By Jae-Ha Kim
Amazon.com
March 28, 2006
Sex Is Zero is to South Korea what Porky’s, American Pie, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High are to the United States. The Korean film has all the classic elements of a sex comedy: gratuitous breast shots, unusual use of bodily fluids, and a plot that’s secondary to the physical comedic skills of the actors.
Eun-Sik (Im-Chang-Jung is a 28-year-old sad sack of a college student. Though he’s served in the military and is a skilled martial artist, he’s insecure and socially inept.
He accidentally wolfs down a sandwich made from rat poison and fried, um, sticky fluids (courtesy of his bizarre roommates). He ingests a drugged beverage intended to make women frisky. And when part of his dinner lands on a pin-up poster, what’s a guy to do but lick it off?
The highest-grossing comedy in South Korea (it was released theatrically in 2002), Sex Is Zero is slowed down with some drama that doesn’t ring true. When the girl of his dreams suffers from a complicated abortion (after an affair with the selfish campus playboy), Eun-Sik matures into a caregiver–a role that is out of context for him in this movie.
Release date: December 12, 2002.
Running time: 96 minutes.
