Overview of The Dude in Me

‘The Dude in Me’ is a fantasy entertainer directed by Kang Hyo-jin. The movie is a 2019 box office hit starring Jung Jin-Young, Park Sung-woon and Ra Mi-ra. In the movie, the soul of a gangster gets shifted into the body of a high school boy. With the new body, the gangster discovers more about his childhood girlfriend and starts a new life with her, leaving his gangster image.

Profile

• Movie: ‘The Dude in Me’
• Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Comedy
• Starring: Jung Jin-young, Park Sung-woong
• Director: Kang Hyo-jin
• Writers: Shin Han-sol, Jo Joong-hoon, Kang Hyo-jin
• Producers: Kim Dong-joon, Lee Seo-yeol, Lee Seung-hyo
• Release Date: 9 January 2019
• Running Time: 122 minutes
• Distributor: The Contents On Merry Christmas
• Language: Korean
• Country: South Korea

Cast

Main

• Jung Jin-young as Kim Dong-hyun
• Park Sung-woong as Jang Pan-soo
• Ra Mi-ran as Oh Mi-sun
• Lee Soo-min as Oh Hyun-jung

Supporting

• Yoon Kyung-ho as Boss Yang
• Lee Jun-hyeok as Man Chul
• Kim Kwang-kyu as Kim Jong-ki
• Kim Hyun-mok as Kim Jae-ik
• Park Kyung-hye as Jae-hee

Synopsis

The movie begins with a scene showing the celebrity life of Jang Pan-soo, a powerful gangster. His boss marries his daughter off to Jang Pan-soo. However, his relationship with his wife is not on good terms. His wife is a greedy woman and has an extramarital affair. She allies with villains to kill Jang Pan-soo to take revenge on Jang Pan-soo for having a baby with his girlfriend. Jang Pan-soo was in a relationship with Oh Mi-sun when he was young. However, they broke up years ago as Oh Mi-sun asked him to live a peaceful life.

Jang Pan-soo marries his boss’s daughter, not knowing Oh Mi-sun is pregnant with his baby.

One day, Jang Pan-soo stops at a small restaurant to have noodles when he is on his way for a business trip. There he meets a high school boy, Dong-hyun.

Dong-hyun is a chubby boy because of his unhealthy food habits. Also, he gets harshly bullied by the other students. A phone call hurries Dong-hyun to leave the restaurant, and when he is about to leave, he realises he has no money to pay. The owner of the restaurant, an old lady, insists Jang Pan-soo to pay for himself and the boy. He pays the bill and leaves the restaurant.

Outside the restaurant, he stands under a tall building, and at that time, Dong-hyun falls on him from the rooftop.

Oh Hyun-jung is the daughter of Jang Pan-soo and Oh Mi-sun. Like Dong-hyun, Oh Hyun-jung is also a target of bullies at school. The bullies asked Dong-hyun to take the shoes of Oh Hyun-jung, which they had hung on the rooftop, and in that attempt, he fell on Jang Pan-soo, standing below the building.

The collision put both of them in a coma and Jang Pan-soo is the first one to wake up from the coma stage. In the collision, the soul of Jang Pan-soo shifts to Dong-hyun’s body. He tries hard to shift his soul into his own body. Since all the efforts fail, he starts to live as Dong-hyun attending schools. One day he follows Oh Hyun-jung to give back her teddy bear hanging in her bag. She lost it when she bumped into Jang Pan-soo. He catches up with her when she is about to reach her house. At that time Jang Pan-soo meets Oh Hyun-jung’s mother who once was his girlfriend.

Jang Pan-soo discovers Oh Hyun-jung as his daughter through the scientific test. From then on his fatherly intent extends towards Oh Hyun-jung to protect her from the bullies. He makes her do workouts in the gym and helps her to boost her confidence to stand up for herself. In the meantime, Jang Pan-soo works out in Dong-hyun’s body and turns the body into a handsome young boy’s.

Jang Pan-soo fights back the bullies for Dong-hyun and he gets many female fans for his pretty looks. Oh Hyun-jung starts to fall for him due to his caring nature, because all she can see is a young boy caring for her.

To erase the complications, Jang Pan-soo confesses to Oh Hyun-jung that he is in love with her mother.

