Right, well the synopsis for this 2010 South Korean romantic comedy titled "Abbaga Yeojadeul Jongahae" (aka "Lady Daddy") definitely sounded fun and interesting. Usually the South Korean cinema makes good romantic comedies, and with my fascination with the Asian cinema in general, of course I opted to sit down and watch what writer Seon-Il Cheon and director Kwang-Jae Lee had to offer.

However, "Lady Daddy" turned out to be a swing and a miss. While the concept idea of the story definitely was good and had lots of potential, then the execution from script paper to screen just wasn't all that impressive. The storyline was too slow paced and mundane, and it never really caught on with me.

And it didn't help one bit that the character gallery in the movie was so bland. I didn't really care one bit about any of the characters, so it was difficult to get submerged into the storyline and take an interest in what was going on.

Director Kwang-Jae Lee didn't rise to the occasion and failed to deliver a sure-win romantic comedy, something that usually is a homerun in the South Korean cinema. But hey, every now and again something has to fall short of being spot on. And "Lady Daddy" was one such occasion.

I managed to sit through one hour of the 1 hour and 53 minutes that the movie ran for. Not only was the storyline bland and slow paced, but the movie was also way too long. The editing could have been more thorough, because it felt like you got nowhere in the pacing of the narrative.

My rating of "Lady Daddy" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

Lee Na-yeong stars as Ji-hyeon, a woman facing the challenges of living a new life after a sex change operation. Unbeknownst to her she has a nine year old son from an earlier marriage, who longs to find his birth father. One day the son appears at her door, and she has to face the difficult challenge of being a father to her son while at the same time pursuing a promising relationship with her make-up artist boyfriend.

The plot sounds contrived, but it actually works quite well on some levels. The producers could easily have made the same movie without the sex change and still had a very interesting story of a young boy trying to form a bond with the birth father he's never met.

Where Lady Daddy falls short is oversimplifying the complex relationships being portrayed. All of the characters act as if they are aware they're being filmed and need to be on their best behavior at all times. The ex-wife doesn't seem to feel any trace of bitterness at being abandoned, nor does the step-dad show any real jealousy that his son seems to prefer Ji-hyeon to him. Ji-hyeon warms up quickly to her previously unknown son instead of resenting the intrusion that threatens to unmask her former life. The boyfriend initially recoils from Ji-hyeon after learning her secret, but quickly realizes that he loves her after all.

It's all very convenient and leads to a conventional happy ending. Taken individually I have no problem with believing any of the characters. Any of them COULD act that way, after all. But there aren't just one or two characters that insist on acting supremely rationally for the good of the group. When everyone acts that way, it begins to feel less like a slice out of real life and more like the escapist fare it is.

Lady Daddy isn't a terrible movie and it does deliver the uplifting message that what's on the inside is more important than appearances. It just fails to deliver the emotionally satisfying ending that it could so easily have had with a more realistic plot.