Baby & Me Movie Recap
- Disclaimer: This is a picture-rich recap, beware of minor internet laggage.
What do teenager boys do?
Eat ramen noodles and…
check out hot mamas on the street?
No, not he.
This, this, this, and this…
… are not his cup of tea. He wants, this:
a REAL mama.
So Joon-soo approaches her, holds her hands in his, looks her in the eye, and begs, “Please, give me some breast milk.” 
Joo-soo may not be the best student at school, but he is no pervert. He’s doing it because of…
this little picky trouble maker.
It all began a week ago when Joo-soo took down a dozen guys single-handed to save his two best friends’ rear.
Of course, behind the short-lived glory is a beating from dad and a reproach from mom. “I wish you have a kid just like you so you know how hard it is to be a parent.” is the curse his mom resentfully cast on him before leaving him to be.
Life starts to change. When he returns home one day, both his parents are gone like a puff of smoke, leaving only a tape and a letter on the desk. He pops the tape in TV and sits back to watch the soap:
The sitcom video is silent, narrated by the large cue card mom is holding listlessly. Ever since the recent gang fight, both dad and mom have lost all faith in Joon-soo. They decided to leave until Joon-soo magically clicks and turns good. (Oh, did I roll my eyes too loud?) Before leaving, they have taken away Joon-soo’s credit card, but they did remember to leave him some money to survive.
What?! Mom and dad, not at home? That means… time to… PARTAY! He calls up his friends to tell them about the party he’s ready to host and drops by the supermarket to pick up some liquor.
Joon-soo stands in front of a rack of wine, contemplating what to buy for the party. When he finally decides and turns to put the bottle in the cart, he nearly jumps in surprise — a baby has fallen from the sky and landed in his shopping cart.
Attached is a letter addressed to Joon-soo himself, telling him that the baby cannot live without his father and he must take care of little Woo-ram.
Getting over the initial shock, Joon-soo sets off to look for the kid’s mother the following morning.
And he gets slapped by all eight of the potential mothers, though only four are shown here. But, ouch!
Joon-soo’s day is not over yet. Little Woo-ram is crying and throwing a tantrum because one, he does NOT like powdered milk and two, sitting on poop-filled diaper does not feel good. Thank goodness, there is always Kim Byeol to offer a hand with the baby. Who’s Byeol? Ahh, she’s the quirky, mushroom-haired girl who always walks around in a white chicken costume — the one with 8 siblings.
The first time Joon-soo and Byeol met, Byeol was standing in front of the school like a piece of marble mascot. Joon-soo nearly drove into her.
Her presence is so pervasive that whenever Joon-soo attempts to smoke or drink or anything with his friends, Byeol will pop out of the blue and recite to him, rapidly and incessantly, a research result of some sort to dissuade him from doing x y z. Often times, he gives up on x y z just to get her off his back. It works and they manage to co-exist in their strange ways.
Byeol may provide a partial solution to the baby problem, but once she’s gone, Joon-soo is back to his OMG-I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-the-baby, someone-get-him-out-of-here-!!! craze.
hmm, pink bed sheets!
After enduring a whole night of wailing, Joon-soo decides to abandon the baby. He puts on a cap to disguise himself and sneaks out in the dark with the baby. Waiting until nobody is around, Joon-soo brings the baby to the trash pile by the pole. He whispers sorry softly and looks around for signs of human — throwing away a baby is not something you want other people to see you do. The tiny baby twinkles his large eyes at his young father. As Joon-soo lowers Woo-ram slowly to the ground, Woo-ram pouts his mouths to cry. But before the baby makes a sound, another voice beats him to it, “Hey you with the cap,” Joon-soo freezes instantly and looks around nervously. And then he sees it, a security camera angled right at him. The voice continues, “Special trash needs to be thrown elsewhere, please abide by the regulations.” Embarrassed now, Joon-soo makes up a lame excuse of trying to find reusable products thrown away by lavish people and runs away hastily with the baby and a rusted pot for shield.
