Meu Mafioso Predileto (2024)

Ji Hwan Y Dangerously

Making a reference to a forty year old movie is probably not the ideal method of appealing to the younger demographic on MDL. Perhaps something iconic like "Breakfast Club" or "Beverly Hills Cop" would spark the right nostalgic vibe. But a forgettable, middling, sophomoric mess? Terrible idea but here goes anyway.

"Johnny Dangerously" was a 1984 movie meant to capitalize on the emerging stardom of a young Michael Keaton who had just exploded as a comedic star after back-to-back hits in "Night Shift" and "Mr. Mom". Pairing Keaton with Amy Heckerling, the Greta Gerwig of the 80's who established herself with the scintillating "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" should have been a can't miss project. It was a massive failure though. Probably because the concept was a parody of the incredible mafia movies of Coppola and Polanski. "Johnny Dangerously" was both a critical and popular bomb.

"My Sweet Mobster" encounters some of the same problems. Meant to be a comedy starring a zoot suited gangster that meets the girl of his dreams and wants to do right by his family, both start strong and score genuinely funny moments. And both don't really know what to do beyond lampooning the tough guy stereotype. Once the joke about the gangster not being such a big, tough, heartless guy, but a kindhearted softie gets played a few times, there's got to be somewhere else to go. It's fun at first. The more chaotic and frenzied it is, the more at ease Han Sun Hwa is. And Uhm Tae Goo is legit a delight as the flummoxed suitor. And Im Chul Soo takes his nemesis to an absurdly sketch comedy level. But at some point, "My Sweet Mobster" can't squeeze any more gags out of the cute, awkward gangster likes the bubbly kids streamer. And the options are:

1. Cut it short. The big secret gets revealed. Happy embraces. Roll credits. But it's a 16 episode contract, so this is a not an option.

2. Keep going back to same well. This was the route taken by "Johnny Dangerously" and it did not work.

3. Revert to stock drama storylines. Triangles. Hospitals. Roadtrips. This is where "My Sweet Mobster" goes and while it's not entirely unpleasant, it goes exactly to the exact destination and along the exact route in the exact manner as any regular viewer of k dramas can expect. Which is unfortunate because the two leads had a lot of promise if they had just avoided doing exactly the usual, typical, same ol', same ol' familiar stuff. It's also just a drag to go from light, fun romance with a supporting cast of fairly lovable goofballs to family angst and corporate & legal melodrama.

4. What could have worked was investing more screen time in the aforementioned supporting cast. Kim Hyun Jin isn't going to win any awards (see my review for "Peng" where he was one of the four horsemen of the borepocalypse) but the one night stand with Moon Ji In that becomes something more is terrific. And there are hints of other potential subplots with Moon Dong Hyuk with Song Seo Rin and Kwon Yool with Shin Soo Hyun (like repeated, explicitly telegraphed, unmistakeable flashing lights saying "LOOK AT THESE TWO. RIGHT HERE. THAT GUY. WITH THAT WOMAN. THEY'RE GONNA BE A THING. JUST WAIT.") Do these go anywhere? No. Foreshadowing with a payoff? When there's sixteen hour long episodes to insert said payoff? If drama malpractice was a felony, this crew would be behind bars for a long time. Then there's the backstory for Park Jae Chan and his first love? It's there but to what end? None that makes any sense other than make life more miserable for Ji Hwan. And the most endearing of the supporting characters, Yang Hyun Min's Jae Soo, gets used for cheap laughs, reduced to a plot device to set up a final conflict and transformed in to a blubbering weakling.

Had these supporting characters been given meaningful and fully explored subplots in a more ensemble style show, "My Sweet Mobster" could have been a massively charming and entertaining watch. It's still good but it simply can't turn a cheeky, cute romance in to a riveting sixteen episode run.

Recommended but with cautions that it will get frustrating to watch. Perhaps if it had a love broker* though...

*see Michael Keaton in "Night Shift"

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My Overly-Sweet Mobster

I pushed through but I think I regret it. A bit of an unintentionally frustrating show.

