Elisah Cuthbert

(In French, On TV, May 2020) Surprisingly enough, I had seen the original South Korean version of My Sassy Girl before seeing the American remake. But fear not, fans of the original: there are plenty of things to say about the New York City-based one without getting into comparisons with the Seoul-based one. As it turns out… it’s not a very good romantic comedy. Boy meets unstable girl, girl puts boy through incredible hardship, girl leaves boy, boy mourns for a year, explanations are given, girl comes back, a happy ending. Not particularly flavourful, it’s both melodramatic and not melodramatic enough, and almost instantly forgettable except for the truly awful bit. And that awful bit is that despite acknowledging the troublesome aspects of dating a toxic personality, the film still pretends that it’s romantic. Never mind the gratuitous abuse, physical violence, unpredictable personality, sabotage of personal goals and abrupt ghosting—this is all supposed to be truuue looove and destiny. Yeah. Note to self—run away if this DVD is on the shelves of any potential romantic partner, or at least ask for an explanation. Otherwise, eh—Director Yann Samuell shows some ambition, but sometimes comes across as trying too hard. Meanwhile, both lead actors (Elisah Cuthbert and Jesse Bradford) have seen their own personal star power dim considerably in the past twelve years—I’m not saying that the film is at fault, but I will point out that this makes it less and less likely for any new fan of theirs to seek out the film. So it is that there’s a fair chance that My Sassy Girl, US remix, will be quite thoroughly forgotten in the next few years if it’s not already. Which is just as well, considering the warped perspective it has to offer on romantic relationships.