A new problem soon surfaces: Joon-soo is still a high school student, how can he attend school with his baby son hanging in front of him? But Miss Cho, his teacher, has called and threatened for him to show up at school. Her words are the holy decrees that no one dares to defy. Although unwillingly, (times that by 100,) Joon-soo eventually shows up at school with little Woo-ram. Of course, with a baby as cute as Woo-ram, there is quite a stir in the classrooms.
One day when Joon-soo is at the hospital (for God-knows-what reason), he overhearing one of his best pals’ urgent discussion with the doctor regarding his mother’s illness. Joon-soo sells his motorcycle and gathers some money to help his friend out.
Without a viable means of transportation, Joon-soo resorts to taking the subway. Leaning back on the subway seat and bouncing rhythmically with the motion of the viehical, Joon-soo soon falls asleep… …
When the subway comes to a sudden halt, Joon-soo’s eyes snap open and still disoriented, he hops off the subway and walks away. Then, it suddenly hits him…
Baby Woo-ram is still on the subway! But hey, this is the PERFECT chance to get rid of the baby for-everrrr. He decides.
Except when he gets home, all around him are the living reminders of Woo-ram. (Oh gosh, baby shoes, baby clothes, baby-anything is cute! On a second thought, not baby feces.)
Finally, when guilt, responsibility, and the dormant feeling for the baby nags long enough, Joon-soo finds himself in the subway station, reclaiming the baby (with much exaggeration).
Once Joon-soo tastes the flavor of losing the baby, he starts to appreciate Woo-ram’s existence. From then on, Joon-soo runs around during his free time, knocking on doors, begging for breast milk. At night, he works as a waiter and a flyer boy to earn a few extra bucks to cover the living expenses — well, it couldn’t have been easy raising a baby on your own. Besides, the allowance dad and mom left has been exhausted to the last dime by now.
Time elapses likes this for quite awhile, soon it’s finals time. The school coordinators decide that the presence of a baby will disrupt the students’ ability to concentrate on the exam, therefore Joon-soo must be suspended from school.
Joon-soo doesn’t like the idea too much, but what can he do? Oh, right, he can have a drink, get drunk, and embarrass himself in front of his baby kid.
Ugh, he's so embarrassing!
After lash out some of his frustration, Joon-soo returns home and meets Byeol’s dad. The dad thanks Joon-soo for being such a good friend to his daughter and for inspiring her to return to school. He reveals Byeol’s past…
… Byeol has always been a little, er, different. As early as elementary, her insatiable hunger for knowledge has stood her out from the rest of the kids in class. By middle school, she became the most feared student on campus. Teachers fled from her, classmates berated her for being an (ass-kicking) stuck up. Finally, she’s fed up. She handed in a letter to the principle and excused herself from school all together…
He enters and stops short at the family portrait. He is suspended, penniless, burdened with the responsibility of raising a child, and he misses his parents terribly. Life is hard.
Watching daddy feeling blue, the baby is infected with a knowing sadness. He begins to cry. And so, the father and son shed tears of loneliness together in the empty family corridor.
After meeting with Byeol’s family and seeing their 8 children, Mama Han slips back home to see her son. Instead, she sees Byeol holding an angelic baby and immediately reaches the supposition that papa Han has impregnated another woman behind her back. The result of her hasty conclusion –
What? What did I do?
Meanwhile, Joon-soo is having a rough day. He tries to find himself a job but none will have him so long as the baby is with him. At the end of the day, he’s exhausted, unhappy, and hungry. With the little of what’s left of his estate, he buys himself a carton of white milk. (He can’t afford chocolate milk.)
He sits down and drinks away. Then he looks down and sees the baby staring at him — at the carton of milk — while sucking vigorously on his pacifier. A little embarrassed at just remembering that the baby has starved all day with him (and magically not crying, although the kiddo is frowning a little — but then again, when Moon Mason isn’t crying or smiling, he’s frowning. In the movie that is.), Joon-soo dips his pinkie into the carton of milk and feeds his little boy.
But luck is just not on daddy’s side today. Joon-soo shifts around to find a better position to feed the tiny baby but tips over the milk instead, causing its content to spill everywhere. Joon-soo picks the carton up and curses under his breath.
His curse is echoed by a drunkard. The drunkard throws his arms in the air, swearing to live better without the woman that broke his fragile heart and falls onto the footsteps, unconscious. Joon-soo looks at the starving baby then at the man’s protruding wallet. To hell with it. He snatches the wallet from the drunkard’s back pocket. Holding onto the baby, ready to sneak away. The unconscious drunkard suddenly comes to life and grabs onto his pant leg. Joon-soo gives a yell of surprise and runs away as if caught on fire. The man chases after him just as frantically, yelling and moaning, “Why did you take my wallet? Why did you take my wallet?” (This is hilarious in a sardonic way and I can’t stop laughing.)
Amidst the tumbling and escaping, Joon-soo halts a cab and without looking, he jumps into it and hollers for the drivers to get on. The cops in the front seats turn to look at him, one of them throws back a meaningful glance and says, “Let’s go.”
:D
Whenever something comes up, Joon-soo always calls Miss Cho. Last time it’s the subway station, this time, the police station. And each time, she’s mistaken as the mother of the child; each time whispers and stealthy glances were tossed at her for rearing a child with a man half her age. It drove her nuts. This time, she’s had enough. After trying to clarify for the nth that she is NOT the baby’s mother, or the teenager’s lover for that matter, she gives up all attempts at explaining and screams for all she’s worth. (If she had her stick with her, she would definitely chop that cop in half right there and then.)
lol-arious, but hey ladies, it works.
After bailing Joon-soo out, Miss Cho gives him some money and leaves with a sigh. Holding money, Joon-soo buys two cans of powered milk for the baby and asks the cashier for a pack of cigarettes. Then on a second thought, he asks the cashier to replace the cigarettes with another can of powered milk. 
cuteness!
By the time he returns him, mom and dad are already waiting in the living room. With a handful of tears (and snot), Joon-soo confesses the origin of the child as well as his attachment to the baby.
The next day, papa Han brings his son to school to reenlist him; mama Han stays at home to look after the baby. Unfortunately, mama Han caught the flu and infects the baby with it. When Joon-soo hears the news, his concern for the baby overrides his appreciation for his mother’s effort to take care the baby despite her age. He yells at her and storms out of the room. Later at night, his father preaches explains to him that when a child is sick, parents are the ones hurting the most. They are tormented with the guilt of not have taken better care of the child and they wish desperately that the pain could be transferred to them.
Considering his lack of gratitude, Joon-soo enters his parents’ room and digs out his mother’s diary that chronicles the events from his birth to development. Reading it and recalling his recent experience as a father, Joon-soo realizes how difficult it is to be a parent, a tear of understanding trickles down his cheek.
Furious at being tricked (which I still find funny), Joon-soo gives his friend a beating. And then, life resorts to the way it was, before the baby arrived from nowhere. Except, it feels like someone has punctured a hole in Joon-soo’s life — something is missing.
Denial, anger, silence, nothing can hide Joon-soo’s inner desire to see Woo-ram. Yet nothing can break his infuriatingly dogmatic insistence that Woo-ram is not his son, and therefore he has nothing to do with that child — until he hears the news that Woo-ram will be sent out of the country for adoption.
So the day for Woo-ram to leave arrives.
aww the baby doesn't want to go.
Joon-soo finally realizes that he doesn’t want to lose the baby and speeds to the airport. After a wild airport breach, the baby stays.
And now, lucky Woo-ram has two fathers to fight over him.
baby Joon-soo
—
Oh la la, 45 pictures in a single recap! Well, I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t like the movie.
On the other hand, no matter how funny/cute/quirky/entertaining the movie is, it’s still got some minor ughs. Aside from the forever greasiness of Jang Geun Suk’s hair, his no longer perfect skin, (I shouldn’t be too hard on him, but for actors like him, face is wealth.) and the overly clichéd airport scene, I think it’s unnecessary to dub the baby’s voice. For me, it not only doesn’t contribute to the dialogue/monologue, it actually breaks the flow of it. Despite all that, it’s still an enjoyable movie.
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