Saving My Hubby (2002)

Director: Hyeon Nam-Seop

Cast: Bae Doo-Na, Kim Tae-woo, Lee Chan-min

Running Time: 90 min.

Plot: A former volleyball star, newly married at a young age, gets a call one night from some gangsters who are holding her husband for an unpaid liquor bill. Strapping her baby onto her back, she goes out to rescue her husband.

Availability: This title is available at HKflix.com

MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S REVIEW: Joon Tae, Geum-soon, and their baby girl, Song-yee, are a happy little family in love. Geum-soon, a popular ex-volleyball star (known for her powerful "spike"), spends her days doing the choirs and exploring her new life of being a full-time mother, while Joon Tae is the man who brings home the bacon. Today is Joon Tae's first day on his new job and he's going to do whatever it takes to please his bosses and new colleagues.

While Joon Tae is at work, Geum-soon's average day becomes hectic when she gets a phone call from her in-laws saying that they're coming to visit and will be arriving in the morning. After hearing about her last-minute guests, Geum-soon rushes to clean her house and heads for the store to pick up some groceries so she can make an impressive dinner and score some points from her demanding, but respected, new parents. However, Joon Tae will be a little late in coming home to help, since he'll be going out for drinks after work with his new partners. Little does Joon Tae know, he's about to put himself and his family in a compromising situation.

At the break of night, Geum-soon receives a disturbing phone call from a vulgar-sounding man demanding her to pick up her drunken hubby and pay him hundreds of dollars for the total bill that her husband had run up. The man's ultimatum: pick him up and pay the money your husband owes, or he will suffer the the brutal consequences. Confused and worried, Geum-soon wonders how her husband ended up with a bill that high when he doesn't even drink that much. Putting later explanations aside, Geum-soon agrees to pick him up, and is forced to venture out into the roughest part of the city, along with Song-yee, her baby daughter. And to top things off, she still has a lot to do around the house since her in-laws coming in the next morning...

"Saving My Hubby" reminded me a lot of "Adventures in Babysitting". A mother and her baby (ie, babysitter and the kids) are setting out to save their man (ie, the babysitter's friend) while walking on dangerous ground and running into a handful of colorful characters which include gangsters, weirdos and con-artists; not to mention a few characters who are actually not what they seem. Just like "Adventures in Babysitting", it's totally lighthearted and does the job of entertaining.

However, after the first half, "Saving My Hubby" seems to weaken due to it's excessive and tiresome plot about gangsters that are after Geum-soon for one of the stupidest reasons. And the whole "spike" thing...well, sometimes it made me want to throw a shoe at the TV. It's ashamed, because the first half of the film is really well done, both in dialogue and opening plot. But once it gets down to the middle-finale, it just loses it's touch of something that could have been a brilliant comedy.

One thing's for sure..."Saving My Hubby" brings yet another lively performance by actress Bae Doo-Na ("Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance", "Barking Dogs Never Bite"). Like most of her roles, Bae Doo-Na holds the show. Her acting, physical gestures, and facial expressions are a delight to see on the screen.

All in all, "Saving My Hubby" isn't bad. It's just very corny at times and has the tendency to be redundant. I have to say that it was worth seeing just to see Bae Doo-Na perform. But keep in mind that I really like her. So, unless you like her as much as I do, you might want to skip this one.

MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S RATING: 6.5/10