Operation Makeover: Quick Takes

This movie is similar to the first "Back to the Future" movie, but besides breaking many of the laws set in that movie (don't meet your younger self, don't bring anything from the future that can alter history) this movie is pretty middle of the road entertaining. The only annoyance would be the mole on Na Jung-Ju's nose and how no one learns anything despite having a time-traveling laptop. It is somewhat hard to care about the plot because basically Jung-Ju goes back in time to set up her younger self up with Oh Tae-hoon who is now a millionaire. The problem is that Jung-ju forgets how strong willed her younger self is and how she's infatuated with Jo Hani, who in the future breaks her heart and is a famous singer on top of that. Naturally the future wants to protect the past, but sometimes people have to make mistakes to grow up. This being a time travelling movie, there are science inconsistencies but you'll soon forget them because the movie sure does. A lot of first love jokes are hampered by a cynical, jaded outlook due to the fact that you already know the end result. Anyone brought up on early 1990's Korean pop culture will find the inside jokes about Jinro Soju and D.E.U.X mildly funny. Everyone else will see the jokes coming but don't know how much to laugh.

The makeover in the title refers to how Jung-ju tries her hardest to make Tae-hoon not be viewed as just a friend, but ends up with bad Cyrano de Bergerac jokes, inadvertant boob grabs and more kpop jokes circa 1994. Despite all this the movie entertains but it's not going to leave an impression that will make you recommend it to others.