What A Man Wants 바람바람바람

A fresh Korean comedy by Byeong-heon Lee

  I have said it before, and I’ll say it again.  My, how time flies!  It has been 8 months since our last Korean movie review The Accidental Detective!  Between computer projects, traveling, and trying to stay cool during a record setting summer in Korea there has not been a lot of time to search for and watch movies!  We will break our dry spell by reviewing Byeong Heon Lee’s, What A Man Wants. Which also has the dubious honor of being one of the newest films I have reviewed.

  What A Man Wants stars Lee Sung-min as Seok-Geun a middle aged former roller coaster designer turned womanizing taxi driver and Bong-Soo (Shin Ha-Kyun, who also played Min, Hee-do in The Devils Game), the half owner chef at a failing restaurant owned by his wife and brother in law  Seok-Guen. Bong-soo believes the restaurant would be more successful as a Korean-Chinese fusion restaurant, but his wife Mi-Young has her heart set on it being Italian. Mi-Young, who wants only 2 things.  To get pregnant, and for the restaurant to be successful. 

  Seok-Geun believes he has been able to hide his philandering ways from his wife Dam Deok, though we find out later in the film she has known all along, but loved Seok-Geun so much she was able to come to forgive him his dalliances.

  Stressed out from running the restaurant and depressed his wife won’t him chase his dreams Bong-Soo begins an illicit affair with Je-Ni (Lee El), who encourages him to follow his dream and demand his family listen to him and try his menu.  Given the go ahead by his wife and Seok-guen the restaurant becomes succesful.  Hilarity ensues as Bong-Soo tries to hide his affair from Mi Young and Seok-Geun.  The irony being that Seok-Geun was the one in the beginning encouraging Bong-soo to cheat on his wife, believing it would actually make his marriage stronger.

  Things change for Seok-Geun when his wife is killed in a tragic car accident, and he begins to regret not being faithful to his wife, this puts more pressure on Bong-Soo to keep his relationship with Je-Ni secret. Je-Ni finally demands that Bong-Soo chose between Mi-Young or herself, and we get to watch as Bong-Soo must try and put everything right!

  I found What A Man Wants to be a fun, fast paced romantic comedy. You did have the typical Asian Greek tragedy thrown in the middle (Someone has to die!), and while you had a rare happy ending where everyone seemly got what they wanted, (Which is rare in an Asian film.), you did have to wonder if somehow everyone was still screwed, after screwing each other! 

  I recommend What A Man Wants, it is good fun, and perfect for a couples movie night!  With Halloween coming up, be sure to also check Shin Ha-Kyun in The Devils Game.

Trailer:

Where Can I find What A Man Wants?

Amazon:
Prime Video : Free With prime video subschttps://www.catracing.org/hendrb/forumription
I was not able to find a Blu-Ray or DVD version of this film.

After watching What A Man Wants, head over to our forums to discuss the film.