Woking-geol (2015)

Woking-geol: Directed by Beom-sik Jeong. With Yeo-jeong Cho, Clara Lee, Kim Tae-Woo, Bo-yeon Kim. Beautiful, workaholic Bo-hee is a successful marketing executive at the number one toy company in Korea. Respected by her colleagues and in line for a promotion, she makes an irrevocable mistake that gets her fired from her job. Bo-hee’s life further spins out of control when her husband Gang-sung leaves her soon after. Bo-hee is befriended by her neighbor Nan-hee, an amateur sex expert who runs a sex shop on the brink of bankruptcy called “Casa Amor.” Nan-hee’s predicament inspires Bo-hee’s creativity, and using her background in children’s toys, she is determined to save the shop by making its ambiance more refined and by promoting better sex toys.

“This is a really funny, light-hearted and witty movie centered mostly on the marital problems of the protagonist and her husband. It was filmed in great style with clever dialogue, colorful cinematography, an over the top attitude and a multitude of hilarious throwaway gags (the toy company, for example and keep a sharp eye on the background characters) that will keep you rolling.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlthough sex and sex toys play a prominent role in the story and there are several sex scenes that border on soft-core pornography, there is surprisingly very little actual nudity other than a brief shot of a photo displayed in an art class. The material deftly treats its topic very humorously without crossing the line into prurience, vulgarity or gross-out humor. The English subtitles donu0026#39;t even include any dirty/slang words, if you can believe that, although it does appear that some of the jokes didnu0026#39;t quite survive being translated from Korean.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story races through the first hour or so in highly entertaining fashion, but unfortunately goes completely off the rails in the final act as the film inexplicably and abruptly changes tone from light comedy to plodding melodrama. Clocking in at just under two hours, the film would have been improved immensely simply by leaving the final 20 minutes on the cutting room floor.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStill, the first hour is highly entertaining and worth watching even if you skip the last few scenes; it should be quite obvious when it is time to pull the plug, which is encouraged.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story, incidentally is highly similar to the 2012 American comedy u0026quot;For a Good Time, Call…u0026quot; which is also recommended.”