which includes cliches about bullies and weight (even a "fat suit"). There is also a weird seemingly forced "romantic" storyline between the younger actors which just makes the story very awkward. They basically just stuck to the standard switching bodies formula for this one and I was not impressed with the result.

If I had to choose one saving grace in this whole film then I would say Jung Jin Young did a really good job with the role he was given, but his performance couldn't save the bad writing. The plot is completely unbelievable and super predictable so you have to really like Jin Young to like this one. The rest of the cast, besides Ra Mi Ran, is very forgettable. Even some actors I usually like didn't make any impression.

Overall you have to have a super high corny tolerance to enjoy this, or just love rewatching body switching shows no matter how overdone. It seems to be for younger less jaded audiences anyway, who get to see bullies get what they deserve and are a little more forgiving about plots that defy basic logic. There are just too many better body-switching stories out there for me to ever recommend this one.

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If you've been watching Korean movies and dramas long enough, you must be familiar with Park Sung-woong, as he is usually cast as villain, gangster (just look at 'New World'), or as a common ahjussi.
I never expected it would be this fascinating to see Park Sung-woong's fresh character. Seriously though, Park Sung-woong in this movie is so precious, maybe we won't be able to see it again in the future.
Alongside Park Sung-woong, there are Jinyoung and Ra Mi-ran.

The Dude in Me has some absurd scene due to being comedy genre and there are too some "dear viewers, please cry!" moments but it doesn't really succeed as I'm not symphatized enough. The emotions feel kind of shallow and the chemistry between the characters seems off (Jinyoung proved me he's a decent actor though but the chemistry is just...). However it's still bearable and I'm here for the comedy anyway so it's forgiven.

In conclusion, The Dude in Me is a good comedy movie, it accomplished its purpose of entertaining the viewers. Maybe you too should give it a try?

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Story: It's not unique and I have seen similar body swapping movie like freaking Friday (English movie from 2003) but still it was told nicely with well balance of comedy and drama, I was engaged throughout the movie. My only problem is the way that it was told, I feel it would work better as a drama than a movie because of the pacing you can feel they are rushing due to some parts of the story are told through as a montage. The story would work much better as drama also because the characters were not developed that well to make me connect, comparing to freaky friday movie which is a story of mother and daughter living each other lives after swapping bodies and throughout the movie they developed more and more understanding towards each other that movie I feel more connected and related to the characters whereas this story about two guys that has no relation to one another, just two strangers on the street.

Acting: the acting is excellent in the way both lead actors portraying each others' characters.

Overall a fun casual movie to watch to relax and have a good laugh.

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I STG YALL HAVE TO WATCH THIS. I WOULD REWATCH THIS SHIT 10X IF I HAD THE TIME. I’m a drama typa bitch and I normally don’t watch movies especially kmovies and I was putting this movie off for so long until now. LMAO I REGRET CAUSE I WAS LAUGHING THE WHOLE TIME AND TRUST ME IF U LIKE SATISFYING FIGHTING SCENES THEN DIS THE MOVIE FOR U. THE SLAPS DEADASS SOUND LIKE ASMR TO MY EARS I CANT- and I honestly love how light hearted and funny this movie was it’s perfect for anyone who wants a good laugh and also lowkey a life lesson.
Ik a lot of ppl would be hesitant to watch this since there’s this whole stereotype that “idols can’t act” but sHIT YALL GON BE PROVED WRONG CAUSE JINYOUNG’S ACTING WAS MF AMAZING. He portrayed his role as a highschool student and as a gangster boss perfectly.
Jinyoung and Park Sun Woong made the soul swapping so realistic and believable I was deadass shook. So noah fence if they were replaced this movie would’ve been a flop no tea no shade.
So yea watch The Dude In Me guys! :)

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A Rant.

It's a really enjoyable show overall, but there are some visible flaws that bothered me a lot and that's what I want to focus on in this review. I do recommend trying this movie out if you're not as picky as I am in terms of small details like natural character development and such.

