Probably one romance theme that sells effortlessly is about “young love” – and My Little Bride treats movie fans with a healthy dose of it.
I originally wrote this recap nine years ago, and revisiting it today brings back memories. Kim Rae Won and Moon Geun Young take the reins of this endearing movie that you can share with teenagers in your family.
My Little Bride also stars Shin Se Kyung and Park Jin Woo. It is an adaptation of the 2002 Hong Kong film, My Wife is 18.
*Originally posted on abbyinhallyuland blog in November 2011.
My Little Bride Recap
Park Sang-min (Kim Rae Won) grins while he stares at a young girl’s picture. When he notices the hot girl beside him, he tried following her and gets surprised when she embraces an ugly fat guy.
His eyes roam around the pretty ladies in the airport and spot a girl in front of a flower shop. He places his mobile phone to sneak a peek at the girl in the cute mini skirt but gets busted by the girl who turns out to be Seo Bo Eun (Moon Geun Young).
Bo-eun complains how playful he is as Sang-min is surprised to see her all grown up with curves and arresting beauty. While inside the airport shuttle, he teases her when he gives her a pretty padded brassiere to her smiling annoyance.
They get home and Sang-min is happily welcomed by the rest of the family. Bo-eun helps grandfather eat, and when he’s done, he speaks with her and Sang-min.
Meant To Be Married
Grandfather narrates how Sang-min’s grandfather and he were best friends and war comrades. They made a pact that they would marry their children, but they had two sons so it was passed to the next generation, who turned out to be Sang-min and Bo-eun.
Both of them think Grandpa is only joking, but stop when they see the serious-Vito-Corleone-ish look that he means business. He even made his peaceful death as collateral for them to submit to his request.
Bo-eun rebuts that she’s only in High School, but her father backs up his father by saying that anyone over 15 can marry with their parent’s consent. Grandpa pleads to his beloved granddaughter, but she firmly disagrees. Sang-min politely utters that he will just forget everything that was said that day.
Sang-min announces his return to his friends and marvels at the new faces he is seeing in their department. His friends wonder why he suddenly got back, and he explains to them he’s going to get married soon.
Meanwhile, Bo-eun helps Grandpa clean a camera and sings happily with him. When he dozes off, she helps him lay down to comfortably rest. At Bo-eun’s school, she meets up with her friend as the rest of the girls watch the campus crush walk by.
Grandpa’s Adorably Evil Ploy
Now, grandfather is beginning to be impatient so he calls Sang-min’s father and tells him to just back him up to make his marriage wish come true.
Occupied with watching a suspenseful, loud, action movie, Sang-min and his mother are not wary of Sang-min’s father batting the front glass window of their car, and when they take notice of what he’s doing, Sang-min surrenders to the marriage idea.
While Bo-eun watches the cute campus crush’s baseball practice, she remembers her grandpa’s wedding wish and feels sad about it. Sang-min picked her up in the school and they had some snacks. He coaxes her to just agree to the plans, but she strongly refuses. Then Bo-eun’s phone rings and they hurriedly go to the hospital.
In the hospital, Grandpa checks the medical paraphernalia he needs for his I’m-dying-production-antic, just as Sang-min and Bo-eun come in. They panic when the machine depicts no pulse and when their parents go in, Grandpa wakes up.
While the parents finally agree to the elder’s stubborn wish, Grandpa goes to the second act of his hospital play. He tells Sang-min and Bo-eun that he used to have a secret love with Sang-min’s grandmother. But when his friend died, he hid those feelings and just took Sang-min’s father as his real son.
Little Bride Bo-Eun
He explains how his promise to his old friend is so important, and then he orchestrates another attack as Bo-eun wails begging for him not to die, and finally agreeing to his marriage’s wish. Bo-eun sulks in her room as his brother teases her not to be sad because even if her grades are behind, she’ll be the first person in modern Korea to get married.
He warns her that Sang-min will discover her lop-sided behind, but he gets cut off when their mother comes in. Her mother apologizes for not being able to do something. She shares her fears of the possibility of her married life being revealed in the school, but her mother assures her that everything will be fine.
