One Line ~ I Quit College To Become a Scammer

“One Line” is a 2017 Korean drama film, categorized as Crime, Thriller, Heist, and Comedy; streaming on Viki.

• “There’s a line between smart and stupid. Cross it, and you’re just another con.”, Suk-goo

SUMMARY: A dirty loan can be a scam loan, but not all scam loans are dirty loans. Uh huh. And if you believe that you probably think the tooth fairy is real.

♦ Who Needs to go to College When You Can “Help” People?

In “One Line”, Lee Min-jae makes a drastic career change. He drops out of college to become a swindler. First, he got trained by a scam loan artist/entrepreneur and then went into business on his own. Lee Min-jae was a smart kid, but dropping out of college and becoming a scammer was DUMB!

Of course, he had his reasons. Everyone has their “reasons” or “excuses” for taking a walk on the dark side. Some are just lowlifes and dirtbags who live their lives taking whatever they want from others by any means necessary, and their greed is never satisfied. Violence is just a “means” like asking politely. Although, asking politely rarely ever works.

Others, like Lee Min-jae, have a reason that they believe is noble and justifiable. It’s not. Even though his parents don’t know what kind of “work” he’s doing, they know it can’t be good, so they won’t spend any of the money he gives them. Nevertheless, he persists in his criminal endeavors. What does he do? He creates scam loans. It’s complicated. But basically, people go to a bank or other lending institution to get money, and they never pay it back. They get a portion of the loan proceeds, and Lee Min-jae’s “illegal business” gets the rest.

Lee Min-jae learned the scam loan business from Jang Suk-goo, who only deals in certain types of loans. Why? Because he has “standards”. Even though they’re all dirty loans, there are certain loans that he considers “the real dirty loans”. He will only go so far in his walk on the dark side. His philosophy is: “There’s a line between smart and stupid. Cross it, and you’re just another con.” It’s because he knows the deeper you go into the dark underworld, the more dangerous it becomes and the more difficult it is to get out ALIVE! He wants to live comfortably and “help” people.

By contrast, his partner, Ji-Won, doesn’t mind how dirty it gets as long as he makes lots of money. Whereas Jang Suk-goo prefers a “peaceful resolution” when it comes to collecting payments from people, Ji-Won prefers to use violence. He thinks it’s more effective and quicker!

At any rate, two events occurred that led Jang Suk-goo to exit the scam loan business.

1. Ji-Won wanted him to partner with some other unsavory characters and get into the business of “the real dirty loans”. Jang Suk-goo refused, so Ji-Won went into business on his own.

2. One day, a detective was close to busting up Jang Suk-goo’s operations and arresting him, so he fled, handed the business over to Lee Min-jae, and promptly disappeared.

Lee Min-jae was running the scam loan operation smoothly until Ji-Won showed up and took everything from him. But Ji-Won underestimated Lee Min-jae. He also didn’t think that Lee Min-jae would reconnect with Jang Suk-goo. Ji-Won had the brawn or the muscle, but Lee Min-jae and Jang Suk-goo always had the brains. They decided to work with the detective who almost arrested Jang Suk-goo and turn the tables on Ji-Won. He was bad news and needed to be taken down. Face it! There are bad guys like Ji-Won, who give the good bad guys like Lee Min-jae and Jang Suk-goo, a bad reputation.

Main Characters:

• Lee Min-jae (played by Yim Si-Wan, “Unlocked”, “Road to Boston”, “Tracer”, “The King Loves”, “Emergency Declaration”, “Strangers From Hell”, “Boyhood”, “The Attorney”, “Squid Game 2 and 3”, “Misaeng: Incomplete Life”, “The Moon Embracing The Sun”)
• Jang Suk-goo (played by Jin Goo, “The Witch: Part 2. The Other One”, “Shadow Detective 1 and 2”, “My Lovely Angel”, “Heung-Boo: The Revolutionist”, “The Auditors”, “Descendants of the Son”)
• Ji-Won (played by Park Byung-Eun, “Dear Hongrang”, “Citizen of a Kind”, “In Our Prime”, “The Bequeathed”, “Eve”, “The Moon”, “Decibel”, “Hyper Knife”)

Where to Watch (On both Viki and Tubi TV, free with ads)

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 5.9 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 7.5 out of 10 stars
• Viki viewers rated this series 9.3 out of 10 stars
• Letterboxd: 3.2 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is the same as MDL.

The Viki rating for “One Line” is excessively generous. Perhaps the viewers really liked the actors. The film did have a great cast. But the plot was too predictable. There may be a “line” that certain crooks won’t cross. But a bad guy is still a bad guy.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Korean Movie Night: One Line 원라인 (2017) Korean | Liking Necks Doesn’t Make Me a Vampire

Crime movie One Line: Lee Jong-seok out, Im Shi-wan in? | Dramabeans Korean drama recaps

[Film Review] ‘One Line’ | HanCinema

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

KoBiz, KoreanFilmBiz. “ONE-LINE (2017).” YouTube, Video, 9 Mar. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR3yJHB8oac.

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