Killing Romance 2023

Hwang Yeo-re [Lee Ha-nee] is a widely recognized actress who rose to fame through a soda ad campaign and other gadget commercials. She starred in several successful films, though her final movie was panned, with fans criticizing her performance and ridiculing her signature catchphrase. Distressed by the reception, Yeo-re flees to the fictional tropical island Qualla, where she meets Jonathan Na [Lee Sun-kyun], a flashy real estate developer whose charm hides a controlling, status-driven nature. The couple marries and returns to Seoul, where Jonathan reveals himself to be obsessed with status and control. His quirks, such as pre-styled fake mustaches and his bold catchphrase, “It’s Goooood!”, grate on Yeo-re.

Depressed and withdrawn, Yeo-re has retired from acting. Yet some fans stay loyal, including Beom-woo [Gong Myeong], a neighbor described as an uninspired teenager and three-time failed test-taker, who, after a chance encounter with Yeo-re, volunteers to help plot her husband’s murder. They begin to communicate in secret, discarding several schemes—an allergy attack, a car crash, and a paper plane injury—before deciding to weaponize Jonathan’s ego against him.

Yeo-re brings her husband to a jjimjilbang and, with Beom-woo, challenges him to sweat himself to death. The sauna owner [Oh Jung-se] accompanies the plan. Although the gambit appears to succeed at first, Beom-woo isn’t able to go through with the murder and saves Jonathan at the last moment. Jonathan, grateful and unaware of Beom-woo’s true identity, befriends the teenager and invites him to dinner while Yeo-re is plotting a second murder attempt.

The second attempt fails, and Yeo-re says a tearful goodbye to Beom-woo as she plans to permanently relocate to Qualla with Jonathan, where his new theme is taking shape. Feeling guilty, Beom-woo goes to the island to rescue her, but his efforts are in vain. Yeo-re, even after jumping off a cliff to escape her husband, remains trapped on the island, along with the ostriches whose habitat has been destroyed by the construction of Jonathan’s theme park.

Back in Seoul, the couple returns to promote the park’s opening. Beom-woo recruits friends to crash the event, inspired by a desire to see Yeo-re free. When Jonathan’s security team seems to have the upper hand, a small group of Yeo-re’s loyal fans arrive, singing her theme song and turning the tide. As Jonathan makes a desperate lunge toward Yeo-re, a vengeful ostrich that followed him from the island swoops in and carries him away. Yeo-re makes a tentative return to acting, and her fans eagerly rally to her renewed career.

A post-credits scene shows Jonathan, sunburnt and dehydrated, calling hopelessly for his bodyguard as he floats in the middle of the ocean.