It seems to me that South Korean actress Ra Mi-ran is one of the rare performers who can sell almost anything to audiences. Although I did not like her recent comedy film “Honest Candidate” (2020) and its following 2022 sequel much, I admired her considerable star qualities nonetheless, and this wonderful actress, who made a movie debut in Park Chan-wook’s “Lady Vengeance” (2005) almost 20 years ago, is the main reason why her latest film “Citizen of a Kind” works despite trying a bit too much at times.

The movie, which is loosely based on a remarkable real-life voice-phishing case in 2016, opens with how Ra’s working-class single mother character, Deok-hee, is unwittingly victimized by a big voice-phishing organization. She happened to be in the need of lots of cash due to her recent fire accident, so she did not hesitate at all when she was approached by a man who introduced himself an employee of some prominent local bank on the phone. Alas, she belatedly comes to realize that she got swindled by the voice-phishing organization behind this caller, and now she is now not only penniless but also stuck with lots of high-interest loan debt.

Just like many voice-phishing victims, Deok-hee pleads a lot to a cop assigned to her case, but the cop does not listen to her much as occupied more with handling some big fraud case. While becoming more desperate and frustrated than ever, Deok-hee struggles to find any solution for her dire situation, but the situation gets worse and worse, and she even finds herself getting separated away from her dear kids later.

In the meantime, there comes an unlikely chance for Deok-hee. That caller calls her again, and this person is willing to provide some crucial information about his voice-phishing organization mainly because he is also a victim of this detestable criminal organization. Although she does not believe this person that much at first, Deok-hee cannot resist this unexpected chance, especially after coming across the police public poster promising a considerable amount of financial reward for helping them catch any voice-phishing organization.

Through her unexpected source of information, Deok-hee comes to find that the voice-phishing organization responsible for her current plight has been operating somewhere in Qingdao, China. However, when she approaches to that cop again, he ignores her again as making petty excuses as before, but that makes her more determined that before. After discussing a bit with her two close colleagues Bong-rim (Yeom Hye-ran) and Sook-ja (Jang Yoon-ju), she decides to handle the matter for herself in Qingdao, and Bong-rim and Sook-ja gladly accompany her for more help and support. After all, Bong-rim, who is incidentally a Korean Chinese, has a younger sister working in Qingdao as a taxi driver, and her younger sister, Ae-rim (Ahn Eun-jin), is certainly ready to take them to here and there in the city.

As these four ladies clumsily search for the exact location of the voice-phishing organization, the movie cheerfully bounces along them for more laughs. Although its sense of humor may be a little too cartoonish for your taste, Ra and her fellow actresses are constantly engaging in their characters’ comic interactions, and we certainly come to root more for their characters along the story.

Meanwhile, the movie also often delves into the brutal depravity of the voice-phishing organization. Under its truly vile and vicious leader’s cutthroat management, Deok-hee’s informant and many other young Korean lads, who were all duped by the false promise of easy money and then have been enslaved for quite a long time, are savagely pushed into their deplorable criminal job, and you may be a little relieved to see that there is not any woman in this horrible slave group. To be frank with you, I do not dare to imagine whatever the movie would show us if there were any woman there.

The movie is entirely successful in its juxtaposition of broad comedy and grim violence as leaving a rather jarring impression on me, but I still appreciate how Ra’s strong presence holds everything together to the end. During the last act, the movie apparently diverges from its real-life story as adding lots of conventional moments including the heroine’s desperate but defiant stand against that big bad guy, but Ra forcefully advances toward the eventual finale along with the movie, and we do not have much problem in accepting some artificially dramatic moments such as the one when Ra’s character comes to locate her target via sheer coincidence in a big and wide public space full of many different people.

Director Park Yong-ju places a number of colorful performers around Ra. While Yeom Hye-ran, Jang Yoon-ju, and Ahn Eun-jin have each own moment to shine as Deok-hee’s mostly dependable friends, Gong Myung is believable in his character’s sheer desperation, and Park Byung-joon acquits himself well despite his rather thankless supporting role. As the main villain of the film, Lee Mu-saeng is frighteningly and disgustingly effective, I was disappointed that the movie punishes his loathsome character too easily during the expected payback moment around the end of the story (Is this a spoiler, folks?).

On the whole, “Citizen of a Kind” is a bit too violent and intense to be labeled as a feel-good movie, but you will be entertained and then exalted as enjoying how its plain but strong-willed heroine and her friends bring justice to their criminal opponents for themselves. In short, it does exactly what it intends to do as generating some fun and entertainment, and that is fine with me for now.