"My Wife is a Gangster" (aka "Jopog manura") is an entertaining movie, as it has a good amount of action and a good amount of offbeat humor in it. And it is also spiced up with a good, wholeheartedly storyline.The story in the movie is about Cha Eun-jin, a female gangster boss, whom is forced to live out her dying sisters last wish; that being to see her married. And while having no suitable romances, her henchmen are sent out to find a man for her to marry. She ends up tying the knot with a man unknowing of her true nature and line of work.There is a good amount of action throughout the movie, with the fight sequences being quite nicely choreographed. And the action part of "My Wife is a Gangster" is a necessary aspect to the movie, as this is a gangster movie, after all.And there is also a good amount of comedy throughout the course of the movie, especially in the parts where Cha Eun-jin has to become feminine and let go of her rugged, masculine, gangster mentality. And the situation with the gangster wife and the unsuspecting husband also does incur some hilarious moments.What works in favor of the movie is the characters, as they are detailed, memorable and outstanding; and that goes from the main characters and right down to the goons in the gangster family. Lots of nice details and colorful characters throughout the movie. And actress Eun-Kyung Shin does a good job in the lead role."My Wife is a Gangster" is a good movie for an introduction to the wonderful world of the South Korean cinema, if you are not already familiar with it. It is an entertaining movie and can actually been watched more than once. I have seen it three times by now, since I stumbled upon the movie somewhere back in the mid-2000's.

Recap: The second in command of a local gangster organisation, Cha Eun-Jin, doesn't live the typical life of a lady. So when her terminally ill sister asks her to find a man, she is really out of her normal environment. Lethal with knives, she is totally incompetent when it's about meeting a future husband. But with the aid of her henchmen she manages to marry the unsuspecting Kang Su-il. But being married to Eun-Jin isn't really all that Su-il expected...Comments: The rental-box put this in the romantic-genre. I really wonder about the sense of romance whomever wrote that really has. The first scene, for example, shows two men beaten with bats and knives, one of them executed with an axe, before Eun-Jin comes to the rescue with knives and martial arts. There are some red roses in the movie, but I really think bats and knives outnumber them. This movie is much more of a action-comedy. And as that, it is pretty successful. More than a few scenes are drawn to their edge with Su-il just wanting a good marriage and ordinary wife, and Eun-Jin trying to clean up in her criminal world and at the same time granting the wish of her sister by staying married to Su-il. Except for Eun-Jin's martial skills, they're not very good at it. And that's about it, and that's about all there has to be.But it's not very romantic. Not in any sense I know anyway.6/10

This is definitely one of my top 10 favorite films. I guess it's the remarkable, sweet and subtle romance that somehow is so well placed that makes it so bright/clever. I'm very impressed by how the romance is evenly mixed with comedy and still so very touching. It very much proves a light and cheerful film can be very touching which western movies should take after more (and not being either cheerful/comical or sincere/romantic). I always thought I didn't like romance at all until some rare dramas made me understand I'm just very demanding on modesty, taste and ingenuity and this film certainly has such romance that passes my level-headed taste. oh and it does have very good action (fighting) and is overall very amusing.

Branded a comedy, the movie proves to be unfunny for most part. The main problem lies with the central character of the gangster wife, Eun-jin. She puts on a stern emotionless face for most of the movie. As if that were not enough, she speaks very few lines. It is unusual for such an important character to have so little dialogue and facial expression. This certainly distances her from the audience. The character of the unfortunate husband is not much better as most of the time he is looking sad and making futile complaints about her behaviour. The movie therefore has to depend a lot on physical comedy and here it again fails because of the predictability of the situations and the cliches employed. How many times must we watch Eun-jin threaten her meek husband? How many times must we endure the sight of her husband walking away sulking? Many potentially hilarious situations turn out to be rather unfunny thanks to the afore mentioned lack of dialogue and facial expression. Another problem is that the many subplots, which are just as unaffecting and unfunny, tend to make the movie drag. None of the supporting characters are interesting enough to make the audience care for them. The action sequences are well choreographed but they ultimately fail to save the movie.