My Boyfriend is Type B

Story: Young-bin (Lee Dong-geon) has the looks. On the outside he is a nice guy, but at the same time he is a macho and absolutely arrogant. Pretty and young Ha-mi (Han Ji-hye) on the other hand is shy and desperately waiting for the right boyfriend. When one day she accidentally writes a SMS to Young-bin and shortly after that bumps into him, she believes in a decree of fate. She goes out with him and they get closer.
When Ha-mi introduces her new boyfriend to her cousin Chae-yeong (Shin Yi), with whom she shares an apartment, her cousin isn't very happy about their relationship. Chae-yeong is a professional dating agency employee and corroborates the theory that people can be categorized according to their blood type. Young-bin is Type B which means that he is egoistic and arrogant. Ha-mi on the other side is Type A, the shy girl, just predestined to be taken advantage of by Type B men. Since the two lovers won't make their future dependant on such a thin theory they decide to continue their relationship. However, soon it shows more and more that Chae-yeong might have been right with her predictions...
Can love become thicker than blood?

Review: "My Boyfriend is Type B" starts from an interesting, yet ridiculous theory that people can be put into four different categories. This blood-type theory actually is everything there is concerning a story. The rest is routine. Two lovers meet, the guy loses the girl, fights for her and eventually it all comes to a... Ah, we don't wanna spoil the whole movie for you, do we?

In the style of your typical happy-life romantic comedy the movie manages to create a warm atmosphere and introduces us to the lifes of the two main protagonists. Young-bin, who chronically is broke, lives at a sauna, yet with his european car looks like everything but a poor guy, hopes that eventually someone of the big bosses will take any of his business ideas into consideration and bring it on the market. However, at the moment it doesn't look too rosy. What of a person he really is, we get to see when he let's his girlfriend wait in his car to avoid getting a ticket and after returning dumps her. The way Young-bin takes advantage of other people really isn't nice and hinders us to develop any sympathies towards him. This changes when he meets Ha-mi. At first sight he can be a true charmer and knows how to treat his new girlfriend. But soon he shows his old bad habits again. He is even so presumptuous that he has no problem sponging on Ha-mi by using her credit card everywhere he can. But does he really only take advantage of his girlfriend or is there something else?

Lee Dong-geon manages remarkably to wander the thin red line between egoistic macho and protective boyfriend. Sometimes you really want to slap him for his behaviour and only a few seconds later you have to give him credit for his nice acts.
I'm sure that Lee is supposed to look handsome, but something was irritating about him so that I was hoping that it's not him who has the male lead role in the movie. However, a few minutes later he has already convinced the viewer that he is just the right person for the role.

Han Ji-hye is young, pretty and has something special about her. Fortunately, she also can act. As Ha-mi she can play every emotion from pleasant anticipation to disappointment and fury very convincingly. It doesn't take long until she has drawn you on her side.
The two actors and their good efforts are in fact the reason why you are able to overlook the movie's mediocrity every now and then. The chemistry between the two is just right and that's the most important thing in a romantice comedy, isn't it?
Of course, there is also Shin Yi who deserves some credit. She positively struck me in "Sisily 2km" already and she once more proves that she has a great acting potential in her. As Chae-Yeong she is incredibly hysterical and pesky, so that you soon can't stand hearing her shrieking voice anymore. No wonder that she is the one who is responsible for most humourous scenes, of course.

"My Boyfriend is Type B" is in no way inventive. Once again the cell phone is used as a flirting tool, the guy sings a little song for his beloved girlfriend and lots of other stuff you would expect of a Korean romance can be found here. Nevertheless, the movie has some good moments, too, for example when Young-bin exposes Ha-mi's teacher to ridicule in front of all the students in a very unusual way, because he is always attacking his girlfriend. Moreover, in the scene in which Young-bin gets a visit by his father and the two sit together at the same table there is a pretty obvious similarity in their behaviour that in its way can be quite funny.

The film works out better than what one would have expected. This is mainly, because of the relationship of the two lovers. Especially, Ha-mi can show what she is made of, when she finally makes a stand and tells Young-bin her opinion about him. As it is in real life their relationship proves to be quite comlicated and is in need of some adjustment. At the end there is of course... a Happy End. However, we see that there is still some effort needed to make their relationship bloom even in the future. At the bottom line, "My Boyfriend is Type B" is a cheerful comedy, which in some way isn't that cheerful at times, yet can entertain you for quite a while if there is nothing you have to attend to in real life.
If there are in fact some people out there who feel pissed, because I spoiled too much with my Happy-End talking, then I really envy you, because it would seem that there are really some people left who haven't been overwhelmed by Korea's ceaseless romantic comedy flood yet and actually are wondering if the two lovers will be together at the end, eventually...

Buy this movie:

Follow @AsianMovieWeb