She’s On Duty (aka: Jambok-geunmu) movie review

by Chris   ⋅   July 20, 2005   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

She’s On Duty (aka: Jambok-geunmu), directed by newcomer Park Kwang-Chun, is your standard cop goes undercover in a school story, but with a Korean schoolgirl twist. Really, that’s about it. You’ve seen this type of story played out in numerous films including Plain Clothes and even the upcoming Underclassman. Jae-in (Seon-a Kim) is a rough around the edges female cop the kind of which would make Miss Congeniality proud. Forced into an assignment by her Uncle/Boss, she finds herself going undercover as a prep school student in order to get close to a Korean mafioso’s daughter, and hopefully glean clues as to his whereabouts before his fellow mafia brothers can kill him. Adjusting to school life is no cakewalk either. On her first day Jae-in inadvertently makes enemies with the school bully, is hired as a nerdy girl’s new bodyguard, catches the eye of the cute boy in school, bungles relations with her target, and is forced to solve complex math problems on the blackboard! Ohmigod!

Thankfully the film never attempts to be something it is not. As such, I tried to keep in mind its target audience, namely teenage girls. In this light, her trials making friends, enemies, and stabs at romance have the requisite awkwardness to attain believability, and proved to be, dare I say it, somewhat entertaining. Mind you, this is not a bonafide recommendation, but for example, one scene involving Jae-in being caught by her schoolteacher as she has a drink with a fellow officer is actually quite funny. The acting is nothing to write home about, but Seon-a Kim scrunches her plain jane face into numerous expressions of disgust and irritation in nearly every scene. The only thing truly bad about the film is the editing, as shots within scenes appear to have been cut together in a manner more suited to shuffling cards – not one happening on a movement, beat, or any discernable standard. While it is serviceable for the day to day school scenes, it really sticks out during the fight sequences; the edits more jarring than the punches being thrown, or even the strange Irish fiddling that serves as the soundtrack.

In closing She’s on Duty is as cliché-ridden as other teenage faire, but never truly ventures into the realm of the unwatchable. As you can tell by the brevity of the review, there’s nothing to really discuss over pie after having finished the film with friends, nor is there any scene you’ll remember a week down the line. However, on a hot summer day it may result in a pleasant afternoon killer. At least it’s not as bad as My Sassy Girl.

About the Author:

Chris Nelson has been an avid film fan since the age of six. His all-time splatter favorites (”samurai” and otherwise) include Lady Snowblood, Evil Dead 2, Re-Animator and Razorback.

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