“키스 할까요” (First Kiss) gives us a grim look at the lives of two immature, sexually frustrated, arrogant and self-centered Koreans in the late 1990s, unfortunately it is meant to be a romantic comedy. 최지우 (Choi Ji-woo) and 안재욱 (Ahn Jae-wook) star as Yun-hwa and Kyung-hyun, colleagues at an entertainment magazine. Yun-hwa lacks confidence, hates her job and has just been dumped by her boyfriend; Kyung-hyun talks the talk of a playboy, but spends his time secretly borrowing Yunhwa’s poetry books and scrounging off his best friend. Both are selfish, bratty, annoying characters, who have no consideration for others; neither of them have ever kissed before.
The next torturous hour and forty minutes take us along on their melodramatic journey towards some sort of belated adulthood. Yun-hwa’s character holds interest for the first third of the film and then just becomes more and more annoying turning the viewer against her. Kyung-hyun just grates on us from start to finish.
Director 김태균 (Kim Tae Gyoon) has got Richard Curtis on the brain, but can’t quite transfer the magic of Four Weddings and a Funeral onto the Korean screen. The finale with Yun-hwa and Kyung-hyun kissing in a phone box as it rains, harks back to Hugh Grant and Andie McDowell’s romantic moment and then as if to hammer the plagiarism home, one of the worst cover versions of “Love is All Around” (performed by 유리상자) starts blaring as the credits roll.
There are many cameos from all sorts of famous Koreans, but they add nothing to the enjoyment of the film and even seeing 장동근 (Jang Dong-gun) dancing in the rain did nothing for me. The only really funny moment is when Kyung-hyun trying to jolly up Yun-hwa’s birthday celebrations, slams her face into a birthday cake in some sort of bizarre attempt at camaraderie.
The sub plot dealing with the magazine editor and his affair with the office bicycle is slightly more interesting and helps ease the tedium of the main characters’ relationship.
Everyone involved in the production should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves and nobody else should ever have to watch this film again. If you see this in the shops, walk away, just walk away. I paid 2,500 won for it and even at that price I feel cheated.
Kim Tae Gyoon has gone on to direct the amusing “Volcano High” and the over-sentimental North Korean refugee drama “Crossing”.
