I really wanted to like this movie. There are a lot of things, at first, to bring a smile to your face, from the movie-in-movie spoof to the lovable stalker turns girlfriend side plot. I was also completely overjoyed by the fact that the director used dry, almost English humor (as opposed to the slapstick of 'Sex is Zero' or cutesy of 'Peppermint Candy') to bring the story and the characters together.Unfortunately, watching the second half of this movie is a serious labor of love. The Lead actor is at best wooden, with one ex-girlfriend serving as his emotional anchor. No spoilers - his new squeeze, a waitress at a fancy coffee shop/bar seems to insinuate herself into his life because of self pity? Gimme a beak... Since Bae Doon-na made Hollywood, everybody wants to capture her charm and natural naivete to sell badly written movies. Disney, back off and let Korean cinema do what it does better than Hollywood - sell movies with real heart and soul. While this movie started strong, it eventually sold out and became the poster child for what NOT to do. I'll give the director another shot, but ultimately this is a 6...

Someone Special is a South Korean romantic comedy film about a struggling baseball player and a fan with a long-time crush on him.It stars Lee Na-Young, Jeong Jae-Young and Jang Young-Nam.It was directed by Jang Jin.Dong Chiseong, a star baseball pitcher in high school and college, hurts his shoulder, and is replaced as an outfielder. What is worse, he experiences a constant nose-bleeding and hears from the doctor that he is only given three months to live due to a malignant tumor in his lung. Deeply depressed, he goes to a bar to drink away his sorrows until he falls asleep. A pretty bartender Han Iyeon, finds him passed out and picks him up and carries him in a box. One day, as Chiseong heads home, he hears a familiar story on a radio program about someone named the "Writing Princess" who described how she once carried a man in a box to a hotel room. It turns out that Iyeon's chance encounter with the struggling player at the bar was far from accidental. She apparently has lived close to Chiseong and monitored him closely over the past 10 years, suffering from an unrequited love.Someone Special has been highly anticipated for no other reason that it is director's long-awaited follow-up movie. And the first person he took in mind to realize this project was the inimitable actress and model Lee Na-young. The unique on screen situations that Jang Jin can create combined with Lee Na-young's unexpected and outlandish acting have made expectations for this film soar.Also, telling his down to earth romance with some good drops of humor to balance parts that at times are endangered to shift into sentimental over-drive, it offers the viewers a seldom seen cinematic surprise.

The movie that I'm glad that this film turned out not to be is the parody that exists within the movie. As that movie-within-a-movie goes on, the protagonist of this tale comments on how illogical and tedious it is, being a story of two lovers who are parted and somehow one can send his love to the other through a magical telephone pole as they both die. That movie-within-a-movie grabs all the trite clichés that infest Corean melodramas and brings them to their ridiculous conclusions.Someone Special or A Woman I Know (direct translation) is a romantic comedy, but it's build on a completely different foundation than the typical Corean melodrama. In fact, the closest analogue I can come up with to this film is Punch Drunk Love, which is also a completely different kind of romance. Unlike Punch Drunk Love, however, Someone Special is completely aware of all the genre rules and even follows them in parodic (but not spoofing) fashion, subverting clichés of terminal illness, tear-jerking moments, and remarkable connections between lovers. And even though it acts as a parody of the romantic comedy genre, it still retains the heart of a romantic comedy.The story, on the surface, is a little unremarkable. It's essentially about heartbroken baseball player and a young woman who has a one-sided crush on him. The comedy is derived partially from parody, flights of fantasy, erratic behavior and comedic situations, as well as some sharp awkward dialog. A few directorial touches that I love is the inversion of background and foreground and the overall approach to the look of the film.Another thing I love about the film is the acting. First of all, the male lead doesn't have model-like features--he's a rather average looking guy. And the female lead portrays her rather bizarre character with gusto and while she's costumed rather dumpy, she conveys a genuinely addictive naiveté. The rest of the film is peopled with rather amusing persons all played well by their supporting actors.I did have some issues with the editing, which I felt didn't do enough to cut down the running time as there were more than a couple moments where I felt like we could have more elliptical storytelling. Also, although I remain neutral to it, there are many setups where a hand-held camera is used and it can be distracting to those who expect a still camera when shooting a still scene. It's a little unorthodox and I can't find a compelling reason to shoot it the way it was shot, but at the same time, it's a rather memorable technique, even if excessive. Finally, sometimes the music was mixed too much up front and while I understand the use of pop songs in certain parts, as part of the genre critique, at other times, it was just a little overbearing and distracting.Despite that I felt like a few more things could've been done to improve the film, I still have to admit that I was really entertained by the film and loved its intelligent and yet still genuine take on the romantic comedy genre. With great characters, atypical amusing comedy and a really unique energy, Someone Special ended up being something special for me: a really enjoyable romantic comedy that considerably pushes the genre into a new place. 8/10.

Korean movies somehow manage, successfully, to skirt the line between drama and comedy all at the same time. There are times in this movie, you'd wonder if you're watching a comedy, or a drama? Somehow it goes from one to the other quite well, and the comedy is more circumstantial, then "i'm going to do something that will make you laugh".I really liked this movie, and just remember that whole 'romantic-comedy' idea came from Hollywood. Korea movies for one, have a different take on what it means to them, and for some reason, strikes home a bit better.