One day the villain goes to the hospital to kill the real Jang Pan-soo. However, he could not murder him because at that time Dong-hyun wakes up from his coma in Jang Pan-soo’s body. A terrified Dong-hyun rushes to his house to find his father. While trying to convince his father, Jang Pan-soo returns home to Dong-hyun’s. By telling the events that happened in the life of the real Dong-hyun and his father, the real Dong-hyun convinces his father that he is his real son in the body of an older man.

One day Jang Pan-soo takes Dong-hyun to Oh Mi-sun’s restaurant to present his body before her. Jang Pan-soo deeply wishes to lead a family with his girlfriend and his daughter. While they are talking, the villain with his gang arrives there to kill Jang Pan-soo. Neither the villain identifies Jang Pan-soo in the body of Dong-hyun nor Jang Pan-soo reveals that he now lives in the body of a high school boy. They start to fight after a brief argument. Meanwhile, Oh Mi-sun and Dong-hyun in Jang Pan-soo’s body hide in the kitchen.

Finally, when the fight takes the side of the villain and puts Jang Pan-soo at the villain’s knife point. To save her daughter’s father Oh Mi-sun comes outside of the kitchen with a leaking gas cylinder and threatens the villain and his gang to leave her restaurant.

Hearing the news of Jang Pan-soo’s recovery, his father-in-law asks him to meet him. Therefore, he sends Dong-hyun to the arranged meeting. He puts an earpiece for communication in his ears.

When Dong-hyun enters the room, Jang Pan-soo’s wife was already sitting there. Her father was accusing her of turning against her family and taking the side of the villain for money. Her father found out this truth through the letter that Jang Pan-soo had sent to him through his trusted man.

Jang Pan-soo’s wife accuses his illegal relationship as the reason for all her wrongdoings. Jang Pan-soo is unable to answer the questions of his father-in-law because the earpiece put in Dong-hyun’s ears fails to function due to network fluctuation. It is then Dong-hyun talks for Jang Pan-soo, and he confesses all the truth about the love affair. Dong-hyun confesses Jang Pan-soo’s inner wish to leave the wealth and his current position for his girlfriend and daughter.

When Dong-hyun comes out of the meeting, Jang Pan-soo hugs him on the road for the courageous thing that Dong-hyun has done for him. Furious from the impact of the meeting, Jang Pan-soo’s wife hit both of them with her car. Jang Pan-soo in Dong-hyun’s body gets badly injured and he is taken to the hospital. Just before the doctors are going to take him to the operation theatre, Oh Mi-sun and Oh Hyun-jung come to see him. Confused by seeing a man resembling her father, Oh Hyun-jung asks Oh Mi-sun about the truth. Lying on the stretcher, the real Jang Pan-soo revealed that he was her father.

In the operation theatre, Jang Pan-soo meets the old lady who served him noodles in the small restaurant before the miracle happen. Now, she stands before him as a doctor and tells him to sleep. She resembles a fairy or a messenger from God in the movie.

The movie ‘The Dude in Me’ ends by showing Jang Pan-soo in his own body, working in his girlfriend’s restaurant while Dong-hyun and Oh Hyun-jung return from school to the restaurant.

Theme

The movie discusses the necessity of a bold identity. During the teenage years, students face various problems such as bullying and teasing from other students. The only solution to get rid of bullying is to build a strong personality. It is a universal fact that the inferiors always get suppered under the strongest ones. Even in the case of humans, the same thing happens. For example, Dong-hyun and Oh Hyun-jung were the targets of bullies at school before they stood up for themselves.

Awards

No information is available.

Interesting Facts about The Dude in Me

1. ‘The Dude in Me’ scored second at the box office soon after its release.
2. According to the records, 1.6 million people watched the film ‘The Dude in Me’.
3. From 1,041 screens, the film ‘The Dude in Me’ sold out around 564, 568 tickets.

FAQs

1. Who is the director of the movie ‘The Dude in Me’?
   Kang Hyo-jin is the director of the movie ‘The Dude in Me’
2. In which year was the film ‘The Dude in Me’ released?
   The film was released in the year 2019.
3. Is ‘The Dude in Me’ a fantasy movie?
   Yes, ‘The Dudein Me’ is a fantasy movie.
4. What is the Instagram ID of Jung Jin-young?
   The Instagram ID of Jung Jin-young is @jinyoung0423.