An ode to sisterhood that lasts even when the (non-blood) sisters lose contact for two decades, Sunny (Korean box office champ for the first half of this year) is a fusion of formulas and a clash of tones (sappy melodrama; rude teen comedy) with one goal in mind: to make you weep. Na-mi (Yoo Ho-jeong) is a stoically suffering housewife with a wealthy, distracted businessman husband and an aloof teen daughter. While visiting her mom in the hospital, she spies a woman writhing in pain in another room; it turns out to be a high school BFF she hasn't seen in more than 20 years. The friend, dying of cancer, has one wish: for the old gang (who called themselves “Sunny”) to reunite. Soon the film is flashing back and then forward again, juxtaposing the story of how the teen posse melded into a profane, kick-ass (and ass-kicking) troop with the often disappointing lives the women have led after drifting apart. The characters are more concepts than actual characters (the cold pretty girl; the quipping chubby girl; the quasi baby dyke), though the actresses give their all in fleshing them out. Everything is played broadly, from the slapstick awkwardness of first loves to heartbreaking adulthood epiphanies, but if you just give yourself over to the shameless manipulation, you may well find a lump in your throat. (CGV Cinemas)

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