In “Miss Gold Digger,” Mi-Su’s (Ye-seul Han) thinks of her boyfriends as investments, the same way money managers view their portfolios. The most prudent of investors usually hedges their bets among several promising companies, waiting patiently for a breakout stock to appear. Just like those investors, Mi-su spreads her time among 3 different boyfriends. Jun-seo comes from a wealthy family, but seems to have a few odd quirks. Yun-cheol is a law-school student, struggling to pass his bar exam. Hyeon-jun is an up and coming b-boy rapper, that seems to have a lot of charms. In reality, Mi-su is waiting for Yun-cheol to pass his bar exam, but if he doesn’t, she has Jun-seo to fall back on. As Mi-su bides her time patiently, a fourth person enters the picture. He’s a grumpy neighbor that seems impervious to Mi-su’s charms. Things turn even more unexpected when her neighbor shows up at her ad agency, as a client for an all important job. Has Mi-su finally met her match?

Character wise, you’ve seen plenty of dainty Korean actresses play roles similar to Mi-su. What does Lee Han Seoul bring to the table that the others haven’t? Nothing really, but that’s not to say you can’t enjoy her performance anyways. She’s attractive, her character’s cute, and the jokes are silly enough where you can laugh along. Story wise, “Miss Gold Digger” recalls “Seducing Mr. Perfect,” mixed in with a variety of familiar K Romantic-Comedies from the past. I didn’t mind the movie’s lack of originality, but I did mind when the comedy wasn’t a comedy.

Rather than laying in the bed they made (a comedy about a gold digger), the filmmakers attempted to justify Mi-su’s shortcomings towards the end of the film. These moments bogged the film down, giving off an unwelcome “the-party’s-over and the-hangover-is-coming” type of feeling. Not really what you want from a comedy is it? Furthermore, the more dramatic events invited the viewer to more closely analyze Mi su’s actions. Not the strongest of areas for a comedy based on a gold digger. Also, for native South Koreans they will probably grimace at the obnoxious placement of KTF cellphones and marketing ploys integrated into the film. For foreign audiences, this is really a non-issue as their unfamiliarity with the company will likely lead them to believe that KTF is a fictional company. I fell in with the latter side.

What there is to like about “Miss Gold Digger” is a handful of genuinely funny moments, along with the film’s mixture of 50’s romance era like feel with its more contemporary elements (gold diggers, rappers etc). What wasn’t as appreciated was the movie’s attempt to kill the party so to speak, with more dramatic and serious moments. Those moments were a drag and felt a bit like the early stages of a soju hangover. At least it was fun for a while.