The comedy is definitely the main point of this show, despite the fact that it's not really that funny. The humor is very silly to the point of it being cringe, and many of the side characters (like the mobsters) are so obviously supposed to fill a specific comedic role, but the character development and execution is so poor that it just comes off as cringe and completely see-through when it comes to the writers' need to include every single rom-com trope. So many scenes with the side mobsters felt completely unnecessary simply because I wasn't given any real reason to care for them as characters. Sure, they were given brief backstories and introductions, but none of it felt genuine or realistic given the comedic nature of the show, so we're just left with empty surface-level characters and are still expected to care about what happens to them and their relationships with the leads.

The ML is an interesting character being a mobster and all, but is portrayed as child-like to the point that I couldn't imagine any realistic scenario where someone would be in a relationship with him and not be put off by his exaggerated reactions and fear of human contact. There’s a scene where he’s sitting on a bench next to the FL as she tries to scoot closer to him and he reacts so over-the-top to the point that he’s literally shaking out of even the thought of making physical contact. This made me completely disconnect from the romance. The FL spends too much time lingering on feelings for a boy she knew as a small child (yet another "destiny/fate" trope), which to me feels like a simple way for writers to create drama and "emotional" scenes without having to actually put in much effort, because the trope writes the narrative for them. On top of this, the ML does the typical ML thing of not being able to communicate properly which leads to misunderstandings and angry FL scenes, which ultimately leads to him having to apologize.

The FL is not much better to be honest. She’s silly just the like other characters and does not act her age, has trouble communicating like the ML and instead gets upset but doesn’t try to talk it out at first, and continuously jumps back and forth between the ML and 2ML despite “rejecting” the 2ML. Not really in a romantic way, but definitely feels off when the 2ML is already so head over heels for no reason and doesn’t know when to give up even after being rejected.

The 2ML is rather annoying, but I guess I just don’t like love triangles. It’s your typical love triangle you’ll see in like 90% of rom-com dramas. And of course his name is coincidentally the exact same name as the boy the FL has been looking for. I feel like his devotion and lowkey obsession with the FL doesn’t really make sense. We’re not really given a solid explanation as to why he’s so committed to winning her love despite being rejected. The constant jealous ML vs. 2ML scenes throughout the show got boring and annoying very quickly. Sometimes it felt like the writers were trying to find any reason or opportunity to insert the 2ML into the scene, even if the scene would have been better off without him in it. The ML even expressed in a scene with the FL that he didn’t like how she was hanging out with the 2ML all the time, yet this didn’t really change the large amount of screentime the FL & 2ML have together throughout the show. I nearly dropped the show after the scene where the FL is in danger (as usual) and the 2ML swoops in and takes the blow for her. I really didn’t want to have to sit through an entire episode where the characters have to take care of and feel guilty for the injured 2ML, especially when the ML was already going through so much with the conflict in his company. They should have focused on the ML’s conflict instead in order to give the ML & FL an opportunity to develop their relationship instead of shifting the focus on to the 2ML again. There’s also a 2FL, but she’s barely in the show and honestly doesn’t contribute much to the story or the love triangle.

The side relationship between Ju Il Yeong & Koo Mi Ho was admittingly pretty cute despite its flaws. Sometimes I felt more excited to see them together than the leads. Still not really enough to overlook the basic plot and tropes. There’s also a villain played by Im Chul Soo who does a good job in acting, but his character is so intentionally evil that I can’t really take him seriously. It seems like the writers wanted him to be a Joker type villain with all his mannerisms, even down to the “why so serious?” line in one of the episodes.

Overall, almost everything about the show just felt uninspired and recycled. Like the writers had a formula for rom-coms that worked in the past, so they decided to just switch out the characters and call it a day. The plot progression always felt like it was playing out exactly the way the writers wanted it to play out, but in an unnatural way. It’s like watching the script unfold scene by scene without any real emotion or excitement behind it. Maybe I’m just experiencing drama burn-out considering the amount of positive reviews for this show, but there are definitely plenty of flaws nonetheless.

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An Endearing Romance Between an Ex-Mobster & a Sweet Content Creator

A bittersweet romance between a soft-hearted ex-gangster and a kid’s content creator!

