The title, meaning 'The Purpose of Dating' in English, is extremely misleading: this is a would-be critique of the misogynist, sexist culture manifest in Korean society. Kang Hye-Jung, of 'Oldboy' fame, is an intern teacher working with a lecherous, insincere Park Hae-Il, who asks her to sleep with him on her first day of work and continues to hit on her. She resists him at first, then tries to match his aggressive, unreasonable advances with equally outrageous counteroffers, then starts to fall for him.

Much of what the film tries to do is very laudable: through Hong it asks some troubling questions about the culture of victimization women who are unfairly labeled as 'loose' or 'man-eaters' suffer in Korea. 'The Purpose of Dating' has some very felt words to say about the hypocrisy of such misogynistic attitudes: Hong's former lover who abandoned her and spread poisonous lies around to make her seem like a desperate stalker in order to save his own reputation; the female teachers at the school who pompously warn of 'home-wreckers'; and Lee, who exploits his positional superiority to prey on Hong, are all both the cause and the symptoms of the sexist, witch-hunting culture still prevalent in Korea. In terms of drama, there are some scenes, particularly the 'moment of truth' at the school towards the end where Hong turns the table on Lee, that stir the blood in a way not seen since Christian faced off with his father in 'Festen'.

However, the storyline mechanisms which call for Hong to fall in love with her tormentor/lover Lee are so insufferably smug and contrived, not to mention wildly implausible - the highlight being Hong's inexplicable attraction to Lee - that any notion of realism or social relevance are largely thwarted. It won't do to simply film the movie in a realistic style or deal with realistic situations, because Hong's character is infuriatingly inconsistent, and Lee depressingly dislikeable. It completely undermines the movie's credibility to have such ridiculous lead characters, never mind have them carry out the most nonsensical romance seen in quite sometime. And the film's coda, which sees Hong and Lee together in gleefully contrasting circumstances, is mind-blowingly unconvincing: Lee, one of the most repulsive cinematic creations of the last 5 years, gets nowhere near his just deserts, ending up in the arms of the now-rehabilitated, happily employed Hong, whom he does not deserve. A truly ludicrous, self-defeating ending if ever there was one.

I really enjoyed this Korean film "Rules of Dating." You would think this is a romantic comedy from the poster, not quite. It's very hard to say what it is. It's murky, funny, weird, blunt, twisted, and fun. The first line of the film is: "Are you wet?" the handsome school teacher Lee asked the newly arrived student teacher Choi. No, they are not in the rain, they are sitting on a bench on campus in the beautiful fall weather. Lee is hitting on Choi as soon as he sees her, while both of them have a lover of their own. Nevertheless, the flirtation goes up and down, never a quiet moment.

The movie is very frank about flirting, sex, dating, and may I say, "sexual harassment?" Wait, that's a term only used in America. I think the American audience will be appalled by Lee's behavior, but the movie can get away with it because it's a Korean film and set in Korea.

If you enjoyed "My Sassy Girl," this will be a similar love hate drama, only smarter. The film dances around the true feeling of these characters and plays the mind of its audience. Just when I think they are in love, the film let Lee and Choi show me that they are just flirting. When I think they are just having some fun, they start to show me that they are in love. It's almost like I am dating somebody but I can never figure out what my date is really thinking. Of course, this is not a Kim Ki-duk's film, so I was hoping some more twists and turns (with my twisted mind) to happen while... oh well, I still love this film.

The lead actress in this movie, 'Yeonae-ui mokjeok' (international title: Rules of Dating) has grown up since her role as Mido in Oldboy (2003).

Rules of Dating is a realistic romance melodrama about how a teacher ( Park Hae-il) flirt with a female student teacher (Kang Hye-jeong). However in terms of age, the student teacher is much older than the teacher.

The movie starts off slow but picks up in the second hour. Throughout the movie, we get to see the relationship between the two teachers flourish and fluctuate periodically. The interesting bit is that Kang Hye-jeong is already engaged to a doctor and Park Hae-il has a steady girlfriend for 6 years.

Recommended to anyone who likes realistic romance stories without Hollywood special effects.

Mao points: 7/10