At a club, Sang-min’s friends smilingly stare at their friend’s upcoming acquittal from being a bachelor as ladies in mini-skirt playing billiards distract their views and hurt Sang-min even more. To add damage to his already painful realization of his playboy life’s end, sexy women hit the dance floor as his friends join the ladies.
The Newlyweds’ Separated Honeymoon Trip
Then came the wedding, Bo-eun tells her mother that she now realizes Grandpa might have scammed her and threatens not to push through with the wedding, but her mother appeases her reminding her of not turning the wedding into a funeral.
After the wedding, Sang-min’s father reminds him to be careful with Bo-Eun on their honeymoon trip and not to touch her, but he playfully jokes he’ll do as he wishes with his young wife. Bo-eun is assured by Sang-min’s mother that her husband is getting word from his father not to do “it” yet, which Bo-eun’s young mind doesn’t understand yet.
The newlyweds head to the airport, but Bo-eun excuses herself to go to the washroom, but then eventually escapes the supposed trip with her husband a few hours ago. Sang-min tries to bargain some more time with the flight attendant but he is not permitted to look for her anymore.
Adding to his already furious self is an annoying couple who talks badly behind his back and steals his cab on his way to the hotel. Sang-min gets his revenge to the annoying couple as he showers them with toilet water while they are loudly making out below the hotel room where Sang-min is staying.
Sang-min bumps with Hye-won and Bo-eun’s classmates who are having their field trip at Jeju Island. He accidentally slips and lands in front of Hye-won and is accidentally witnessed by the teacher who chases Sang-min thinking he is a pervert.
Bo-eun kills time at a movie house and gets scared when a middle-aged man approaches her. She goes to her school and spends time with her crush playing outside. On the same day, Bo-eun gets married; she also gets a new boyfriend. She then heads to a bathhouse where her parents also visit to clear their worries about their daughter’s early marriage.
When their honeymoon trip ends, Sang-min sees Bo-eun standing outside the house and drags her to change clothing. They meet the family and enjoy a sumptuous feast. The two families visit the couple’s new apartment as Bo-eun’s mother insists on separate rooms until Bo-eun finishes her studies.
Bo-Eun’s Boyfriend
When Bo-eun chats with Hye-won the next day, she narrates how she disappeared at the airport and also reveals to her of her going out with the baseball cutie, Jung-woo. Hye-won is in mixed emotions as she also secretly likes Jung-woo.
Meanwhile, Sang-min is with his friends boasting that Bo-eun will come over to drink with them as soon as he demands her to do it. Bo-eun in her schoolgirl uniform awkwardly walks into the restaurant and joins Sang-min and his friends. Alcohol intoxicated, he teases and makes fun of Bo-eun.
Sang-min drops her in the school as he complains she did not prepare something for his hangover. She retorts that it’s his fault to drown in liquor the other night, and promises him she’ll cook dinner for him at night which made him smile.
In the school, the three bully girls confront Bo-eun to warn her not to spread the news of her dating Jung-woo, but the knight-in-baseball-uniform-armor comes in to rescue his princess and affirms her relationship with Bo-eun the three bully girls’ anger. They stay in the gymnasium as Hye-won watches in hiding looking sad and disappointed.
In the grocery store, Bo-eun points to Sang-min about what to get for their dinner recipe, and accidentally falls off the cart and hits the boxes and the ground. She ends up staying on his back and enjoys pleasingly the piggy-back ride. He suddenly touches her butt and teases her as he shouts in the neighborhood of his wife’s lopsided bum.
Pasta Dinner Date
They prepare the pasta recipe and eat happily, and when the time comes for washing the dishes, Bo-eun loses the rock-paper-scissor-game so she ends up doing the tedious job. Then Sang-min comes fresh from the shower, and while he’s not facing her, she mischievously pulls down her trousers and laughs crazily. Sang-min always game to have fun with Bo-eun faces her and threatens to remove the remaining clothing he has – which makes her close her eyes and begs him to stop doing it.