When I first started watching this show, I thought it was so silly. The female lead’s hijinks were epic and hilarious, paired with the other ex-convicts in the makeshift family she moved to, “My Sweet Mobster” was endearing and adorable. It was also my first time watching main leads Uhm Tae Goo & Han Sun Hwa in a romantic setting, and they didn’t fail to impress. The show might not appeal to those who like fast paced love stories, but the irreplaceable charm related to slow-burn romances is rather underrated. The same goes for “My Sweet Mobster”, our sweet couple take a lot of time finding the middle ground for their budding yet delicate relationship; and yet you can’t help cheering for them from the sidelines. They are just so darned cute, I fell in love with the whole concept of a gangster trying to reform his life and founding a new family. The strongest trait of this show wasn’t the romance between the main protagonists or the unwarranted love triangle they were caught in; it was the familial ties they formed with the other ex-convicts in the house; that sort of bonding is truly inconceivable.

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/08/02/my-sweet-mobster-series-review/

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Unexpectedly VEEEERY good.

Despite of the cringey relationship between Jihwan and Eunha, I would really like to rewatch this for the hundrenth time..
It was kinda boring at the first and second episode, but I enjoyed the rest!! I would love for the other characters' back stories to be shown in the drama, I think it'd make me fall even more into this drama.
This drama has it own attractor that wont let go of people dropping this drama : Uhm Taegoo's voice.
I feel like I've been driven crazy by his voice and his everything like UGHHHH please just this once...
But I feel like Uhm taegoo kinda lack at kissing, or did he do it on purpose for the plot (that Seo Jihwan never dates a girl so he basically never kissed one) but that's not a big problem since they don't really kiss too much.

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To put it in simple words this is one of those clingy, cringy dramas! Let the word cringy, not fool you though!
It justifies the title name perfectly. The man is manly but sweet only for his girl. The man who follows his principles but still doesn't disrespect his roots.
The girl on the other hand is just a humble sweet girl who wants to make her dream of keeping children happy come true!
Their chemistry was missed a bit and got too cringey but you can see why! Because their personalities were not similar. They needed the cringe and clinginess to be together and that is cute!
The drama depicts a good amount of laughter, silliness, drama, action, I wouldn't say it was 100% balanced but it was a good job done!
The dramas recently were a bit disappointing, but this one has a very new concept and is intriguing to watch.

If you're a fan of Romance-Comedy with a bit of action story as a backdrop, this drama is for you!

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Diabéticos saiam do chat essa série vai te levar pra emergência!!!

Vou ser sincera quando eu vi a premissa da série eu fiquei empolgada um clichê óbvio mas bem fofo .
Sendo sincera o plot é óbvio desde o começo , mas eu realmente gostei das atuações na serie eles nos dão dois personagens que são pessoas muito gentis , mas que tem história que são difíceis de viver mas as coisas ruins que aconteceram não definem quem eles são no presente e cara quanto tempo não rolava isso em dramas ?
Eu sei que nem todo mundo é igual mas eu gosto dessa ideia que o drama passa de que o seu passado e os seus erros são uma referência do que você não quer ser não uma profecia do seu futuro . Eu amei a atuaçao de todos os atores da série não tenho que reclamar de todos ele nosso casal principal é o meu favorito porque eles são muito fofos o segunda casal também é uma graça mas com certeza o primeiro casal foi o que me deixou engajada na série os momentos que nosso prota é fofo derreteu meu coração a nossa porta é fofa mas já era mas o Seo ji Hwan sendo fofo é outro nível .
Se você quer ver um drama leve e divertido essa é a indicação.

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"My Sweet Mobster" follows Eun Ha, a kids content creator who unexpectedly runs into Ji Hwan, a former gangster who's now living a new life. The two become entangled with each other and eventually Eun Ha comes to live with Ji Hwan, because she lost her house. With time, they become closer and fall in love.

My biggest problem was with the character Eun Ha, I know that because of her work she has to act cute and stuff, but that doesn't mean that she has to act like that ALL the time... eventually her "way" was really anoying me.
And also, for me there was no chemistry between the two main leads characters, the funny scenes were so much better than the romantic ones.

It's a sweet, light and easy to watch drama. I should have been expecting that for the poster and synopsis, but I didn't think it would be so childish, that wasn't what I was expecting of a drama with a "mobster".

