The Happy Day of Maeng Jin-sa: A Sucky Second Marriage

Lee Yong-min's update of Lee Byung-il's The Wedding Day is definitely a dispiriting downgrade so while you may recognize some framed compositions, many plot points, and even a few verbatim lines from the original, you'll also quickly be able to tell that The Happy Day of Maeng Jin-sa is a pale imitation of the original. The central story remains unchanged: A family lucks into the big time when their only daughter receives a marriage proposal from a rich man's son sight unseen. But the good fortune is suddenly marred when they discover this same future son-in-law has a pronounced limp. Extraordinary measures are taken to save the bride-to-be but they end up backfiring on nearly everyone but the groom.

So what's missing? The maidservant (Choi Eun-hie) no longer secretly lusts after her standoffish lady (Lee Bin-hwa). The maidservant's suitor is now a bumbling fool. The giggling grandpa has lost his sense of humor and while equally absent-minded is not as endearing as he once was. The one thing that's truly consistent is that the patriarch (Kim Seung-ho) is an unlikable social climber. Funnily enough, that last role is played by the same actor in The Wedding Day and even he did a better job the first time around.

Because it's a Lee Yong-min film of course it has its one major strangeness too and that may be the movie's redeeming value: the cryptic river mystic who says puzzling things like "Why not try fishing with a straight hook?" and "You have too much, you lose too much!" No one pondering his maxims or taking his advice but please take mine: Skip The Happy Day... if you can.