T

he latest Korean romcom has the decency to be brutally honest about relationships as people see them today.

Love Forecast: Friendzone explores a stage in contemporary Seoul'€™s dating culture that'€™s similar to a friends-with-benefits relationships with no romance involved.

The film'€™s title says it all: It is a story about Kim Hyun-woo, a lively and strong-willed weather forecaster in her late 20s, and her three suitors: an older man with wife; a same-age friend and a younger eccentric photographer.

As Hyun-woo, the lovely Moon Chae-won captures the attention of the audience '€” and her bosses '€” with lively weather reports.

She'€™s in a discrete relationship with television producer Lee Dong-jin, played by Lee Seo-jin, who always fears getting caught.

Young singer/songwriter Jung Joon-young plays the photographer, who had stalked his idol Hyun-woo for years after his discharge from military service.

The only person who is not deceived by Hyun-woo'€™s prim-and-confident appearance is Kang Junsu, an elementary school teacher who suffers from series of broken romances, some of which don'€™t even last 10 days.

Played by popular singer and television drama actor Lee Seung-gi, Junsu offers Hyun-woo a shoulder to cry on and willing company for a night of cheap booze and pig'€™s trotters.

This takes us to the main question of why Hyun-woo and Junsu remain just friends when they conspicuously tolerate each other better than they do their respective partners.

Hyun-woo has to choose the one who can take the beating from her ever-changing mood, which is as complex and delicate as the weather. Nice metaphor, eh?

Directed and co-written by Park Jin-pyo, Love Forecast: Friendzone is the big screen debut of Lee Seung-gi, who has costarred with Chae-won in the hit drama Brilliant Legacy.

They show good chemistry as the lead couple and it is interesting to watch their rants about dating.

Although the idols on the cast had little experience of acting on film, they performed well.

The humor is well delivered, although the film is not as weepy as My Sassy Girl. It has all standard stuff usually found in Korean drama, including a know-it-all younger sibling and oddballs for friends.

What is lacking is character development for Junsu other than the character thinking that being submissive to his partner equals love.

Hyun-woo is the most interesting character, who can be tough and weak at the same time about her personal life.

But the character gets weaker when the film proceeds to the denouement, as if there are missing scenes about her change of heart.

The running time of 118 minutes is too long for a romantic comedy but it would certainly make a fun date film.

In all, the film has a comfortable warmth that is often overlooked in the genre and the right amount of hearty laughs as it coasts toward a happy ending.