The next day Bo-eun shares her lunchbox with Jung-woo as she attends their baseball game. Sang-min wakes up, eats, browses the TV channels, and settles to the coverage of the baseball game of Bo-eun’s boyfriend. He gets excited seeing the youngbloods engage in a fight and stops when Bo-eun is caught by the camera.
Bo-eun approaches Hye-won in their PE class and they argue on Bo-eun’s complicated relationship status. Hye-won lectures her of the possibility that her family might know what she’s doing but thrilled with her infatuation towards Jung-woo, she disregards her friend’s advice. Hye-won softly cries, admits that she also likes Jung-woo, and walks out of the gym.
Sang-min plays a model in his friend’s painting subject. As he demonstrates positions, their senior enters the room and announces their high school teaching assignment which turns out to be Bo-eun’s school to Sang-min’s bewilderment. Later that night, he paces around the house finding the right time to tell it to Bo-eun but he ends up shouting in frustration.
Sangmin’s Teaching Assignment
Sang-min is warmly welcomed by the Principal and Bo-eun’s class adviser with whom he has an encounter in Jeju island. While Bo-eun sits apart from Hye-won, she gets surprised when the class noise stops as their room teacher and her husband come in.
Later that day, Sang-min joins the faculty for a drink and as the class adviser openly flirts with him, he flinches at how horror-like it is. She forces him for another round of drink, and when he can’t control her drunk self, declaring her intention to get even closer to him, he leaves her inside the cab.
Sang-min wakes up late the next day and when Bo-eun refuses him to use the toilet while she’s brushing her teeth, he pees in the kitchen sink. They are running late for school so Sang-min accidentally grabs Bo-eun’s lace underwear thinking it was a handkerchief.
The hangover from last night is taking a toll on Sang-min, and when he pulls what he thinks to be a handkerchief, Bo-eun distracts the class for him to notice that it is her underwear.
Hye-won’s Warning
After class, Hye-won approaches Sang-min and advises him to look over her wife’s side affairs. As he ponders on it, he hears Teacher’s Kim disillusioned-I-want-to-be-your-woman voice. The students witnessed Sang-min being forced to eat Teacher Kim’s prepared lunch box.
She asks questions about his family and tries to connect the possibility that they are possibly meant to be. Bo-eun confronts Sang-min on the cozy lunch under the sun, and when he concludes that she might be jealous, she rejects the idea.
Sang-min visits the baseball field and looks for Jung-woo. With suppressed anger in his voice, he asks him if he enjoyed the lunch box and did well, he throws the baseball at him and leaves to Jung-woo’s confusion.
Bo-eun can’t focus on her studies as she overhears the noise from the sexy film Sang-min is watching. She storms to his room and turns off the TV. He complains that he can’t take away his hobby and goes to a TV remote control tug-of-war with her.
Sang-min finally gets control and while he’s lazily slouching, Teacher Kim pays a surprise visit to the couple’s apartment and their secret is almost revealed if not for Bo-eun’s stunt ability.
Sang-min’s First Love
While Sang-min is discussing an art lesson, a student raises her hand and inquires Sang-min about his first romance. He politely dismisses the query, but the class wants to listen to his story so he has no choice but to recount the story of his first love. He reveals that his first love was the only girl who visited him in his military service stay, but the girl is not aware of how much she meant to him.
When they raise a follow-up question if he doesn’t have plans to reveal his feelings, he gives a vague answer of either a possibility or fate. Bo-eun thinks of a girl who Sang-min is describing, pouts, and looks outside the window, as Sang-min stares at him from afar.
Bo-eun Defends Her Husband
Sang-min and his friends meet their senior instructor to check on their teaching assignments. He vocally complains of being with his bossy wife in their house and at school. His friend who sympathizes with his situation on cue hands a military service notice which they will all be attending.
The next day Sang-min marches to the military camp and reminds Bo-eun of her assignment. After their morning exercise, the buddies happily chat on how they still have the military stance and proceed to get their lunch ration. Sang-min declines the food as Bo-eun arrives with a lunch box for her honey.
