''A.F.R.I.K.A.'' () is a 2002 South Korean

action comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...

directed by Shin Seung-soo and starring

Lee Yo-won Lee Yo-won (; born April 9, 1980) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Queen Seondeok in the eponymous hit period drama. Career Lee Yo-won was a sophomore in high school when she won a modeling contest and first ...

, Kim Min-sun, Lee Young-jin and

Jo Eun-ji Jo Eun-ji (; born February 10, 1981) is a South Korean actress. She debuted in the gritty Im Sang-soo film ''Tears'', and has since become better known for her supporting roles on film and television, such as in '' The President's Last Bang'', ...

. The film's title is an acronym for "Adoring Four Revolutionary Idols Korean Association".

Plot

Two young women, Ji-won and So-hyun, go on a

road trip A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance Travel, journey traveled by a car or a motorcycle. History First road trips by automobile The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by the automobile took place in German Em ...

in a car borrowed from So-hyun's boyfriend; however, unknown to them the car is in fact stolen and contains a case of guns belonging to a corrupt police officer and gangster. The women discover the guns and initially believe them to be fakes, but after accidentally shooting out the car's back window and attracting the attention of local police, they are forced to continue their journey on foot. Ji-won and So-hyun find that life on the road can be dangerous, and resort to using guns to get themselves out of trouble. Along the way they are joined by Jin-ah, a sales clerk, and Young-mi, a dabang girl, and after several robberies the quartet end up being pursued by the police and the gangsters who want their guns back. However, their exploits turn them into media superstars with their own website and fanclub, the Adoring Four Revolutionary Idols Korean Association (A.F.R.I.K.A.), which leads to a series of copycat crimes perpetrated by their fans.

Cast

as Ji-won * Kim Min-sun as So-hyun * Lee Young-jin as Jin-ah *

as Young-mi * Lee Je-rak *

Sung Ji-ru Sung Ji-ru (born October 16, 1968) is a South Korean actor. Filmography Film Television series Awards and nominations References External links * * * 1968 births Living people People from Gongju Male actors from ...

* Kim Ji-wan * * *

Park Yeong-gyu Park Yeong-gyu (born 28 October 1953) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in '' Attack the Gas Station'', in which he plays the owner of the titular gas station, and '' Break Out'', in which he plays a corrupt politician. F ...

* *

Release

''A.F.R.I.K.A.'' opened in South Korea on 11 January 2002 and received a total of 9,800 admissions from a 9-screen release in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. The film also had a small-scale release in

Hong-Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, opening on 17 October 2002.

Critical response

Film critic Anthony Leong found little to praise about ''A.F.R.I.K.A.'', saying, "The film's action sequences are unremarkable... ndthe same goes with the comedy, with one comic misfire coming after another". Leong was also critical of writer/director Shin Seung-soo's attempted social commentary, and found the only memorable aspect to be a jokey reference to '' Attack the Gas Station'' involving Lee Yo-won and Park Yeong-gyu, who appeared in both films. In a review for ''Koreanfilm.org'', V. Naldi commented that the film "tries so hard to be cool, slick and funny that it forgets to take care of the fundamentals, like a script that flows well, or engaging characters", but also that despite "all its flaws, ''A.F.R.I.K.A.'' still manages to be fun, in a rather mindless way", and in particular praised the supporting cast for "creating a few memorable moments". ''BeyondHollywood.com'' described the film as "a comedy with pretensions of being something more", and criticized the writing for being "not strong enough to accommodate its ambitions" and making the central characters "too one-dimensional". The review stated that ''A.F.R.I.K.A.'' "is unsure about what it is, or what it wants to be, and ends up not being anything of note", and regarded Shin's direction as "competent, but nothing extraordinary". ''LoveHKFilm.com'' found ''A.F.R.I.K.A.'' to have a "charm... that makes the film passably entertaining", but also commented on a lack of "major development" and the "one note characters", concluding that, "''A.F.R.I.K.A.'' is occasionally amusing, but only as mindless fluff".A.F.R.I.K.A.
. ''LoveHKFilm.com''. Retrieved on 8 December 2009.

References

External links

* * * {{IMDb title, 0306442 2002 films 2002 crime comedy films 2000s female buddy films 2000s Korean-language films 2000s road movies South Korean action comedy films 2000s buddy comedy films 2000s South Korean films