Tiffany Taeyeon's highly-hyped theatrical film debut, Confessions of a Slightly Single Shopaholic in Seoul, has tanked at the Korean box office.
The movie debuted at No. 6 at the weekly box office, and is predicted to fall out of the top ten by next week. Confessions, which also stars Hwang Jihyun of Gangkiz, Taewoon of SPEED, and White Entertainment CEO Trina Villota, took a huge gamble by having Tiffany Taeyeon as the headliner and only known star of the cast, and it clearly didn't pay off.
On top of the Confession's dismal box office performance, it's also been universally panned by critics, who have labelled the film "cheap," "cliched," and "insipid," among other harsh things.
In an excerpt from his review for the Chosun Ilbo, Korea's top film critic, Robert Egert, wrote: "'Confessions of a Slightly Single Shopaholic in Seoul' may very well be the biggest turkey of the year. It's a prime example of just why the Korean film industry is going down the drain due to unskilled idols stealing acting jobs away from real actors."
He continued: "The promise that Tiffany Taeyeon showed in her role as the villainous Amber in 2011's hit drama 'Busan Heights' was nowhere to be found here, with the songstress delivering a poor and uninspired performance in her leading role as Selena. However, Tiffany was almost Kim Tae Hee when compared to the rest of the cast -- in particular Trina Villota, whose role as Selena's demanding boss was almost as awkward and embarrassing as the many cliches and plot holes that littered this cinematic stinker."
Despite the movie's bad reviews, some media analysts speculate that there could be other reasons to blame for its poor performance.
Pop culture expert and public relations kingpin, Kim Jinwoo, says: "The public isn't interested in Tiffany Taeyeon the actress; they only want Tiffany Taeyeon the celebrity. Tiffany's biggest mistake this past year has been to let her fame come from her personal life and from frivolous things like her airport fashion and red carpet looks, rather than from being active as a singer and actress like she used to be. Now that she's trying to work again and put the focus back on her real career, people don't want to know about it because they only see her scandals in the media and are unable to view her as a real actress -- or as any other character outside of the one she has created for herself through tabloid magazines."
He added: "It's also hard the public to take her seriously because she never explained her controversial disappearance. Her plane crash was the most newsworthy event of 2012, but she hasn't discussed it or revealed the truth behind what happened since she miraculously returned alive and well after months of being missing. People are suspicious and wary of her now, and if she's not going to talk about what happened, then it's going to take a lot more time for the public to move on and start seeing her as an idol again."
With Tiffany's film flop severely damaging her career, many people are now questioning whether her time as a top star has passed. The only light at the end of the tunnel is her new OST song from Confessions, "My Secret Love," which has been doing well on the digital charts despite the movie's failure. White Entertainment is reportedly planning to rush out a physical maxi-single and music video for the song in the next few days to try and salvage some kind of success from Confessions.
As always, netizens have been eager to voice their thoughts on Tiffany's box office bomb. Comments included: "She thought she could just disappear and then walk right back into success. How arrogant of her," "I would tell Tiffany to stick to singing, but then I remember that she can't sing and got all her fame from her looks," "Her new girl group will be a failure just like her acting career," and "Am I the only one who thought this movie was actually really good?"
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