AFFD 2011: CYRANO AGENCY Review

A romantic comedy from Korea that snaps, crackles, and pops before fizzling out, Cyrano Agency is awash in earnest sentiment that drowns out the fun. It's more properly described as a male weepy.

Directed by Kim Hyeon-sek (YMCA Baseball Team, When Romance Meets Destiny, Scout), the film begins with a marvelously intricate sequence demonstrating the premise of the Cyrano Agency, which advertises: "We make your love real, confidentially." The four member-team formed the agency with a view toward making enough money to open their own theater for the dramatic arts; their approach to matchmaking comes complete with a script that's intended to mold real life romance into a movie. They use high-tech surveillance equipment to monitor their client (and sometimes feed him lines), give him direction through a microphone hidden in a pair of glasses, and, in general, stage manage the client's relationship with the object of his affection. As needed, the team also pops up in a variety of disguises to facilitate things.

It's all a bit sleazy, with its emphasis on gamesmanship rather than honesty, but establishing a light, airy touch feels right; it serves to balance out the more cynical deceptions and justifications inherent in such a scheme. Then a new client walks in the door, and the tone of the movie shifts.

Sang-yong (Daniel Choi) is a well-to-do funds manager who is head-over-heels in love with fellow church member Hee-joong (Rhee Min-jung), who barely knows that he's alive. Sang-yong admits that he doesn't do well with people, but, as portrayed, he's so dopey that we wonder how he functions at his job at all, much less life in general. Nevertheless, this is romantic comedy territory, which allows (or even encourages) such wild exaggerations.

Lurking nearby, however, is Byung-hun (Uhm Tae-woong), the agency's leader, who betrays his true feelings from the moment he sets eyes on Hee-joong. It's patently clear, long before the rose-colored flashbacks begin, that Byung-hun was in love with her in the past, and that their relationship ended painfully. He tries to sabotage the perspective romance even before it begins, which angers his partners, especially Min-young (Park Shin-hye), who is just a little slower than the audience in figuring out what's going on. They can't lose the well-paying Sang-yong as a client, she reminds Byung-hun, because they were in debt up to their eyeballs before he came along, and they run an expensive operation. They have no money available to make good on their 'love happens or your money back' guarantee, so things must move forward.

And so the relationship proceeds, in fits and starts, Sang-yong continually undermines the carefully-scripted encounters by allowing his emotions to get the better of him, and then repenting in tears to the Cyrano Agency crew. Meanwhile, Byung-hun grows continually misty-eyed whenever he looks at Hee-joong, recalling how he let the love of his life slip through his fingers. What started as light entertainment descends into tear-soaked bathos, resulting in very soggy melodrama.

That's a shame, because in the moments when the film sparks -- especially a scene in a church in which the script plays out rousingly -- it's a joy to watch. The bloom, unfortunately, fades quickly.