Review : Dream(Starring Kim Bum)

[JonDoe]

Title : Dream
Starring
- Joo Jin Mo as Nam Jae Il the sports marketing agent
- Kim Bum as Lee Jang Seok the underdog K-1 kickboxing fighter
- Son Dam Bi as Park So Yeon the Taebo instructor.
Synopses : A down on his luck sports marketing agent discovers and trains a young ex-con waiter as a K-1 kick boxer.

Review : Well, this show may be of interest to some here because it has Kim Bum playing a kick boxer in it, but Kim Bum is almost a nobody in Korea at the moment and this show got the press spotlight as the acting debut of Son Dam Bi, currently the no. 1 idol singing queen in Korea. So it has two stunning looking people in skimpy outfits covered with sweat, Kim Bum in his kickboxing trunks and Son Dam Bi in her skimpy fitness instructor tank bra outfit. A sure-fire Baywatch formula for success, right? Wrong, it bombed ratings wise.

Plot wise, this show is described as Korean Jerry Maguire, the story of a sports marketing agent discovering and developing a new promising talent into a athletic success story. That sports marketing agent is played by Joo Jin Mo who was recently kicked out from his agency and accidentally discovered Kim Bum's character in a club brawl knocking out a kick boxer that Joo's character is trying to sign up, and decided to train and market him as a K-1 kick boxing fighter. And this training takes place at a gym called "Dream Gym", where Son Dam Bi happens to be the daughter of the gym owner teaching Taebo fitness classes. So you have a chance to look at sweaty shirtless bodies of Kim Bum and other fighters in training and flexing their muscles.

So why did it bomb? Fortunately for Kim Bum fans, he is not being blamed for the show's failure, since he is a nobody in Korea and is not yet "big" enough to take the hits from the press. Rather, the blame falls upon Son Dam Bi, who is called the the sexiest female entertainer in Korean show biz today. Critics are comparing this show to previous idol queen Lee Hyo Ri(who got displaced by Son Dam Bi)'s disastrous drama called Four Leaf Clover. Unlike Lee Hyo Ri who tried to get "serious" by appearing as a factory welder with grease on her face, the producers of this show decided to "utilize" Son Dam Bi's potential by making her a fitness instructor, and bombard viewers with stunning images of Son Dam Bi doing her workout "routines". The only problem with this strategy is that viewers are mostly housewives who are unmoved by Son Dam Bi's workout moves. As an actress, Son Dam Bi is obviously a beginner and it shows, with her stiff dialog deliveries and limited facial movements. This drama having been billed as a Son Dam Bi show, she ends up getting the most of blame for show's failure as a talentless actress-wanna be who should have stuck with singing and dancing, even though she's not the lead of this show. The real problem I see is the poorly written script that drags out from the first episode.

So if you are a Kim Bum fan who would like to look at his(and other pretty boy fighters') body in workout and on the ring, then watch this show just for the pleasure of seeing them shirtless and flexing their muscles. But if you are into story, skip it.

[Sunlight_zero36]

I've been trying to watch this drama at least two times and it never really got to me. The storyline seems awfully slow and not to mention that sport isn't really my type of theme when it comes to dramas.

Kim Bum looks much younger though.

However, I don't know if I should give it another try.

[bella25]

I like Jo Jin Moo in Fashion 70's and that something queen and I am looking for something with much fewer episodes than Yisan (which I really want to watch, the actor Lee is my favourite Korean actor). This seems like light fanfare with Jo in it, but JonDoe just thrashed it....aiyaa. Has anyone else watched this?