All the Liquors (Movie) (2024)

Stick with the series version!

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

Again, it was bizarre that I had to wait over 1 ½ years to do a comparison review.

The series: This had a cute storyline. I like that the script was simple and not overly dramatical, but it may be too simple for some people. However, the script had some weak elements. On the positive, the cast did a great job with their characters. I enjoyed watching the development of the friendship group throughout the series. I also liked the additional scene that was added at the end of most of the episodes. It had inconsistent sound quality/volume throughout the series.

The movie: The main problem with the movie version is the editing. I know they probably had to cut scenes for timing purposes, but many of the cut scenes somehow made this cute, simple storyline bland. It didn’t affect the overall relationship development, but slightly effected the story progression. The cut scenes also added more context. By cutting one scene in the beginning, one of the scenes in the end made no sense. They did a decent job editing it into a cohesive movie. There were only a few times the editing was choppy. As to be expected, they cut out the opening credits and additional scenes from the end of the episodes.

Random Notes:

I strongly recommend watching the series version (on Viki if you can).

The movie’s English subtitles on GagaOOLala were not bad, but I prefer the ones with the series on Viki (I did not take points off for this).

******Spoiler Alert******

The kissing scenes were actually not that bad for a change. Yes, the actors still looked awkward but they at least showed some emotions.

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All the Liquors (and Food)

Let me start by saying first and foremost, I think Won Do Hyun did an excellent job for his first main role. I had watched Kim Jun Hyung previously (definitely has talent) and hope to watch more of both of them in the future.

Now, about this movie version of the series.
(TL;DR AT BOTTOM)

I love the premise as of course food and alcohol are a timeless pairing. It makes sense to have these type of situations come up in marketing. But it is a little bit far fetched in this. The Chef Ki Hoon is an unknown with zero social media presence and no culinary background to speak of other than Grandmama had a tteokbokki shop that he grew up in that has been since renovated into a small restaurant with an exposed kitchenette that he cooks in.

Before I go further let me focus on our cute main lead Ji Yu. How is he not gaining weight? All this character does is eat, drink, eat again, sleep, repeat. We see him at work a couple of times talking about food and soju. We see him at a variety of places eating and drinking. Bestie Ji Ha (Jeong Ho Gyun - he needs a main he’s hilarious and so expressive) meets up to: you guessed it! Eat and Drink. Kind of hard to give any depth when the character is stuffing his face constantly. But we love him anyway and his personality is like a confused chipmunk.

Back to Chef, he is strict and stern. Kind of. For a minute. No Alcohol! Okay, let’s have some alcohol because cutie Ji Yu wants it. Huh? That quickly? I think there were a few steps missing. All of a sudden, Chef is taking Chipmunk on a trip and agreeing to this contract and how did we get here? It’s disjointed and in a way that left me rewatching scenes to make sure I didn’t miss something. So my complaint is the editing or the storyline itself. No idea who is to blame but it is a tough few cuts and jumps while watching.

Then we have the kisses. The actors looked so uncomfortable and there was zero passion or feeling in those couple of kisses. I don’t need tongue so don’t take it like that - I do need something other than camera angles trying to make it look like they are doing more than barely touching lips. They sold their relationship as though it was building up to something but that wasn’t anything. The director should have done better. Workshops or coaching to help and different camera angle may have helped. It just was nothing. I felt it did a disservice to the characters (no matter how disjointed and underdeveloped they were). And the final blow was the fact that their relationship wasn't even established until the last scene even though they already had (implied) slept together and at least a couple weeks had passed if not months. Weird choice.

TL;DR:

So much eating and drinking by cute chipmunk male lead.
Chef storyline made no sense (no social media or culinary accolades but hired for big corporate event?).
More eating and drinking.
Corporate Job for Chipmunk? Huh? Where?
No character depth anywhere to be found.
Why is there so much food & soju and so little actual story?
Flirty with no chemistry.
Kisses that were completely bland.
Needed more of Bestie here or elsewhere.
Wait - they weren’t even a couple? Was this a bromance disguised as a BL?
Ooooh more food and soju and wine this time too!

Eh. It’s forgettable but still I like the actors and they did the best with what they had. I don’t fault them. I blame the scriptwriter(s) and Director.

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