Marrying the Mafia 3
Director: Jeong Yong-ki
Year: 2006
Rating: 3.0
Country: Korea
I think they say
that if there is a third sequel it is bad luck not to see it. Ok, I just
made that up but I figured why not watch it even though I had heard less
than great things about it - like a bad case of the hives - but it is up
on YouTube with subtitles and so not a burden on my wallet. Nice copy of
it too. If only the film had been as good. If you recall, the first MTM had
nothing to do with the second but this one in fact begins where the last
one ended. This sweet little Mafia family has decided to go legit after the
oldest son married a prosecutor. Three brothers, two sister-in-laws and a
mother who eats nails while watching Korean soaps. But the mom is also a
great kimchi cook and so they open up a kimchi business with their own secret
recipe and become a big success. Unknown to them the two crooks from the
last film are out of jail and ready for revenge. They sabotage the business,
it goes broke as do they and then they have to come back.
Not exactly a world beater but it sounds
ok right? Somehow the filmmakers managed to take this idea and make it pretty
close to dreadful. Abysmal. Shoddy and slothful. Hard to imagine there was
a MTM 4 & 5 after this one. Those I will do my best to stay away from
like a hornets nest. The main issue is that in a film of about 105 minutes
they had 30 minutes of material. The rest they fill in with flashbacks that
add nothing to the narrative. One flashback of the middle son being seduced
by his now wife and then getting into a dance contest felt like it went on
longer than heart surgery. Another with the mother as a younger woman and
the father who is now dead is perhaps closer to a procedure. All pointless
which could have been forgiven if they were funny but they are not - hey
that kimchi recipe you have - add some humor to it. And worst of all for
me is that the prosecutor played with such zest in the first film by Kim
Won-Hee, disappears for most of the film. I should have been as smart.
