My Wife Is a Gangster

Spoiler ahead, don't read, if you haven't watched the movie, or don't want to know anything about it. But also violent. The premise is made clear in the English/international title of the movie! It's about a gangster woman who has to look for a husband, because she promised her sister, who is ill! So she finds this incredibly shy guy (after she hired a woman to find her a husband, which didn't work), which is quite funny at first, but get's kind of boring/repetitive. Sometimes the change between comedy and action has it's flaws too. But all in all, it's a fine little Korean movie, that is enjoyable enough to watch. Not genius, but nice!

One point that seems to have escaped most of the comments on this page is the fact that the film makes a strong point about Korean/Asian womens position in society. (Warning, The below text contains two comments that might be considered "spoilers") The tables are turned in this film, the husband is the one who is gentle and caring, he does cooking and buys a gigant teddy bear for his wife. The woman is the one who is insensitive and violent, coming home drunk, one time she rapes her husband after coming home drunk. Also the gangster womans sidekick treats his girlfriend very badly, until she makes the point, "Your boss is also a woman but you treat her with respect, whats so different about us?". I think maybe this whole thing needs to be taken into consideration to understand all of the jokes in the film.

I'm a big fan of Asian and South Korean cinema and I really dug some of their eccentric and humorous movies such as "Save The Green Planet!" or "Quick". "My Wife Is A Gangster" is though neither a good comedy nor a good gangster flick. The movie is quite overrated and had two unnecessary sequels. I must admit that the initial idea of the movie sounded promising. There were a couple of very good South Korean movies where a wife had some sort of a double identity and secret life as a special agent for example. "Shiri" is a great example and "My Girlfriend Is An Agent" also has its moments. That's why I have watched this movie. But the idea doesn't work very well on here. The two main actors don't have any chemistry. The weird situation of a female gangster married to a shy bourgeois husband could have been funny but the scenes in here are boring, the scenario isn't credible and the humour is very childish, predictable and superficial. The gangster side of the movie isn't any better. It feels as if it had been inspired by a few serious Yakuza movies by Takashi Miike or Takeshi Kitano and desperately wants to parody the genre. The whole thing doesn't work for two reasons. The actors are annoying, mostly bad and not credible at all. A naked gangster running after a punk through half a city isn't funny but more embarrassing than any bad Jackie Chan movie. Second, the characters are boring and you simply don't care about them. Then, there is the story of the movie. Well, what story? The gangster woman fulfills all wishes of her dying sisters and goes through a weird relationship with her husband. Meanwhile, her gangster clan beats up a few punks for any reason. When one of her guys gets killed, his friend suspects the wrong guy and his revenge fails horribly. When the gangster wife comes to save her gang, she loses but her life is spared. She later recovers from her injuries and her husband is ready to avenge her and become a gangster himself. That's it. The viewers have to accept that the stiff husband changed his mind and became a cool bad boy from one instant to the other because he loved his egoistic wife that never showed him any kind of appreciation so much. This rushed and silly story simply doesn't carry a film of almost two hours of running time. Is this scenario credible or original? No. Are there any surprising elements? No. Is there a coherent and gripping story line from the beginning to the end? Not really. Two or three scenes were at least a little bit interesting and slightly funny. That's why I gave three very generous points for this. I recommend you to avoid this movie if you are looking for intelligent humour, a few good gangster movie sequences and an original story. If you just feel like switching your brain off and enjoy some childish slapstick humour inspired by stereotypical Hongkong action comedy flicks and generic Japanese gangster films, go and waste your time.

spoiler alerts! seriously i just stopped watching this movie when the married man tried to peak up her shirt when she was sleeping...this movie is just stupid...its suppose to be a comedy, but fails miserably...the ONLY way you are going to laugh this this movie is if you laugh at anything that moves...DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!! considered yourself warned!!! i'm not a miserable person if you are thinking that, there are a lot of other Korean comedies that i've enjoyed, Mr. handy, 100 days with Mr arrogant, my little bride, he was cool just to name a few ones i would recommend, please, don't waste your two hours on this film!

I understand that there is supposed to be an element of comedy in this movie, but I failed to see the humor in it all. In fact, lot of what was supposed to be funny was disgusting and nauseating. I didn't like the husband character at all. He really looked out of place. Many of the other characters had no class at all. Although they're gangs, and supposed to look no class, they weren't acting in this case. Humors were of violent sort, and somehow wasn't funny, but gross. I liked "My wife is a gangster 3", so I tried to like this one as well, but I couldn't. Lady who played the wife wasn't pretty or charming. It's also wasn't a story driven plot either. So I failed to see anything good in this movie. This is my review, and I'm putting down what I felt. I don't care what others have opinion wise about this movie. It was a horrible viewing experience. I felt like doing what people were doing to each other in this movie to the people who made it.

Don't know why this flick is getting flamed so much. It's a decent plot and well produced. It would satisfy most family members and pass easily as a good evening's entertainment. The style is typically Korean-Gangster, which is not a bad thing, with comedy cuts thrown in appropriately. The main actress portrays a very modern side of a feminine character which you wouldn't everyday see, owing to the make belief role. This itself makes you want to watch a bit more. The violence is quite rightly toned down for this genre but the action scenes still nicely filmed without too many slow-mo shots. The sequel is evidence of this film's popularity, which by the way should be watched in sequence as there are some backward references.

