Stats:

Release Date: September 27, 2013

Genre: Comedy

Cast: Brian Tee, Kang Hye-jeong , Bobby Lee

Review:

Last night I had an amazing experience. NewKdramaAddict and I were invited to attend a screening of Wedding Palace at the Angelika Theater in Fairfax, VA. We arrived and can I tell you how giddy I was? Seriously. I have a blog where I run my mouth about my obsession with kdramas and Korean movies. I honestly didn’t think many people read it, but apparently they do (You like me, you really like me!)

Okay so we get our tickets from the box office and head inside. As we were scanning for seats because the place was PACKED, I heard a voice ask, Young Ajummah? 0_0  I turn and it was the director Christine Yoo! I didn’t think she would be there due to her busy schedule, but she was there long enough to do a marvelous introduction to the movie before jetting back to LA. We thanked her so much for inviting us and had just a really good conversation. I should have asked to take a picture with her but my camera is definitely not up to par and I didn’t want to seem unprofessional.

Once the lights dimmed, it was on. I wrote a preview about the movie here.  Brian Tee plays Jason, a Korean American 29 y/o man who gets stood up on his wedding day. Due to a family curse, he needs to get married by the time he’s 30 or his penis will fall off or some other crazy thing (no lie that was actually in the movie).

There were a lot of laughs in this movie as well as the usual cliches like the over bearing parents and the funny best friend.  It wasn’t a hold your sides funny type of movie but I liked it because it showed a look into a Korean family and their dynamics, something that many people in America probably don’t know about. I’ve been immersed in dramas and movies for the past 3 years now but I often wonder if the stuff I see is real or is it “made for tv”. I guess the movie was a bit of validation that my ranting and what not when I watch my shows aren’t that far off.

There were a few parts of the movie that I thought were funny but I wondered if I should laugh because I thought it could be offensive to some of the audience, but then I saw I wasn’t the only one laughing and figured I was okay.

Kang Hye Jung plays the “special” love interest to Brian Tee’s character and I thought she did a bang up job. I know her as “the actress from Old Boy” and “Tablo’s Wife” which I kind of feel bad about now. I’m making up for it by planning to watch more of her movies/dramas. This was her first American film and I didn’t think she got lost or faded in the background at all. As a matter of fact, I found myself looking forward to her scenes.  There was one scene where she tells Jason that Korean Americans were stuck in the 70s because that is when they left Korea that struck a chord with me. Is that really true? I don’t have many Korean American friends and the ones that I do have definitely don’t have the same type of family I saw in the movie (or if they do, they keep them well hidden).  If anyone is reading this, I’d love some feedback on that.

There was a “small” problem between Na Young (Kang Hye Jung’s character) and Jason which lead to the family temporarily shunning her and bring all sorts of chaos that I can honestly say I’ve never seen in a drama or movie before.

All in all I thought the movie was decent. Bobby Lee made me chuckle and even though Margret Cho was in the movie, her part was tiny and I kinda overlooked it (mianhae). Congrats to the film team for breaking new ground as well as getting the green light to start producing DVDs. Wedding Palace my very well be coming to a Best Buy near you.

Oh! and before I go, can I just say, I enjoyed the OST to the movie? I don’t know if the it will be released or not but a few of those songs, I wanted to have on my iPod. So have you seen the movie? Do you plan to? Give me your thoughts!