Ah, remember the days when we were young students with young student teachers who were absolutely beautiful, but oh-so out of our leagues? Kim Yu-Seong, the writer/director of Hot for Teacher (AKA: Who Slept With Her? or the appropriately titled Sexy Teacher) seems to remember that time very well. Led by a sexy but empty performance by former Miss Korea Kim Sa-Rang, Hot for Teacher is a high spirited sex comedy that's a refreshing change from my steady diet of melodramatic Korean comedies. That's right, this time, there's no terminal disease and no real violence to speak of, just good, clean lowbrow comedic fun.
     Ji-Young (Kim Sa-Rang) has been placed into a religious all-boys high school as a student teacher. Her arrival brings the entire school to a standstill, with one student even squeezing his milk carton and spurting milk out (guess what that imagery is supposed to represent). Being a Korean high school, the students are ruled by the iron fist of the dean of students, who's called "Slanted Eyes" and literally shoots laser beams at those that cross him. At the school festival, he hears some amorous noises in the library, and soon after discovers a shoe that belongs to Ji-Young. Determined to find out who did it, Slanted Eyes uses his brain's flashback function and pins down three possible suspects: lady killer Tae-Yo (Ha Seok-Jin), who is legendary for being able to get into a girl's pants within five minutes; Jae-Seong (veteran actor Park Jun-Gyu), whose appearance is explained by a mishap with herbal medicine; and class pervert Myong-Sub, who gets right to the point regarding his intentions with Ji-Young. They all have tried at one point or another to go after Ji Young, but there can be only one.
     Hot for Teacher is ridiculous, tasteless, extremely removed from reality, and worst of all, not that funny. But with the criticisms out of the way, it's also hard to say that I didn't enjoy it. The film repeatedly tries hard to be funny, and even when the jokes don't hit their intended target (which, sad to say, is most of the time), it's at least mildly amusing. In the end, Hot for Teacher does try for some kind of overarching point about people's obsession with gossip and rumors, but who cares when you have jokes about erections, aphrodisiac, masturbation, and copying of private parts keeping the movie going?
     With that said, Hot for Teacher can become grating as every male actor turns to overacting at some point to garner laughs. The number one rule of comedy is that it's all about comic timing, not exaggerated gestures. Out of the male actors, leave it to veteran Park Jun-Gyu to show how to get it done; playing a high school student at the age of 42, Park plays Jae-Seong with the just the right dose of awkwardness and innocence to convince us that he's channeling his 16-year-old self. In fact, the only thing that makes him seem rightfully out of place is his appearance, and that's exactly the point.
     On the other hand, lead actress Kim Sa-Rang fulfills the prerequisite of being the title sexy teacher, but her performance is empty and devoid of any sense of acting talent. Of course, that is also to the fault of writer/director Kim Yu-Seong, who writes Ji Young as a naïve sex object who, for some inexplicable reason, really has no idea about her students' ulterior motives. Her character has no background, no motivation, and absolutely nothing to do except to simply be sexy. In fact, there is not one strong female role in this film. And somehow, she becomes endowed with the role of giving the big important "what did we learn today" speech at the end of the film. Gender equality, thy name is not Kim Yu-Seong.
     Political incorrectness aside, at least Hot for Teacher doesn't strive to represent any type of reality. It mostly accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is to amuse people for 100 minutes, even if it sometimes does so in a groan-inducing fashion. The film doesn't concern itself with the usual dramatic twist, and thanks to its structure, it never drags. While I'm not in any rush to proclaim Hot for Teacher as the next big comedy (In fact, I'm not even in any rush to call it "good."), it's a breezy and entertaining sex comedy that's not meant to be taken seriously. So don't. (Kevin Ma 2007)