High End Crush (2018)

Quick Take: High End Crush (2018)  Starring Jung Il-woo and Jin Se-yeon.   8.0/10.   20 episodes of 15 min.

Synopsis:   Choi Se-hoon is the narcissistic CEO of an entertainment agency to whom everything has always come easily.  Then he becomes obsessed with Yoo Yi-reung,  a country girl raised by her grandfather according to Confucian principles.  He wants to make her a star; she could care less.  Eventually he understands that to win her heart, he will need to change his approach.

Review: In spite of valiant efforts, High End Crush is too heavy-handed for its premise.  The slapstick comedy is forced and often flat.   The attractive leads do their best with the material they’re given, though their chemistry is unconvincing.  Choi Se-hoon’s long-suffering assistant comes across more as abused than amusing.   The antagonist, Choi Se-hoon’s business rival, is merely petulant.   Unless you’re a fan working through Jung Il-woo’s filmography, you can give this one a miss.

Rewatchable - 1, Compelling - 2, Plot/ Story/Writing - 7,  Acting/Casting - 7, Production - 10,  Bonus -  3.   Bonus points for trying.  And Choi Se-hoon’s clothes. 

Notes:

Jung Il-woo

The son of a former television news anchorman, Jung Il-woo studied Broadcasting at the Seoul Institute of the Arts, then later transferred to the Theater and Film department of Hanyang University. He has been acting since 2006 in Chinese and Thai projects as well as Korean. See him also in Moon Embracing the Sun (2012) Cinderella with Four Knights (2016), and Good Job (2022).

Kim H

ee-sun

reached peak popularity in the 1990’s in a series of television dramas. After a series of flops in the aughts, she married in 2007 and took a five-year hiatus after the birth of her daughter in 2009. She is popular in China and has appeared in several Chinese projects. See her also in Alice (2020) and Tomorrow (2018).