That Bizarre Girl) is a 2001 South Korean romantic comedy film directed by Kwak Jae-yong, starring Jun Ji-hyun and Cha Tae-hyun.
The film is based on a true story told in a series of blog posts written by Kim Ho-sik, who later adapted them into a fictional novel.
When My Sassy Girl was released across East Asia, it became a blockbuster in the region, becoming a hit in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
[4] A Japanese drama adaptation with Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and actress Rena Tanaka as the leads started broadcasting in April 2008.
The film tells the love story of a male engineering college student, Gyeon-woo, and "the Girl" (whose name is never mentioned in the movie).
[8] One day, at dinner and drinks with his college friends, Gyeon-woo is interrupted by a call from his mother, telling him to visit his aunt and meet a potential date.
Gyeon-woo, completely flustered, leaves her on a subway platform bench, but his conscience compels him to take her to the nearest hotel for safety.
He gives vague answers in regards to the girl's whereabouts and perhaps through GPS tracking, police raid the room and Gyeon-woo gets maced and sent to jail.
He is sent home from jail the next morning, and to his surprise, he gets a phone call from the girl, who demands they meet by the train station so she can figure out what happened the night before.
The Girl's mood swings wildly from joyful to downright violent, but Gyeon-woo puts up with it and lets her abuse him for her amusement.
The first is an action movie—The Demolition Terminator—which switches gender roles, symbolically having the Girl save her helpless lover (Gyeon-woo).
He decides to surprise her on her birthday and takes her on a nighttime trip to an amusement park which ends up quite differently from how he planned: the pair encounter an AWOL soldier who holds them hostage and rants about his misery after being jilted.
He does this, leading to a touching and romantic scene where he arrives in disguise as a food delivery person into a packed auditorium and watches her play the melody of George Winston's variations on Pachelbel's Canon in D on piano onstage.
As part of their celebration, they hit the bars and clubs together dressed in high-school uniforms; she gets drunk and as Gyeon-woo carries her on his back, a stranger slips him a condom.
Gyeon-woo drops her off inside and is confronted at her house by her parents again; the father interrogates him and forces him to empty his pockets, where he embarrassingly presents the condom.
The Girl returns to the table to see Gyeon-woo gone; he left while she was in the bathroom, but not before offering the blind date ten rules to follow to ensure her happiness.
Once reunited the two realize they are at a turning point in their relationship, but, for some unknown reason, the Girl decides it is time for them to part.
On the day they met on the train platform, she was supposed to go on a blind date set up by the mother of her deceased boyfriend, with whom she kept a close bond.
Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and actress Rena Tanaka are the lead characters in the Japanese drama of the same name which started broadcasting in April 2008.
[5] A South Korean historical time period drama remake titled My Sassy Girl, starring Joo Won and Oh Yeon-seo, airing this 2017 on SBS.
In Thailand, it was remake as a Thai TV series titled My Sassy Girl started airing on October 11, 2021, on True Asian More starred by Jarinya Sirimongkolsakul and Nutthasit Kotimanuswanich.
whilst Jesse Bradford who plays the lead protagonist summarized the movie as "a romantic comedy about how they pull each other to a more healthy place by virtue of their relationship.
"[4] An uncredited Bollywood version called Ugly Aur Pagli starring Ranvir Shorey and Mallika Sherawat was released on August 1, 2008.
[17] A Chinese version named My Sassy Girl 2 (我的野蠻女友2) directed by Joe Ma stars Lynn Hung and Leon Jay Williams was released in 2010.
Cha Tae-hyun has made cameo appearances in Jun Ji-hyun's film Windstruck (whose ending scene at the train station is very similar to that of My Sassy Girl)[8] and TV series The Legend of the Blue Sea (Episode 4, where he makes reference to Jun's character's history as "sassy").
[27] A poster of My Sassy Girl appears in My Love from the Star (Episode 5) as one of the previous hit films by Jun's character.