In contrast to the glowing reviews from other viewers, I would give this film a 6, maybe a 7, out of 10. While the fight scenes are well choreographed and entertaining, the humor in this film fits awkwardly with its melodrama. Humor there is and, when dealing with the misfit gangsters working for the protagonist, it is genuinely funny. However, Ms. Eun-Kyung Shin, in the lead role as the gangster wife, has the difficult job of trying to portray a character we are intended to feel sympathetic toward, in some scenes, while in other settings she presents as a vicious and ruthless sociopath. Her relationship with her husband exhibits tenderness a little too late for a credible attachment to develop. Her husband's nebbish character seems to capitulate more for the script than any believable budding affection, particularly after the abuse he suffers from her. We are asked to sympathize with the gangsters even though there is little reason to feel any sympathy for them, they are either clowns or killers. The fumbling attempts at injecting soap opera-like themes in the film gives the movie an asymmetry, not a richer story.

The movie started out great. Eunjin was a awesome character, a real gangster. I loved her character; she was strong, she knew what she was doing and she knew what she was after. She wore sensible shoes and dressed like a gangster! Woot! When her husband tries to rape her (twice), she totally beats him down and tells him never to touch her without her permission. Then it goes downhill. They did what every Hollywood movie does to a strong female character: even though Eunjin is the gangster and the one with the experience, it's her husband who 'saves the day' so to speak. He gets revenge for her even though he's slow and stupid. Why oh why can't a movie just let a strong woman be without a man getting even for her? Does it wilt the cocks of the directors and male viewers? Is that it? The 'get married for your dying sister' premise was really weak and not believable. Why not just pay someone to get 'married' to her? Or better yet, demand one of her subordinates 'marry' her? He'd be forced to pretend they're happy. Problem solved. It'd make for a far more interesting movie. The guy is a fat, ugly, rapist man-child. We're supposed to be cheering for him? Why would a smart, good looking woman go for a man without who is ugly, stupid and has the personality of a spoiled child? For dog's sake, it's the 21th century. Hollywood does this trope all the time and I'm disappointed to learn that Korea does as well. If Eunjin was ugly as well, it'd make total sense. But Eunjin is conventionally pretty. She finally falls for him because he's just sooooo nice. Barf. The movie tries to make Eunjin seem rough and mean and her husband seem nice. Yeah, who's the once getting married and getting knocked up even though it goes against all she is and believes in for the sake of someone she hasn't met in years? That's really nice. Making soup for a cancer patient and going to see your SIL in the hospital isn't as nice as that. He has NOTHING going for him. Oh, wait. He has basic courtesy. Mmm. Any man with basic courtesy and manner deserves a hot, smart chick! Pander to the ugly male audience! Yeah! The sister only appears to start and validate how good! the husband is. The scene towards the end with Eunjin in the apron made me groan. When Eunjin ends up in the hospital, I was okay with it. Better dead than with that ugly, idiot, man-child rapist. Alas, the ending was not so happy. Could you just imagine a movie being made with the roles reversed? HOT SMART GANGSTER MAN: Yeah, I'm good looking, smart and people who work for me respect me. Sure, I'm a little rough around the edges but underneath it, I'm a good person. I need to get married because of BS circumstances. :( UGLY FAT STUPID WOMAN: I'm the only one who will ever take you because of your one flaw of being mean! HOT SMART GANGSTER MAN: You're right! I should settle for you! UGLY FAT STUPID WOMAN: And fall in love with me because I'm so nice! Just ignore those times I tired to put things in your orifices without your permission. And then acted offended when you said no. As your wife, I have complete right over your body to do as I please! Who says a rapist can't be a good person? HOT SMART GANGSTER MAN: *swoon* *blubber* You're so nice. <3 <3 <3 UGLY FAT STUPID RAPIST WOMAN: Yup, and wouldn't you know it, I evened the score for you while you're in the hospital. I don't know the first thing about being a gangster or killing. But yeah, it's so easy that I take out 46 people in one go. And you haven't even killed one of 'em! Must be my awesome lady bits.

Branded a comedy, the movie proves to be unfunny for most part. The main problem lies with the central character of the gangster wife, Eun-jin. She puts on a stern emotionless face for most of the movie. As if that were not enough, she speaks very few lines. It is unusual for such an important character to have so little dialogue and facial expression. This certainly distances her from the audience. The character of the unfortunate husband is not much better as most of the time he is looking sad and making futile complaints about her behaviour. The movie therefore has to depend a lot on physical comedy and here it again fails because of the predictability of the situations and the cliches employed. How many times must we watch Eun-jin threaten her meek husband? How many times must we endure the sight of her husband walking away sulking? Many potentially hilarious situations turn out to be rather unfunny thanks to the afore mentioned lack of dialogue and facial expression. Another problem is that the many subplots, which are just as unaffecting and unfunny, tend to make the movie drag. None of the supporting characters are interesting enough to make the audience care for them. The action sequences are well choreographed but they ultimately fail to save the movie.

Well, I can hardly find a good word of this annoying piece of movie. Maybe the best things are the the cinematography and the martial arts fights. But they can't beat bad scripts and dialogs. The script is confusing, most of the scenes does not fit together (why is Romeo dying in that pathetic way? Why is Mantis fighting in the fields? Why is her husband SO damned stupid? etc.). At one point it is just boring watching the persons in the movie acting senseless. And you never know, if it is meant to be a comedy or just an action flic, because the humor isn't really funny and the fights are sometimes too brutal for a comedy. No balance at all. I just hope the Hollywood remake will have a better script, because the idea of a gangster women having a "normal" husband is quite nice (a little bit reverse True Lies).