Some off-color humor and Lee Sung-Jae's performance make Shinsukki Blues an enjoyable comedy, but the inconsistent characterization, hackneyed direction, and maudlin emotions send everything into a tailspin. Half of this movie is good, but that means that the other half isn't.
Lee Sung-Jae isn't Korea's most handsome actor, but he's certainly no slouch in the looks department. Still, what's vanity before art—or a oddball comedy made for the masses? Lee goes ugly for Shinsukki Blues, a loaded comedy about a complete bastard named Shin Suk-Ki (Lee Jong-Hyuk), an amoral Master of the Universe lawyer who runs mergers and acquisitions in a large conglomerate. He signs off on a shady deal to send a portion of the staff packing, the means being some legal sleight-of-hand designed to fool average non-legal folk (you and me, basically) into thinking the firings were on the up and up. You can count that as Suk-Ku's first karmic mistake.
Karmic mistake #2 occurs when Suk-Ki beds impossibly pure-hearted receptionist Seo Jin-Yung (Kim Hyun-Joo, who appeared in the Hong Kong film Star Runner), and promptly drops her like a used tissue. Then, in your standard movie plot device, he gets his fortune told at an appearing/disappearing bar, and gets into an elevator accident with another guy named Shin Suk-Ki (Lee Sung-Jae). This other Suk-Ki is his total opposite: a kind-hearted, but clumsy, dorky, and irretrievably hopeless lawyer who does pro bono work and lives in squalor. The big hook: the two get their minds switched, handsome Suk-Ki gets stuck in ugly Suk-Ki's body, and his own handsome body is left to lie in a coma. Ain't payback a bitch?
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