Today we’re reviewing ‘My Boss, My Hero’, a high school comedy of sorts from 2001. I say ‘of sorts’, because high school comedies do not traditionally star mafia bosses. However, anyone who was watching dramas, anime, or reading manga in the early 2000’s would know this to be true: Gangsters & delinquents were hip.
GTO, Gokusen, or Crows Zero are but a few of the more prominent titles in this oddball category. During this apparent golden age of stories with mobsters in high schools, ‘My Boss, My Hero’ became a big hit. It was even adapted into a Japanese drama in 2006, which remains one of my favourites to this day. I was not aware that it was an adaptation of a Korean movie until much later, and boy was I excited to dive straight in. Who said gangsters don’t deserve an education?
The plot
Gye Du-Shik (Jung Joon Ho) is a gangster, next in line to be area manager (so-to-speak) for Myeongdong. Alas, he’s not exactly the brightest bulb in the garland, and the family has expressed some concerns over his promotion at such an important appointment. After failing to answer a simple question, the boss proposes a solution: Du-Shik needs to get his high school diploma.
His lackeys get him fake papers saying he’s 20, hide the details of his criminal associations, make a donation to a private school, and get him ready for school. All he needs to do is lay low, graduate, and obviously, hide his identity.
But as we all know high school is rough, even more so if you went there 20 years ago, and it happened to be run by the mob. ‘Cause, shockingly, the school with the super dodgy practices, turns out to be super corrupt. I know, I was stunned too.
Teachers get harassed, students get beat up by faculty, and our friendly neighbourhood mobster finds it increasingly harder to keep calm.
So, how was it?
The good
I was both excited and worried about watching this, because as I said, the Japanese version is one of my favourite dramas ever. Nagase Tomoya as the protagonist is super convincing (and hot) as the stupid but good-hearted yakuza, and I was dreading the comparison. The worry proved unnecessary, as Jung Joon Ho was hilarious, cool and menacing in equal measure. Apparently this movie practically launched his career, and he had to work himself out of being type-cast in comedic parts. Having seen him in stuff like ‘IRIS’, or as the tortured King Gwanghae in ‘The Tale of Nokdu’, this was an interesting twist to say the least.
If you’re wondering who would buy him as a 20-year old, the answer is nobody and that’s the point; Unlike your gender-benders where the audience has to sustain the suspension of disbelief because apparently nobody in the damn show can, here there’s no need. It’s just met with questioning stares all-around.
Thankfully, the ick factor of potential romance with a co-ed is only marginally grazed, cause otherwise eww. The budding romance between right-hand man Sang-Du and the English teacher, Ms. Lee, is really fun to watch though.
The slightly problematic?
‘My Boss, My Hero‘ has a lot of violence, as can be expected from a gangster movie – even one set in a high school. This will make you wonder ‘This is a comedy?’ at times, but only for a brief second, cause the next gag or one liner will have you laughing in no time. Is the humour peak intellectual? No, and there’s admittedly one too many dick jokes, but it’s got brilliant timing and it works.
While we see violence on the mafia side of things, there was never any expectation of sunshine or rainbows. It is what it is. But there’s a difference between seeing a mobster use his lackey as a punching bag just for kicks, and a school director hitting a student within an inch of her life. The second one hits harder because that’s not ‘normal’, and even our gangster of a protagonist knows it. There’s different kinds of struggle and darkness we face when we meet the students and teachers at the school.
The movie does a good job of meshing the comic and the unbelievable with the dark and raw reality of its premise. We did go through a bit of a gangster phase there, and I feel I should stress this particularly for the Gen Z’s among us, it was weird, we know. At least, as far as our glorifying gangsters moments go, this one struck a good balance.
The final verdict
‘My Boss, My Hero‘ was a really funny movie to watch, especially if you don’t think too hard about the plot. If you’re entirely averse to a few punches being thrown about, avoid it. Otherwise, I’d say give this a go. I mentioned it was successful, did I say it got 2 sequels? ‘My Boss, My Teacher’ came out in 2006, followed by ‘The Mafia, The Salesman’ in 2007. And then go watch the J-drama adaptation while you’re at it, cause that show is perfection.
Here is the trailer for the movie, and you can watch the whole thing on Viki. There doesn’t seem to be a subtitled version for this, but trust me, you’ll get the gist:
