The Last Godfather

what a fun movie . i have to say i watched it twice and although found some parts corny , other parts made my son and i chuckle . i can see why harvey wanted to do this film . where some other reviewers miss the point , harvey obviously does not . the film does try to go "deep" and yet manages to skim the surface more often then not and occasionally take a nose dive or two or three.... to some degree the humor is not unlike the film " they call me bruce ". it is slapstick humor that sometimes makes it and other times falls flat on it's face. some of the acting is strong while other times way overboard . there is a little something for everybody . if nothing else , a redeeming factor is the film tries to show beauty is more then skin deep and how pure and simple love should be . what is wrong with that ? i disagree with the reviewers that trash it . i suggest you watch and decide for yourself. know going in this is not going to win any awards but then again sometimes those awards miss the point also !

I gave it one star only because I couldn't give it zero. Do not watch this movie.

So what do you do for an encore after Hollywood makes some rather caustic remarks causing some everlasting damage to a director's debut as with Shim Hyung Rae's convoluted D-War affair ? Harken back to the character that made the same man the king of Korean comedy of course ! And so it follows that Shim is the #1 reason why many Koreans will go see the new movie The Last Godfather which isn't exactly a tribute to any lurid Mafia epic but does star veteran Hollywood actor Harvey Keitel as the 1950's Mafia don Carini.

As many fans may recall, Shim's rise to fame to become Korea's top entertainer in which he played the good-humored Young-gu was due to his nightly appearances on TV sitcoms on KBS since the early 90's.

As for The Last Godfather, talk about a flash from the past ! Except for a few costume changes and other theatrics everything does seem to fit the bill all right. That is, once the audience settles in and realizes that yes, he's cast himself in the role of Young-gu, then its pure whimsy! In the new movie in which he ventures off to the Big Apple, Young-gu turns out to be the illegitimate son of a powerful mafia boss. Even after a brief stint training to head the organization, he is no where close to being prepped for all the responsibilities bestowed upon him as Carini's heir . Even though things are suppose to be run exactly the same way a la Carini, poor Young-gu proves to be ever so slightly non-composmentis . He starts becoming chummy with Nancy Bonfante and seems to be perfectly oblivious to the fact that her dad 's the head of the rival mob organization !

So what is the significance of "Young-gu" which means "fool" in Korean to American moviegoers ? Let's put it this way. It's Shim's trademark sense of humor known as slapstick, that in any assessment is the most difficult kind to develop on screen compared to the kind most of us have whether its's dry , sarcastic, witty, or campy. Then again, even if you don't have a sense of humor, you will leave the theater feeling some sense of relief since a minute of laughter usually is enough to feel the same benefits of a work out at the gym! And Shim's brand of comedy developed in The Last Godfather will do that .

However , despite Shim's numerous attempts at directing an entire cast of brilliant talents, one of the major pitfalls that left me a little miffed was that he never brings out the star power of the leading roles and leaves Harvey Keitel's character a little devoid of artistic direction. Plus,it takes two to tango but the pace of the romance between Nancy and Younggu does seem a bit brisk and it doesn't seem that's he's all that interested in his leading lady.

All in all , even though Shim is probably not trying to be the next Korean Francis Ford Coppola, he is smart enough to earn his fair share of accolades for the mastery of CGI displayed in his movies and will surely gain instant recognition from moviegoers worldwide.

‎1 star. Shim Hyung-Rae has some kind of ego. He takes money from fellow Korean investors, goes to the Paramount lot in Hollywood, and shoots this self-indulgent and unwatchable "film." Harvey Keitel, Michael Rispoli, and Jason Mewes, am...ong others, try in absolute vain to save this wreck and bring some form of realism to the proceedings. Maybe they shouldn't have bothered. It's like Shim saw a couple mob films and wanted to recreate them without any knowledge of the genre. Worst of all, his Younggu character comes across as being the worst Asian stereotype to grace the screen in a long time...with his broken accent, combed over hair, stumbling, and bad teeth. It's impossible to even watch this thing. He even tries to throw in a "magical" musical number that is his montage to the Hollywood greats but just seems random. There were maybe 7 people in the auditorium....5 walked out before the end. Maybe I should've as well, I was just too curious to see how this monstrosity would end.

The movie was not as bad as I have read from some foreign friends who might have been living a frustrated life surrounded by a bunch of "nationalists" in South Korea. I know how you guys must be struggling trying to mingle with them. I myself am not very fond of Korean movies either but thanks to you guys, I watched it and am probably giving it a higher rating than it may deserve. Your unnecessarily harsh reviews ignited my urge to protect this silly movie.

As an individual movie reviewer, it would be quite safe for me to say that I loved this movie and the rather ridiculous persistence of this "proud" director Shim in continuing his work. Harvey Keitel's brilliant performance also added a good flavor into this movie. What he's doing may not be manufacturing a fantastic blockbuster, but he has his messages and Koreans seem to understand them more than enough.

Once again, this movie may have disturbed some non-nationalist minds though unintentionally. Or it could be that he's using nationalism to hide his inability to be a great director he wants to be? Or you could just let him keep trying instead of trying to humiliate his works and all Koreans who are not against his movies? Above all, I couldn't stand that all Korean movies and what Koreans do to help its movie industry grow are severely criticized because of this one director and this one movie... maybe two lol If you should say this director's nationalism could have been more bothersome than some of you guys' colonialism or imperialism in ancient times, exploiting defenselessly small countries, depriving them of many opportunities those countries could have had earlier, I feel deeply sorry for you guys. That's of course now all in the past but it may help you people understand the Korean culture and its people if you intend to continue living in Korea, while they're rising to catch up with all their lost opportunities to be a winner.

Koreans do seem to have a weird culture which occasionally puts them all together even when what they're doing isn't quite objectively fair or logical, but after all I found them and this very controversial movie even cute. This movie may be targeting the Korean spirits and it may be time that we let them have the best time of their history.