SYNOPSIS:

A true-crime enthusiast, Dae Man (Kwon Sang Woo), and a senior detective, Noh (Sung Dong Il), launch a joint investigation when a mutual friend and detective, Joon Soo (Park Hae Joon), is charged with murder.

CAST:

• Kwon Sang Woo as Kang Dae Man
• Sung Dong Il as Noh Tae Soo
• Park Hae Joon as Joon Soo

TRAILER: The Accidental Detective

WARNING: MOVIE SPOILERS AHEAD

Cinematography:

Karie the Maknae: Oh, crap. I forgot to pay attention. I’ll leave this to KMuse. She’s much better at it than I am.

KMUSE: You didn’t miss much.  Pretty standard.  Nothing horrible but nothing noteworthy either.

The Plot:

Karie the Maknae: Dae Man is your average “got trapped in life, dissatisfied with job, bickering with spouse” character. What makes him stand out is his hobby — solving crimes. He’s a blogger who examines crime scene photos and works out what happened. And maybe sometimes he ends up at the local police station where his friend Joon Soo works as a detective, and maaaaaayyyybe he can’t help but comment on the cases they’re currently working on. Joon Soo’s new partner, Detective Noh, has been busted down the ranks and now works under his junior. Understandably, Dae Man’s commentary just makes him irritable . . . even if he agrees with the nosy friend.

So when Joon Soo gets accused of murder, these two set aside their differences as much as possible to find out what REALLY happened. The only problem? Dae Man agrees to watch the baby while his wife works in exchange for permission to shut down his shop for a few days. Because hauling a baby along never complicates things at all . . . .

KMUSE: I like the concept of the plot and whenever the two men were on the case, I was totally entertained.  My issue came when our leading man turned into a total deadbeat dad/husband whenever he was not out solving crime.  I get that a person can be disappointed when their life does not go the way you wanted.  That doesn’t give you an excuse to be a lying pathetic man child.  That said, I really enjoyed the mystery and how it played out.  Not what I was expecting so I was happily surprised when it came to that aspect of the story.

Random Character Observations:

Karie the Maknae: I really felt for put-upon Dae Man. That poor guy just wanted to pursue his one true passion, and it seemed like everything in his life was conspiring against him, including his faulty legs. Grouchy Detective Noh didn’t seem really likable, despite the casting of Sung Dong Il, but he grew on me when he and Dae Man bonded over their “tiger” wives.

Also, there were some casting choices that absolutely cracked me up, since I recently watched two out of the three Answer Me series. I don’t want to spoil them. Just keep an eye out for those peripheral characters, ok? Trust me, it was fun to be in on that joke.

KMUSE: I really struggled getting past Dae Man’s  manchild personality.  I also didn’t appreciate how they kept making the wife seem overbearing.  Personally, I view her as a saint for not divorcing his deadbeat butt.  By the end I did enjoy the relationship between the two men. They had great give and take when it came to the comedic/mystery moments.  Opening a PI office together was the perfect ending to their story arc.  It also let me end on a positive note for Dae Man.  At least this way he will be bringing in an income and not making his son do his job for him.  Did I mention his character bugged me?

Karie the Maknae: Just a little bit. 😀

 

Overall Review:

Karie the Maknae: The cutesy “look at Dae Man using a kid’s toy as a flashlight! Look at Dae Man change a diaper!” was actually dropped by about halfway through the movie, which was okay by me. It made the movie more of a drama than a comedy, but kept the light touches throughout the rest of the story. And the plot did NOT suffer for it. The mystery was tightly plotted and unraveled by our daring duo just right. I didn’t yell at the characters even once.

Did I love this movie? Mmm, not as much as I loved Going By The Book. However, did I hate it? Nope. It’s well-written and well-acted. Definitely worth the watching time. Rumor says there will be a sequel — I’ll be keeping my eye out for that, just to see if Dae Man overcomes his manchild personality, as KMuse puts it.

KMUSE: This show was OK for me.  The selfish personalities set off triggers and I just couldn’t get past it to truly enjoy the rest of the story.  I give it a 6.5/10 because of its solid murder mystery.

(Gentle Viewer Alert: This movie definitely earns a PG-13. Detective Noh has a potty mouth and there is quite a bit of violence.)

Be sure to check out our other Asian Movie Reviews! You can find The Accidental Detective on DramaFever.

Til next time,

Karie the Maknae & Kmuse

Kimchi With A Side of Dramas