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Estaba buscando un kdrama de romance que tuviera toques de comedia porque, particularmente, no soy especialmente fan de cuando las tocas se tornan dramáticas, oscuras o tensas y siento que "My sweet mobster" fue una buena elección en ese aspecto, pero, para mi gusto, todavía tiene muchos puntos mejorables.

En primer lugar, me gustaría destacar que, en lo que respecta a las escenas graciosas, estoy bastante satisfecha. El reparto y todo el trabajo de dirección, producción y guion lo han llevado muy bien y he disfrutado mucho de todas las escenas en las que había que reírse, sobre todo en las que salía Seo Ji Hwan más relajado o gracias al dúo de Jae Soo y Man Ho. A diferencia de muchos otros kdramas que tienen el género de comedia en su descripción, siento que este cumple con lo que promete.


Ahora bien, en lo que respecta al romance... Para mi gusto, deja mucho que desear. La relación de los personajes secundarios se me hizo más atractiva que la de los principales y aún así se nota que les faltaba desarrollo y muchas más escenas juntos. Al principio del kdrama lo estaban haciendo bastante bien, pero fue en torno a la mitad y finales que sentí que necesitaba ver más. Para empezar, no me gustó que la escena en la que se dan sus besitos esté toda cortada y presentada en flashback, ¿colabora con la parte cómica? sí, pero no siento que como espectadora haya podido entusiasmarme por verlos juntos después de que se les notara la tensión sexual-romántica durante los episodios anteriores. Luego, el hecho de que se diera un malentendido entre lo dos porque Hongki decidiera decirle a Miho que al tío no le gustaba formal familia y la tía se quedara con eso... Innecesario cuanto menos. Una pena que tampoco se viera la boda.

Por otra parte, a la pareja principal siento que le faltaron besos bien filmados. Entiendo que querían mantener un tono inocente porque ella hace contenido para niños y él prácticamente es inexperto en relaciones románticas, pero los momentos en los que se dan sus besitos siento que no llegan del todo. Son como aburridos. En cuanto a su desarrollo como pareja, me hubiese gustado verlos más veces interactuando o siendo más tímidos y evidentes con sus sentimientos. Al menos se dicen cosas bonitas a lo largo del kdrama.

Ah, y que no se nos olviden las parejas de fondo que claramente querían meter y no desarrollaron ni un poquitín.

Por último, en lo que respecta a la parte dramática... Hasta cierto punto el guion estaba bastante bien, estaba enganchando y sacaron al "jefe final" de la cárcel, pero a partir de ahí siento que fue en decadencia. La serie comenzó a ponerse seria (y predecible en algunos puntos como el intento de secuestro de Eun-ha) y se notaba que las cosas estaban bastante tensas, que el padre de Seo Ji Hwan era un villano serio y fuerte, pero de pronto ¡ay, espera que te salvo la vida!, ¡ay, que ahora quiero que te reformes y seamos familia! No entiendo nada. Hasta el ataque que hace Yang Hee (que, por cierto, no me lo pude tomar en serio como villano en toda la serie... Si me lo pintas como alivio cómico no sé qué esperas hacer con él al final) todo estaba súper tenso, el padre estaba haciendo sus maldades y complicándole la vida al hijo (tampoco es que profundizaran mucho en por qué era tan insistente en que quería que fuese su hijo el heredero salvo dar a entender que tiene mejor carácter para ello) para que, de pronto, sea el padre más preocupado del mundo y decida confesar e irse a la cárcel... Pff, "soluciona un enredo de narices en 2 minutos que no nos queda tiempo para cerrar la serie". Siento que sale del personaje. Y bueno, el Kang Kil ni te cuento, hace unos años apuñalas al prota y luego colaboras con él porque te cansas de ser mafioso... Ah, vale. Y ahí se queda, porque no deciden darle más desarrollo. Además, ¿cuál era la relación entre Tae Pyung y Jae Soo? "¿Por fa, no me mates, trabajé para ti, pero no me mates?" ¿y ya?

En conclusión, tenía unas expectativas con la serie que no se cumplieron y siento que especialmente se fue todo abajo de cara a los últimos capítulos, cuando empezaron a salirse del personaje los que estaban y omitieron tantas cosas que podrían haber colaborado en el desarrollo de personajes. Al menos, la OST y los actores son una buena elección, espero volvérmelos a encontrar en algún kdrama del mismo género.

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