Then Sang-min’s bully Marines’ seniors came by and recognized him. They order him to do some muscle stretching. Bo-eun, who can’t understand why her husband is dragged just like that, scolds Sang-min’s friends not to touch the food and speeds to rescue him.
She demands Sang-min’s seniors to stop but they won’t budge. The oldest man boasts that he is a marine, but she shouts at him that her grandfather is also a marine. Sang-min attempts to calm her down and feels happy at that time that he has a bossy wife.
After the military activity, they visit a karaoke house to have some fun. On their way home, they encounter hoodlums who think Sang-min is her sugar daddy. He tries protecting her but punches are thrown at him so Bo-eun takes a wooden bar and hits the bad men damaging their faces big time.
At the police station, the inspector doesn’t want to believe Bo-eun is his wife. The Principal comes to support their marriage statement and so is Teacher Kim whose wedding dreams are now again shattered. When they get home, Bo-eun nags at how he can’t defend himself in the big world as he rolls an egg on his face.
Bo-eun’s Impossible Assignment
The next morning, Teacher Kim who suffered a broken heart overnight picks on Bo-eun as she assigns her to the backdrop decoration of the upcoming school festival. Sang-min tries to convince Teacher Kim that Bo-eun will have a hard time decorating the wall but she won’t budge on her decision.
Bo-eun faces the wall and wonders how she can fill it with colors. Hye-won watches from a distance then Sang-min drags her and asks her a favor to help her friend. Hye-won tells her that she’s a lesbian because she likes her friend more than a boy. And the estranged besties are back on each other’s shoulders again.
After class, they stand chatting on a bridge. Hye-won voices out how she finds Sang-min cute and nice, but Bo-eun pretends oblivious of it. She reminds her of being careful of her feelings because she’s so focused on Jung-woo; she’s overlooking how Sang-min feels. She thinks that she also likes Sang-min, but she responds that she sees him as her big brother only.
Then we see Sang-min carrying paints and staring at the big wall as the three bully girls pass by the hall and wonder why the student-teacher is working on the wall. At night, Sang-min’s mother pays them a visit and cooks some food for dinner. He insists on her staying overnight so they have no choice but to share a room.
Bo-eun Reconciles With Bestie Hye-won
Sang-min dreams of him kissing Bo-eun and then suddenly wakes up not getting the kiss. He sees Bo-eun peacefully asleep and reaches for her so she can sleep in his arms.
Teacher Kim approaches Bo-eun and Hye-won. She belittled their hard work citing it might not be enough to finish it before the big event. Sang-min also seeks his friends’ help to finish painting the wall which makes him stay late at night causing Bo-eun to sulk thinking he is not even helping her.
Unfortunately, the three bully sisters overhear Bo-eun and Hye-won’s conversation about Sang-min. So, they come up with an evil plan to get back at Bo-eun. Bo-eun’s brother is out with his friends. He orchestrates a video of him hitting on a girl but his friends notice Bo-eun who is with Jung-woo on a date.
Bo-eun’s Secret is Spilled
Bo-eun forgets the family dinner and excuses herself to Jung-woo when she got Sang-min’s message that she must come. Bo-eun arrives late, and after dinner, his brother makes a declaration that he’ll show his new girlfriend.
The family stares at the TV screen and is shocked when they see Bo-eun and Jung-woo together. Bo-eun drops what she’s holding runs to the park sits on a swing and cries. Sang-min follows her and sits beside the swing.
To appease her and not to feel so bad about herself, he reckons…
“When you were little, I always pushed you on this swing here. You love it so much. But one day, you fell off the swing while I was pushing. I actually did it on purpose.”
Bo-eun utters an apology to Sang-min realizing he’s trying to ease the emotions she’s feeling at that time. She stands up and leaves him alone in the park. Bo-eun who is still feeling bad sulks on her mother’s lap as she runs her gentle hand to her hair.
BO-EUN’S MOM: “Don’t think about it anymore. Your grandfather forced you to do it. But the truth is, we want to have Sang-min as our son-in-law. Do you remember how often you would cry? But whenever Sang-min came, a smile would spread on your face. You would fall all the time, scraping and breaking yourself, but Sang-min felt worse than I did. He carried you on his back all the time, that Sang-min.”
