This film is the most least likely one to watch ever but I had no other choice cus I’m currently a fangirl of Park Yong Woo. Many people are probably not too familiar with him cus he is not super active and his films weren’t super successful unfortunately, so his name hasn’t been really under people’s radars. He started out his career in the mid 90s and consistently made films and dramas here and there. I have heard of him before and things with him in it here and there but I was so not interested until several weeks ago, when I watched one of the episodes of this Enactment show called Tv neun sarangeul sitko……After this episode I was just hooked and I took the bait…….so this made me look up all of his old shows and movies that he’s done over the years. All of his other movies and dramas were fun and cool where they didn’t make me have this weird after taste until this movie, Changing Partners/Love Now came along.

This film came out like 15 years ago!!! the film aged rather well but the darn hairstyles of the male actors…YUK! The hairstyle of both Yongwoo Oppa and Lee Dong Gun looked kind tacky. I personally liked the style of Park Yong Woo in my love madam butterfly which came out five years after this….I’ll totally review that after this one. I watched Madam butterfly first before this film. I’m completely doing this out of order since I just barely became his fan although he’s been around for a long time.

Anyways, this film is about these four somewhat young people. Seo Yuna (Uhm Jung Hwa) and Jung Min Jae (Park Yong Woo) couple who get along rather well but they are not rich. Yuna is a fashion consultant but really ambitious. She is not a fan of her husband’s non ambitious attitude. They dated for four years and have been married for three years, despite this they get along great but rather too comfortable. Minjae is a hotel worker, he is like an assistant manager at a large hotel so he’s not doing that bad really, it’s just that Yuna wants more than just living like working stiffs.

Meanwhile we also have a couple from a completely different background, Park Young Joon a second in command CEO for a construction company. He is ambitious, career oriented and a bit aloof. This guy is married to a quite princess type Han Seoyeo who is a light decorator and her family owns the number 1 biggest light bulb company in Korea. This couple is very dried, no love, no passion,no nothing. Young Joon and Seoyeo live a loveless marriage while Yuna and Minjae have it more together yet they have their own suffering to deal with.

There are some controversies regarding this film…..Is it a swapping story? Is it about a regular extra marital affairs kinda story?……..It’s a hard pill to swallow……My main issue was the bed scenes and nudity…..I’m not an old fashion prude or anything but there are some scenes that are way too graphic for my liking……since it involves the actor I’m a fangirl of….I really felt uncomfortable seeing Yongwoo oppa butt naked…Now that I think about it, it wasn’t really nudity itself that bothered me….Both Yongwoo oppa and Han Chae Young were butt naked together, touching each other’s skin…although the bed scene was done with class at least. It wasn’t super raunchy thankfully. But the thing that bothered me the most was the sound that Minjae and Seoyeo couple make……It’s so intense I can still hear it ringing in my ears at night…..

However Uhm Jung Hwa and Lee Dong Gun’s characters, Yuna and Young Joon don’t have a full blown bed scene…….unlike Park Yong Woo and Han Chae Young’s characters. Some people were saying that they couldn’t really understand why they didn’t make Young Joon and Yuna couple go all the way too. But it kinda makes sense to why the director (Jung Yoon Soo) made it that way. Yuna had a thing for Young Joon but she still wanted protect her marriage with Minjae and Young Joon respected that….Even though Young Joon was still bothered by the fact she was being a tease…..Young Joon was fascinated for sure but still annoyed by Yuna’s behavior but still respected her decision not go all the way.

The acting was good and the cinematography was amazing but the storytelling itself…..I don’t know if I can agree with the choices that these characters make. Our four main characters meet through a mutual friend who invites them to his Bar that he just opened up. The moment that these four met, Minjae and Seoyeo felt something for each other right away, you can tell by the way they smile at each other in the first few scenes that they encounter with each other.

The movie is set in Seoul Korea and Hong Kong. The shots in both places were nice but the Hong Kong location was breathtaking…..I think it was mainly because of Minjae and Seoyeo….You can just tell that something’s in the air. Minjae knows how to get a woman going with his cheesy lines. When they were in Hong Kong, Minjae was telling Seoyeo that people do weird things when the full moon is up………Minjae might have had a total of seven year relationship with Yuna but he is such a ladies man….smooth with the ladies. Oh and I forgot to mention that Minjae helped Seoyeo make a hotel reservation to Hong Kong…Well, our Minjae is a hotelier after all.

I really felt bad for Yuna more than anybody though…..She had a thing for Young Joon but she still loved Minjae a lot even if things cooled down for them. Also, she doesn’t completely act on her feelings towards Young Joon cus she wants to save her marriage and hold onto what remains between her and Minjae……Uhm Jung Hwa did a great job portraying a woman that wants more so she temporarily gets tempted by someone with better circumstances…However, despite the current situation with her and her husband Minjae, she wanted to at least try to patch things up if she can help it….

The ending bothered me a little though…..I guess it’s supposed to be an open ended movie to some degree but things felt a little too unclear that my mind felt boggled down…..The ending seemed childish and a bit vague…….I guess I wanted a more straight forward ending

I just can’t root for Minjae and Seoyeo though……maybe it’s cause I felt bad for Yuna…….I felt like Yuna is the only I was able to understand in the end….She seems way too ambitious, flashy, greedy and snooty at first but it seemed like she was the one who cared about her relationship more than the other three……I didn’t like Seoyeo very much….She seemed like a boring spoiled little princess to me. Seoyeo wanted Minjae to give up everything he had for her and I thought that was so selfish of her….I mean, she’s a rich girl….she has nothing to lose really….but Minjae does….He’ll lose other things that has for this sacrifice……

Also, this extra marital affairs might be in the moment but even if they divorce and get together with their lover whos to say they won’t cheat on them again if they get bored?

Would I recommend this movie to anyone….? That”s a yes and a no! If you are sensitive about topics like swapping partners….probably not! But if you are fascinated by Park Yongwoo, Han Chae Young, Lee Dong Gun and Uhm Jung Hwa then yes since these four are all gorgeous to look at!