Wedding Palace movie review & film summary (2013)

Things start looking up for Jason, though, when he travels to Seoul for work; his company makes feminine hygiene products, a raunchy bit that falls flat. There, he meets the sweet, smart and adorable Na Young (Kang Hye-Jung). They first cross paths at a business meeting and again at a karaoke bar, where each conveniently has just gone on a terrible first date. (Yoo forces us to sit through several more performances of tinny K-pop before the night is through.)

Jason and Na Young quickly hit it off and continue their courtship once he returns to the United States. Yoo depicts this process through split-screens of long cell-phone chats and texting sessions, ambitiously suggesting a high-tech, Korean version of Rock Hudson and Doris Day. But their romantic dinner over Skype, complete with a white-wine toast through their laptop screens, is a cute idea—until you begin to calculate the time difference, that is.

Soon he proposes, she says yes, and they make plans for her to scrap her job and join him in L.A. His nosy and noisy family approves of this seemingly delightful young lady, who's well-educated, comes from a good family and—most importantly—is Korean.

But once she arrives, it's clear that nobody had any idea who this person actually is—not even Jason. The big reveal was an odd and unexpected decision on Yoo's part, and you do have to give her credit for daring.

And that's all we'll say about that—because it's the single most original element in the entire film.