The 2003 Korean Romantic Comedy Please Teach Me English proves that love is a many splintered thing. As the two protagonists fumble their way to a loving and meaningful relationship, fractures appear. Yeong-ju Na and Moon-su Park navigate a minefield full of competition and learning a new language complicates their journey of love.
the story
Yeong-ju Na and Moon-su Park meet while signing up to learn English. Yeong-ju has been forced to learn. As a Civil Servant she must deal with a cross sections of cultures. Her disastrous interaction with an American dooms the young lady to learn his language.
Moon-su wants to learn because of his American sister Victoria. He decides to take this course after meeting Cathy, their beautiful instructor.
The young Korean students meet before and after, in class. For Yeong-ju it is a case of love at first sight. Moon-su, however, only has eyes for Cathy.
the main cast
Lee Na-young is Yeong-ju Na.m *Howling (2013) she also has a long line of credits.*
Jang Hyuk is Moon-su Park. *If Hyuk looks familiar, you may have seen him in the the 2022 film The Killer or Volcano High (2001). He has a long list of features to his name.*
Angela Kelly is Catherine, aka: Cathy.
Na Moon-hee is Moon-su’s mother. *If she looks familiar, you may have seen her in The Quiet Family (1998) or the 2005 film Crying Fist. *
Jung Suk-yong is Tyson.
behind the camera
Sung Soo Kim directs Please Teach Me English with a flair, from a script written by Hye-yeong No. Kim is not just a comedy director, oh no; he also directed the brilliantly dark Gamgi, aka; Flu. This director has got chops.
It works
Hye-yeong No gives us a pair of potential lovers who are, in a word; adorable. Yeong-ju, aka; Candy is socially awkward but cute with it. Na-young is adept at making her character likeable and funny. She could almost equal Lucille Ball at physical comedy as well as filling the internal shoes of her character.
Hyuk as Moon-su, aka; Elvis is comically inept with his wooing of the English teacher Cathy. He is overtly charming though and he knows what women want to hear. He is, for all intents and purposes, the Al Bundy of Korea. It is Elvis’ longing to have Victoria his sister to become a part of the family that makes the character a fitting choice for any woman. He wants his mother to be happy and reunited with the daughter she was forced to abandon.
kudos
Kudos to these actors for making a huge impact on the film:
Jung Suk-yong is splendid as his portrayal of the pizza deliveryman who steals a teacher’s heart. Na Moon-hee proves yet again that she is queen of comic delivery, “I rub Bacteria!”
Cast is King and Queen
Please Teach Me English has the perfect cast from Betty, played by Hwang Hyo-eun) to the two leads, everyone here is spot on as the characters they portray. I have had many people talk about how bad Korean comedy is. They have obvious not seen this one. It is laugh out loud funny in all the right places.
the verdict
Please Teach Me English. is a solid 5 stars out of 5. It is funny, heartfelt and slightly addictive. You will fall in love with all the characters before the film is over. This can be streamed via YouTube. Sadly, the quality is not very good although it has subtitles. You can, however, purchase a DVD via Amazon.
the trailer
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