THE COMEDY
The actors were amazing; they played their role flawlessly and nailed all the funny scenes. My biggest problem was the lack of support on those particular scenes with background music. So many times they lay out hilarious dialogues and facial expressions, but leave us with complete, awkward silence. Nothing to accompany the funny thing that just happened. We all know what kind of humor will ensue in this subgenre of body swap- obviously the ridiculous, unbelievable scenarios and awkward misunderstandings that can cause second-hand embarrassment to us viewers. They really missed out on amplifying the comedy by not adding ANY comedic music at all. The uncomfortable confrontations that were supposed to be funny became uncomfortable for me as well. It made me laugh but felt bad for it afterwards. It just left a lil bitter aftertaste in my mouth. I thought maybe they were trying out a different vibe with the lack of comedic musical cues, perhaps a more realistic and subtle approach to comedy like The Office. But... it's not the same. They had background music for the sad scenes, for the intense scenes, for the normal happening scenes, so why not be consistent and add it on the funny scenes too? It was subconsciously jarring and unpleasant.

THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
One of the biggest flaws I found in this show is the lack of portrayal in our main character's development. It posed an important lesson about greed and regrets, but failed to show us the reality of the people living these lives. The main character stumbled upon his first love and for some reason, he just... loves her again? At first we'd assume that they fell apart due to some unforseen circumstances in the past, perhaps some kind of star-crossed lover subgenre. But then they tell us "Nah man the guy broke up with her cuz he wanna marry a rich bich" that left us with our mouths wide open. Say what? You're telling me, the guy feels sorry for abandoning his ex girlfriend because...? Because what? He literally forgot she existed until he saw her again?? He obviously never looked for her or even cared if she was alive! How did he change into a good man??? How could he just give up everything he's ever done, all of his hard work in the company... just to live with his middle class ex girlfriend and biological daughter whom he never cared about in the first place. I'm just so confused. You can't convince me "oh he's changed cause he realizes he has a daughter" like, a GREEDY gangster like him who left his loved one and DISRESPECTED HER IN HER FACE, GETTING ENGAGED WHILE THEY WERE STILL TOGETHER, does not just change into an earnest, caring man in an instant! Stop capping! Man just thinking about it makes me mald.
Also, a lil chubby high school boy trained for like 2 weeks in the gym and all of a sudden he's a sexy, six pack black belt martial arts master who can smack two big-body bouncers and ten "skilled?" gangsters, on separate occasions. I know this is not supposed to be realistic, but that really caught me off guard and it was such a turn off, development-wise. They really do be pulling a shounen anime teenage soft boy training arc into the mix, huh.

Anyway this review became a little too aggressive and informal, sorry about that. I liked this movie, but I had to subtract some points because these factors really broke my immersion with the show, and it could've been better if only they gave it a little more thought rather than slapping a generic comedy trope that ends with a cheesy happy ending and waiting for the money to rain down. Not gonna lie I did enjoy the ending like a good spoonful of sugar, but I don't have a sweet tooth.

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The dude inside me was funny. I enjoyed the pace and the way they presented the story. I also love Jung Jin Young in this one and he proved to be a great actor.

However, the scenes with the mother and her ex boyfriend in the body of the young student, although laughable, were a bit off, as it wasn't easy to sympathize and actually imagine that the one talking was not the young student but the mafia boss. However, Jin Young played those scenes masterfully.

Overall, the movie was funny and it had a nice conclusion, as well as good performances.

So, seven out of ten.

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Hilarious without trying

The Dude In Me follows a trope of body swap that in itself isn’t original, but yet manages to keep you reeled in. It probably has to do with the humour throughout. It does follow a serious enough plot but of course it doesn’t get too intense because of the comedy genre. I wanted something mindless and funny but with a decent plot and this movie promised and delivered all of it! Another thing I was impressed by was JY’s acting — I’ve only seen him in cute roles where most of his characters are quiet and gentle but in this he was really different in a good way. This movie does utilise a fat character and makes them lose their weight to become instantly attractive to others (more a sad reflection of our society perhaps) but I didn’t feel his looks were humour (except for the focus on appetite maybe?) based because he was a badass in his fat self as well. Also loved how cute his relationship with his father was! However the weight loss timeline was unrealistic but since it’s a movie let’s pretend it’s totally plausible. Few scenes in the movie feel a bit cringe but that’s okay, overall it’s an hilarious watch.

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