Our School E.T. (2008) Movie Review

Despite its familiar sounding title, “Our School E.T.” is not the tale of an alien taking on the Korean education system, but is in fact the latest vehicle for top rubber faced comic Kim Su Ro, star of recent hits like “Vampire Cop Ricky” and “A Cruel Attendance”. In this case, ‘E.T.’ stands for ‘English Teacher’, and the film is a high concept affair, based around the gag of a lowly and rather daft gym instructor having to try and teach English. The film was directed by Park Kwang Choon, who previously tackled high school comedy with the equally wacky “She’s on Duty”, though here he does try to work in a little social commentary and even inspirational messages amongst the laughs. As well as Kim Su Ro, the film boasts an impressive cast of up and coming young stars, including Baek Sung Hyun (who featured in “Marathon” and television series “Emperor of the Sea”), Park Bo Young (“Speedy Scandal”), Moon Chae Won (“Painter of the Wind”), and Lee Min Ho (recently in “Public Enemy Returns”).

Kim plays a gym teacher called Seong Geun, who really loves his job, going out of his way to try and protect and inspire his young charges. This having been said, he does employ a number of odd methods, such as not stopping, but refereeing and betting on playground fights, forcing students to exercise, and even enrolling one into a boxing program. Still, his heart is undoubtedly in the right place, which makes it all the more devastating for him when the school council decides that his services are no longer required. After learning that Seong has an English language teaching certificate, his friend the principal (played by comic actor Lee Han Wee) decides to help out by getting the school to take him on in a new, if unlikely position. Needless to say, his troubles are only just beginning, as he has to overcome not only the scepticism of his students, but also the inherent prejudice of the education system itself.

“Our School E.T.” is a deeply silly film, though one with a big, big heart. Whilst comedy is quite rightly the main focus, director Park clearly also has aspirations to providing a little depth, mainly in terms of tackling educational snobbery and the class gap which has seen rich students obsessively cramming after school at high priced private institutes. The film promotes a ‘play hard, work hard’ attitude, emphasising life lessons and learning over simple robotic memorisation for the purpose of passing exams – a worthy enough sentiment delivered without too much preaching.

As a representative of this ideal, Kim Su Ro makes for a suitable choice, being an actor with a genuine everyman presence and who is quite able to suddenly launch into impassioned speeches – albeit punctuated by wild howling laughter and bizarre gesticulations. He certainly turns in a good performance in the title role, driving the film and appearing in almost every scene with his usual manic energy. Seong is basically a crazy saint, tirelessly devoting himself to his students outside of school hours by helping them pay their tuition fees, protecting them from the dangers of underage prostitution (involving a violent beating for a particularly sleazy businessman) and even catching a suicidal girl in his arms when she throws herself off a building. Of course, all of these hysterical scenes are far too daft to be taken seriously – nor indeed should they be.

In terms of straight comedy the film is similarly successful, with Kim again showing why he is one of Korea’s top funnymen. His talent for physical gags gets a great workout, with plenty of pratfalls and wacky face pulling, and though perhaps a little restrained by his own standards this is probably for the best given the film’s ambitions. None of the jokes are particularly clever, though the film actually benefits from its down to earth style, and its brand of honest slapstick is arguably far funnier and more appropriate than some of the cute humour and zeitgeist pandering seen in many of its recent peers. Certainly, there are a healthy number of genuine laughs to be had, and even though at two hours the film is clearly overstretched, with the last few scenes seeming to have been bewilderingly pasted in from another production entirely, it remains highly entertaining throughout.

There really isn’t much more that could be asked of any comedy, and as such “Our School E.T.” certainly hits its mark. A real crowd pleaser with a positive, life-affirming message, not to mention another hilarious turn from Kim Su Ro, it should definitely be enjoyed and hopefully taken to heart by youngsters and parents alike.

Park Gwang-choon (director) / Choi Jin-won (screenplay)
CAST: Kim Soo-ro, Lee Han-wi, Kim Seong-ryeong, Baek Seong-hyeon, Lee Min-ho, Park Bo-yeong, Moon Chae-won, Kim Hyeong-beom, Lee Chan-ho, Kim Gi-bang