Speed Scandle (2008)

Hyeon-su Nam (Cha Tae-Hyun) is a succesful radio DJ, with a lot of listeners who regularly tune in to hear his show. Besides playing music he regularly has conversations with callers about their relationships. One of them is telling him that she has some issues with her father who has become a grandfather as well and he advises her to meet up with him and make him a meal.
When he finally gets home a young woman, Jeong-nam Hwang (Bo-yeong Park) is waiting in front of his door together with her son Ki-dong Hwang (Wang Seok-Hyeon). He thinks that they have the wrong address, but Jeong-nam tells him that she is his daughter and that he’s a grandfather too. It’s a dark cloud in Hyeon-su Nam’s perfect life which he really can’t get rid of soon

He doesn’t want anyone finding out about this big secret as it could really hurt his image and decides to allow the two live in his house. This results in some funny situations, but it also mean a lot of friction. It’s something that happens all through the movie, so expect both comedy and drama.
In South Korea Speed Scandal was a big success, earning a spot in the top 10 of highest grossing movies in the country. Unfortunately it didn’t meet my expectations. Maybe it’s the brand of humor that is used in the movie, which I couldn’t always connect with. Although some drama was added towards the end, it was too little, too late for me.

Wang Seok-Hyeon is very funny as the son and the interaction with Hyeon-su Nam is charming (especially when he uses him to find out more about on the women in his kindergarten). The relationship between the mother and him wasn’t convincing at all. I just didn’t feel that they went through hard times together or that they cared about each other. If the movie would have shown some more situations between the two I might not have felt this way about it. It just didn’t feel like Jeong-nam Hwang was a mother.

Speed Scandal was a very bland movie which, although it doesn’t really fit the genre, could easily be compared with your average rom-com. You just know which situations you can expect and you are just waiting how they have been executed. There aren’t a lot of moments that were surprising, which made the movie feel like driving a car instead of being on a rollercoaster. The movie just wasn’t entertaining enough.

Score: 6

2 thoughts on “Speed Scandle (2008)

  1. Yes…it totally wasn’t entertaining enough which is why it topped the Korean box office for 3 weeks straight. Even though some parts were predictable it was an amazing movie. Way better than what you give it props for.

    • The fact that it was visited so much was the reason I wanted to see it. Number of visitors doesn’t always have to mean that a movie is good (see The Hangover 2). Personally I did not like it as much.

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