One bad day, when Kang Ha-yeong is walking home after a break-up, she kicks a random can with rather remarkable aim and distance. So remarkable in fact that it hits Lee Hyung-Joon in the head as he leisurely drives his Lexus convertible. He hits a wall, scratches the car, gets a bloody nose and eventually finds his way to force Ha-yeong to pay the three thousand dollars he needs for repairs. She obviously cannot pay the price, so she accepts his offer to be his slave for one hundred days. So amidst the maid work, and wild imagination of observers (convinced the relationship isn’t nearly as naïve as it actually is), a real relationship does start to bloom. But what will happen when the one hundred days are over?
The story will get melodramatic, that’s what. As another adaptation of an Internet novel sensation, 100 Days with Mr. Arrogant simply sticks with safe decisions and continues the wave of typical Korean romantic comedies. The structure takes its cue from My Sassy Girl with the first two-thirds chock full of rather amusing comedy and entertaining situations that will bring a smile to your face more often than not. There’s a bit of gross-out humor that kicks off the film, but as the story progresses, the strong situational comedy takes precedence, providing the occasional laugh and consistent light-hearted fun.
Popstar Ha Ji-won basically takes her cues from Jeon Ji-Hyun’s sassiness and Kim Ha-Neul’s awkwardness and triples the intensity—she expresses her emotion by ridiculously contorting her face for every single situation. The repetitive mugging may annoy many viewers, but her cuteness may win over others. Since it is inspired by Jeon’s performance, it does not have nearly the same effect, but it is an amusingly hyperbolic trait to enliven her character. When set it in stark contrast to her character change in the melancholy third-act, it achieves its effect. The viewer misses the excess of energy from their relationship.
But as a typical genre pic, 100 Days must of course stick with a typical third act full of reflection on the relationship, contrived conversations about honesty and marriage and predictable plot twists to break up the characters so they can dramatically come back together. The only element of remote interest here is seeing the well-evocated character change in Ha-yeong, and to a lesser degree in Hung-joon. But at the very least, the romance is still endearing, thanks to the fun of the first two acts. When this melodrama comes around, viewers will still care about the characters’ fates, despite knowing full well what will happen.
Sure, 100 Days is a cookie-cutter rom-com and its ideas are not particularly inspired, but the film finds its magic in the characters, actors and premise. Genre fans will enjoy the movie by simply disregarding the missteps of highly derivative moments, booger humor and corny R&B soundtrack selections.
Reviewed by Tarun