Bo-eun’s True Love
Bo-eun goes home and phones Sang-min’s senior when she doesn’t see him home. She tells her how envious she was of her because Sang-min would rather spend his time working on the school festival wall painting than finish his graduation exhibit preparations.
Upon hearing his senior’s revelation, she rushes to check the laundry basket and finds her husband’s shirt covered with paint marks. She stepped out of their apartment and ran to her school but didn’t notice Sang-min who just came out of the cab.
Bo-eun sees the wall painted beautifully. It was a picture of a young boy pushing a girl happily sitting on a swing in a breathtaking forest background. She weeps as she realizes how much she overlooks the “love” that has always been inside her since she was little. While realizing how much time she wasted not giving back her husband’s love for her, Sang-min is cleaning up his things in their apartment.
When she wakes up in the morning, she hurries to look for Sang-min but finds his room all boxed up. She notices his photo album and organizer. When she opens his organizer, she sees the letter she gave to him when she visits him when he is in military service.
Then we have a flashback of young Bo-eun with her family visiting the military camp. Unfortunately, there was an emergency handled by Sang-min’s troop so they were advised that they might not be able to see him.
BO-EUN’S LETTER
Oppa,
I came with the family to see you, but we were advised that there’s an emergency in your squad so we just go home. Are you doing well? A few days ago, a heavy snow came down in Seoul. The Han River is frozen as well. It is colder there, right? Don’t catch cold. And this is a secret, but my mom says that I am a woman now. I’m a bit behind than the other girls, but being an idiot that you are, you won’t understand what I mean, right? It’s strange but when you were around I hated your guts, but your absence has had me missing you. Are you feeling the same? Then be good to me from now on. The disappointment of not being able to see you makes your mom cry. Anyway, this letter, I hope it reaches you.
Bo-eun asked a soldier in the camp to try and give that letter to Sang-min and she is not aware that it reached him.
The School Festival
Then the school festival came. The school’s ambiance is all perky and happy. Bo-eun looks for Sang-min to no avail and bumps into Jung-woo. She apologizes for being selfish and breaks up with him. She proceeds to the school hall and sits beside Hye-won. She asks her if she saw Sang-min and points to where he is sitting.
After the three bully girls’ production number, Sang-min goes to the stage to share a few words but the leader of the bully girls interrupts him and reveals to the crowd that he is married to Bo-eun. The crowd murmurs about how can something like that happen so Sang-min who always wants to protect Bo-eun admits the revelation.
Sang-min Protects Bo-eun
He explains that Bo-eun has no choice and that she just wants to fulfill her sick grandfather’s last wish. He narrates that even if she is married, she is still a typical high school girl who goes crazy eating spaghetti. She also loves cute, lunch-box-loving baseball players and gets stressed about studying and applying to Universities. He begs the crowd not to judge her because of a marriage certificate.
Bo-eun comes on the stage teary-eyed and tells Sang-min that she’s not a child anymore. She tells him that since she was a little girl, he has always been beside her and that’s why maybe she was not aware of the strange feeling inside her.
She says “I love you” to him which makes Sang-min speechless for a second or two and then crosses the line between them to embrace and kiss the little girl he has loved all his life to the audience’s approval.
Epilogue
A few years later, we see Bo-eun in her usual bossy self and Sang-min in his usual obedient self – scolding their crying son as their family visits along with Grandpa who is surprisingly alive still.
My Little Bride Movie Musings
My Little Bride is a sweet tale of young love. It reminds us that sometimes we may become blinded or too preoccupied to notice a “love” that has been there all along. Also, we should not mistake thrills for true love.
I don’t have a childhood sweetheart, books perhaps, but isn’t it amazing to be sharing the rest of your life with someone who has been there for you without you demanding it?
This light flick offers plenty of feel-good vibes and upbeat tones perfect for a weekend if you want to destress. If you have time, come see it with your hometown friends.
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