200 Pounds Beauty

Plot

Hanna Kang is an overweight phone sex part-timer and a ghost singer for Ammy, a famous pop singer who actually lip syncs instead of being famous for her own vocal talent. Other than that, Hanna has a huge crush for Sang-jun who's a director and whose arrogant father owns the entertainment company. One day, Ammy purposely insults Hanna's weight in front of Sang-jun during his birthday party, knowing well that Hanna likes him. While crying in the restroom, Hanna overhears Sang-jun telling Ammy that even though they are just using Hanna for her voice, they must be kind to her so she will not walk out on them. Heartbroken, Hanna attempts suicide but is interrupted by a phone call from one of her phone sex regulars who is a top plastic surgeon. She persuades him to perform a head-to-toe plastic surgery operation on her. Hanna puts herself in seclusion for a year as she recovers from the changes from the surgery and weight loss.

When she comes back from the hospital, Hanna is incredibly beautiful and slender, that even her best friend Jung-min cannot recognize her at first. With Jung-min's help, Hanna creates a new identity for herself; she is now a Korean-American from California named Jenny. After auditioning to be Ammy's secret vocalist again, she earns her own recording contract instead from Sang-jun, claiming that she is "all-natural". In the meantime, Ammy desperately tries to find Han-na by spending time with Han-na's father who is in a hospital due to mental problems, possibly Alzheimer's. Sang-jun orders Ammy to give up her search for Hanna and give Jenny a chance to help him finish her album. After many encounters with Jenny, they both realize that Jenny is actually Hanna.

Jenny's debut single "Maria" becomes a hit and in the party to celebrate it, Ammy brings Hanna's father in an attempt to blow her cover. Desperate to keep her true identity a secret, Hanna ignores her father. Jung-min gets furious about her indifferent behavior. After the party, Sang-jun reveals to Jenny that he knows her true identity but is now cold and distant. He seems unable to forgive her for lying to him but says that he will conduct her concert scheduled the next day. Hanna also confesses her love for him that made her to do such a thing. Before the concert, Ammy threatens Sang-jun that she will reveal Jenny`s deception if the concert was not cancelled. Sang-jun stands up against her threat and encourages a distraught Hanna to do this concert, not for the sake of the fans or the company but for herself. At the concert, Hanna proceeds tearfully to tell the large crowd her story: that she was a ghost singer to an ungrateful Ammy while she was overweight, how she went into a year of seclusion to heal from the changes from the surgery and that she has abandoned everything that is dear to her, including her best friend and father, to get to where she is. Sang-jun plays a tape of the old, obese Hanna, singing. The crowd, moved by her sincere confession, responds by chanting "It's okay". Hanna rekindles her relationships with her father and best friend. She drops the stage-name Jenny and re-releases a CD with her own name, Hanna, and becomes a highly successful music artist. Sang-jun realizes the very thing about Hanna that had always drawn him to her was Hanna's innocence, and continues to promote her.

During the post credits, Jung-min also asks to get a head-to-toe plastic surgery from the surgeon.

Cast

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was released by KM Culture and SBS Contents Hub on December 13, 2006.

The title track is a cover of the Blondie song "Maria," sung in Korean by the film's star, Kim Ah-joong.

Director Kim Yong-hwa has been friends with music director Lee Jae-hak since their college days. Lee is a member of the modern rock band Loveholic, which is also featured in the soundtrack.