
Watched this after being told by Eli that it was supposedly good. 200 Pounds Beauty is a Korean movie and basically, the movie revolves around this wannabe singer, Hanna who has to stay in the background and ‘lend’ her voice to a more beautiful but untalented singer. As the title character, this unlucky girl not only has to contend with her obese situation but gets treated like some ‘laughing joke’ among her peers. Her only consolation and motivation is the gorgeous music director, Sang-Jun who treats her well, which led her to believe that he may possibly have feelings for her.
Hanna doubles up as a phone sex operator for side income. One day, the untalented singer, Ammy played a joke on her during Sang-Jun’s birthday celebrations. Hanna was broken-hearted when she overheard Sang-Jun telling Ammy that she was just a pawn in their game and that he wouldn’t like someone so fat and ugly. Hanna tried commiting suicide unsuccessfully, saved by a phone call from her phone sex client. It turned out that her client was a famous plastic surgeon, whom she tried blackmailing into performing plastic surgery on her body entirely, from top to toe!
After a year of convalescing in the hospital, Hanna ‘unveiled’ into a beautiful girl. She soon discovered that pretty girls get royal treatment wherever they go and can even get away with murder possibly. Sang-Jun was holding a search for a ‘voice’ for Ammy for a 2nd album and Hanna, now known as Jenny, gave it a try. She not only impressed everyone for her vocals but Sang-Jun decided to mould her into a new singer sensation instead of just being a ‘voice’ for Ammy. That frustrated Ammy, who was frozen into acting serials instead of singing. She then searched for Hanna’s mentally unstable dad in the hospital, hoping to get a lead on Hanna’s mysterious disappearance.
Jenny, heady from her ‘new-found’ fame displayed some of her familiar characteristics which puzzled Sang-Jun. He tested her and finally managed to push her into a guilt trip of confessing to being Hanna. On the actual day of her maiden concert, Jenny aka Hanna, told all her fans about her deception and acknowledged her father, whom she had refused to be acquainted with for fear of being ‘discovered’ initially.
There is a happy ending and some of the songs are rather catchy being pop-ish sounding so it may appeal to those who want to watch some ‘light-hearted’ movie to pass the time. Also, there is the added perk of watching the 2 gorgeous leads.
Moral of the movie is no matter how much you change your appearance regardless by way of plastic surgery or otherwise, we can’t change our inner self or personality to suit our face. No doubt first impressions do count but I reckon personality will make a more lasting impression in the long run. Pretty or handsome faces with attitude problem to boot tend to lose their appeal very fast and is a major turn-off. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that Korea, which is well-known for its majority stars who has gone under the knife to take a jibe at panning plastic surgery.
One of their most controversial singers, Harisu, who self-confessed to undergoing a sex change to become a woman, recently married her boyfriend with much fanfare surrounding it. Somebody sent me a mail on her wedding story accompanied by some ‘sexy’ pictures of her. I forwarded it to some guy friends who deleted it without opening the mail. When I questioned the fact, I was told that no matter how sexy or gorgeous the girl is, fake is fake, real is real and they much prefer the ‘natural real person’ with their imperfections in contrast to the ‘perfect plastic’ person, who may be ‘aesthetically stunning’ but lack the ‘natural touch’.
So, I do agree with Hanna. Unless absolutely necessary for accident victims as such, plastic surgery is meant for those who lack confidence!