“My Heart Puppy” (멍뭉이)

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
September 22, 2023

 

☆☆☆☆
Min-soo (played by Yoo Yeon-seok)
Jin-guk (played by Cha Tae-hyun)
Seong-gyeong (played by Jung In-sun)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

I’m going to be honest. I dozed off several times watching this movie. So I watched it again (fully awake) to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

I hadn’t.

There are two people who Min-soo loves more than anything else. One is his sweet girlfriend, who he wants to propose to. The second isn’t actually a person, but is just as important to Min-soo: Rooney, his gorgeous golden retriever who he rushes home to see after work every evening.

When he is ready to propose to Seong-gyeong, he learns that she is severely allergic to dogs. She had never told him about her allergies and had dealt with it by taking allergy meds without telling Min-soo. She hadn’t wanted him to feel bad.

I don’t know, but this is the kind of information that couples should share with each other earlier on. Because having a medical condition isn’t a flaw. It’s just something that has to be dealt with.

Anyhow, realizing that it wasn’t fair to her, he makes the decision to rehome Rooney for her sake.

Before anyone jumps to the conclusion that Seong-gyeong is to blame for all of this, let me just reiterate that Min-soo made this decision all on his own. In his mind, his cousin Jin-guk could care for his dog and he could go visit Rooney whenever he wanted to.

Because of his own circumstances, Jin-guk is unable to become Rooney’s caretaker. So he and Min-soo go on a journey to find the best home for the dog.

Anyone who has had to give a pet away for whatever reason knows how excruciating it can be, both for the human and for the dog. And there was a good part of me that thought that when this couple eventually married and had their first big fight, he would bring up how he gave up his dog for her… even though she never asked him to.

Helmed by filmmaker Jason Kim (aka Kim Ju-hwan) — who brought us the superb film “Midnight Runners” and the K-drama “Bloodhounds” — this isn’t a particularly good movie. But it is pleasant, thanks to the attractive leads (inclusive of the super cute golden retriever).

There is a strange subplot that doesn’t work. When the cousins meet up with a social media influencer who takes in unwanted pets, they find that the disabled young woman is very wealthy with a huge house and acres of land. But she has a cold personality and Min-soo can’t imagine Rooney having a nice life there.

In the end, Min-soo finds a solution to this problem. (Please read the SPOILER ALERT below for more.) Is there a happily ever after? I think you can correctly guess the answer.

Film release: This film released on October 31, 2022 in South Korea. I watched this on a flight to South Korea on Korean Air.

Spoiler Alert: After his mother died, she left her house on the outskirts of Seoul to Min-soo. It has a yard. Min-soo had an aversion to moving back to the house because it reminded him of how sick his mother had been. But he is ready to fix up the house, build a comfortable dog house for Rooney outside and build a family there with Seong-gyeong. When he asks her if that would work for her, she agrees.

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