My Wife Is a Gangster (2001)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Admirable film.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Separated during childhood both "Cha Eun-Jin" (Eun-Kyung Shin) and her older sister Yu-Jin (Eung-Kyung Lee) have tried to find each other ever since. Unfortunately, when Eun-Jin finally does find her sister she discovers that Yu-Jin has an advanced form of cancer and doesn't have long to live. Wanting to keep her sister's spirits up Eun-Jin hastily agrees to getting married despite the fact that she is an assassin for a local mob and has no interest in anything except her chosen profession. Since time is of the essence she pretty much has to settle for whoever will have her and in that regard she ends up marrying a man named "Kang Su-Il" (Sang-Myeon Park) who at first sight doesn't appear to be much of a catch. However, Yu-Jin sees him for the good man that he is and then as a dying request asks Eun-Jin to try to get pregnant. Yet Eun-Jin still has her profession to think of and the last thing she needs is a husband and a child. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that this action film could just as easily be listed as a comedy because there are several hilarious scenes throughout the movie. On that note some of the comedy is a little raunchy but all things considered it wasn't too bad overall. In any case, I rate this movie as slightly above average.

Recap: The second in command of a local gangster organisation, Cha Eun-Jin, doesn't live the typical life of a lady. So when her terminally ill sister asks her to find a man, she is really out of her normal environment. Lethal with knives, she is totally incompetent when it's about meeting a future husband. But with the aid of her henchmen she manages to marry the unsuspecting Kang Su-il. But being married to Eun-Jin isn't really all that Su-il expected...Comments: The rental-box put this in the romantic-genre. I really wonder about the sense of romance whomever wrote that really has. The first scene, for example, shows two men beaten with bats and knives, one of them executed with an axe, before Eun-Jin comes to the rescue with knives and martial arts. There are some red roses in the movie, but I really think bats and knives outnumber them. This movie is much more of a action-comedy. And as that, it is pretty successful. More than a few scenes are drawn to their edge with Su-il just wanting a good marriage and ordinary wife, and Eun-Jin trying to clean up in her criminal world and at the same time granting the wish of her sister by staying married to Su-il. Except for Eun-Jin's martial skills, they're not very good at it. And that's about it, and that's about all there has to be.But it's not very romantic. Not in any sense I know anyway.6/10

Eun-Jin, a ruthless gangster boss, is reunited with her long lost sister, only to find that she is suffering from a terminal illness. Her sister's dying wish is to see Eun-Jin happily married. Out of respect, Eun-Jin endeavours to fulfil the wish and instructs her men to find her a husband, but finding a suitable partner proves to be harder than she at first expected. However, a chance meeting with Kang Soo-Il, a kind-natured bachelor who attempts to protect Eun-Jin from some thugs, provides her with the perfect answer to her dilemma. The two quickly marry, but with Eun-Jin keeping her 'vocation' a secret from her husband and refusing to consummate the marriage, the result is anything but wedded bliss.The trailer for My Wife is a Gangster presents the film as an all-out action film but, whilst there certainly are some entertaining fight scenes, the movie is primarily a comedy. The strained relationship between the totally incompatible Eun-Jin and Kang is perfectly realised by Shin Eun-kyung and Park Sang-myun, with Shin's tough girl bullying poor old Kang until he can take no more. However, Eun-Jin's sister makes one more suggestion before she kicks the bucket: Eun-Jin and Kang should have a baby. So, Kang finally gets to 'seal the deal' with his wife, but strictly on her terms.MWIAG may not have you laughing out loud, but the film is consistently amusing throughout its 108 minute running time (and a far sight funnier than any Asian comedy I have seen of late!). Despite the obvious use of some wire-work and the actors not being trained fighters, the action scenes are pretty cool, and at times the film even manages to be surprisingly brutal (the bit where a guy takes a beating with a baseball bat is particularly nasty).At turns violent, funny, touching and thrilling, this film is a real treat and a must-see for fans of Asian cinema. See it before the upcoming Hollywood remake (rumoured to star Queen Latifah) besmirches its good name.7.5 out of 10 (rounded up to 8 out of 10 for IMDb).

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.