The Dude in Me

Dong-hyun is a schoolboy who is beaten constantly and defended by nobody. Jang Pan-soo is the city's best known gang leader; hard, feared, and unopposed. One day, running from school, Dong-hyun falls from a roof and lands on Pan-soo passing below. Both wake in hospital and the bodies have changed: the gang leader is now in the schoolboy's body, and the boy is in the man's body and remembers nothing. Kang Hyo-jin directs. Park Sung-woong and Jung Jin-young take the leads. The body swap is a shape used often in mainstream Korean comedy; what this film adds is changing both characters. The gang leader teaches the boy to defend himself at school, and the boy resolves matters in the man's life. The second strand is emotional: the man lost a family years ago, and inside the boy's body a chance to find them again appears. Park Sung-woong's performance carries the film; a man behaving like a gang leader inside a schoolboy's body, and the comedy comes from the contrast. The fights are built between comedy and action and are technically well worked. Its limits are length and tone; in the second half the emotional emphasis rises and the comedy falls back. Who it is for: viewers who like Korean comedy and body swap narratives. Who it is not for: the premise is familiar, the humour is coarse, and the ending is too emotional.