“The Dude in Me” (내안의 그놈)

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
October 30, 2022

☆☆☆
Kim Dong-hyun (played by Jung Jin-young)
Jang Pan-soo (played by Park Sung-woong)
Oh Mi-sun (played by Ra Mi-ran)

“The Dude In Me” is a 2019 Korean fantasy film that centers on a high-ranking gangster and a high school student. When the latter accidentally falls from his school roof, he lands on the mobster. While neither dies, the mishap somehow switches the pair’s bodies and minds.

Now, wiseguy Pan-soo is trapped in the body of chubby and bullied teenager Dong-hyun, while Dong-hyun is stuck in Pan-soo’s comatose body.

Though the body-switch concept isn’t unique, “The Dude in Me” — also known in English as “The Man Inside Me” — nonetheless is a fun comedy with a lot of well-choreographed fight scenes. The film tackles teenage bullying and illustrates how clueless the school administration is in doing anything to make the environment safer for all the students. So when Pan-soo (in Dong-hyun’s body) serves up his own version of justice, it elicits a sense of relief (at least it did for me!) that something finally is being done to mete out justice to the abusers.

The only complaint I have is the use of a fat suit that idol and actor Jung Jin-young (B1A4) wore early in the movie. The filmmakers used the prop as a sight gag that wasn’t necessary: Ooooooh, look at the fat boy getting bullied! Haha! As Dong-hyun lost weight and switched his glasses for contact lenses, he transformed into a hottie. The transformation would’ve been just as effective without including fatphobia to drive the early plot. There are plenty of thin children who are bullied simply for existing (like his two best friends and classmates).

Jung had a co-starring role in 2014’s “Miss Granny” — another fantasy film where he played the grandson of a senior citizen who was transformed into her 20-year-old self. Here, he does a formidable job as the lead, playing both a timid loser and a toughened thug with equal aplomb.

Release date: The 122-minute film opened in South Korea on January 9, 2019.

Spoiler Alert: Pan-soo never knew his first love Mi-sun was pregnant when the two broke up. They loved each other, but she didn’t want to be with a criminal and he didn’t want to give up his lucrative job. When they are reunited, he realizes that his teenage daughter is Dong-hyun’s best friend and fellow outcast at school.

The happily-ever-after ending is very satisfying. Pan-soo and Dong-hyun revert back to their original bodies. Mi-sun opens a slightly more upscale eatery and Pan-soo is now working for/with her.

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