It’s been 3 years since K-drama Business Proposal was all the rage and took over the internet, bringing back the slapstick rom-com style that K-dramas had been known for before. The Indonesian remake isn’t really a remake; it’s a flat replica and doesn’t manage to have any of the heart that made the original got so popular. To make things worse, the controversy surrounding the lead actor not bothering to read the original manhwa or watch the series before making a bold statement about making his own “character” has sparked so much outrage that the film’s rating on IMDb is 1 star. While that’s a lesson in PR, this movie should also be a lesson in how not to remake something that is a cultural symbol. A Business Proposal tells the story of Sari, a woman who works for Bowo Foods and wants to start her own restaurant at some point. It’s announced that a new CEO is coming on board. At the same time, Sari’s best friend, Yasmin, who’s rich, has to go on a blind date, but she wants a love match, so she offers to pay her best friend to go on the blind date in her stead. What follows are two unexpected love stories that are absolutely unconvincing. Let’s first get into the ending of A Business Proposal and then talk about why it’s not worth your time.
Spoiler Alert
What Happens Between Yasmin and Satrio?
Yasmin falls in love with Satrio the second she lays eyes on him. It honestly makes no sense because she doesn’t know anything about him at this point, but then she also moves into an apartment next to his so they can get close. But, instead, he pushes her away because he’s decided he will not fall in love, date, or get married before Utama does. But Satrio catches the guy who is secretly watching Yasmin through a spy camera he put on the lampshade he gifted her. Satrio tells her at the police station that he’s made this promise to himself; that’s why he’s not dating her. She decides to move out, and he realizes he’ll be missing out, so he asks Utama for permission to date, even though Utama never told him to hold back. The whole reason Satrio made such a decision was because he’s adopted and he feels like he owes his life to Utama (yikes). Anyway, pragmatic man that Utama is, he tells him he should date, so Satrio and Yasmin end up together.
What Happens With Adi?
Adi is a man that Sari has been in love with for 7 years, but all he’s done is use her for recipes and as his “muse” but kept her at a distance. When Sari realizes she’s in love with Utama, she finally severs ties with Adi, whom she’d been holding onto for so long. Her eyes are opened to the fact that he’s been using her, and that she should’ve forgotten about him a long time ago. She feels relieved after telling him to handle his restaurant himself.
How Does Utama Find Out About Sari?
The biggest misunderstanding of this film is that Sari doesn’t tell Utama who she is, even though Yasmin gets found out on the first date itself. Sari pretends she’s an actress who got hired by Yasmin, and her name is Gema Sariawanti. Now, if Sari had simply told Utama that she was an employee of his, everything that follows could’ve been entirely avoided, but instead, he doesn’t know who she really is, and he feels cheated because he falls in love with Gema. Soon after the first date, Utama hires Sari to go on dates with him because he wants his granddad to be happy, and if he pretends to have a girlfriend, his granddad, who is sick, will feel satisfied. But they don’t just hang out in front of his grandfather; they go on actual dates, and I don’t know about you, but I didn’t realize that was the deal. So these two people are getting to know each other, but at the end of the night, one of them gets paid for pretending, huh? Also, he has rain trauma because his parents died in a car accident when he was little, and he was the only survivor on that rainy night.
Anyway, in the process of fake dating, Utama and Sari catch feelings for each other and nearly kiss, but she runs away, accidentally dropping her wallet. This is when he finds out that she’s Sari and not Gema. Now, instead of talking to her, he decides to give her a tough time at work, having her make the same dish multiple times to “perfect” it. Sari genuinely believes there’s something wrong with her dish, but it turns out he was just mad at her, and he doesn’t admit his fault until his brother tells him what he’s doing is wrong. Finally, he decides to go to Sari’s home and learn a little bit about her (he didn’t really do that when they were out and about). He learns that her family is in debt, so he gives her the money to pay off her debt and tells her that her crab dish was perfect. This is what makes her realize that he found out who she really was. Also, apparently, he started a “don’t marry your co-worker” policy as a warning. That part literally made zero sense, like, was it just to have Satrio make a speech?
In A Business Proposal’s ending, Utama makes an actual marriage proposal to Sari because he realizes that it doesn’t matter what her name is, he’s fallen in love with the actual her. She clarifies that even though she lied about her identity, what she felt for him was real. Finally, Sari has enough money to start a restaurant of her own, and she’s got the support of Utama and his grandfather. Her family can finally live decent lives, and hopefully her brother will stay in his lane and not mess up now that he’s got a rich brother-in-law.
Final Thoughts
Look, it’s been 3 years since the K-drama came out, and I’d be lying if I said I could remember what was going on in it. Sure, I remember the premise, and there were some scenes that were hilarious enough to be etched in our memories, thanks to the excellent cast, but in this case, there’s no such memorable comedy scene; instead, we get presented with transphobia on a platter. So, even if I watched A Business Proposal, the movie, as someone with no idea what the original show was, I’d have called it lame because the story is way too superficial to enjoy as a rom-com. This is the big mistake most people make when it comes to this genre: they dismiss it as something that’s meant to be stupid and irrelevant. The reason the K-drama became such a big hit was that despite the slapstick, we could feel like the cast genuinely believed in the characters and put as much heart into it as possible.
Sure, there are things that don’t make sense there as well, and the whole premise is pretty ridiculous, but it feels genuine at the end of the day. Here, the plot is disjointed, and there’s no time to actually feel the chemistry develop. Suddenly they’re in love, but why? And how? Because she hung out with his granddad? I’m really not sure. Honestly, we’re better off without milking this cash cow, but if it really has to be done, cultural relevance is super important in remakes. If I saw something characteristically Indonesian in A Business Proposal, I may have understood the purpose of a remake, but this just feels more like a failed copy than something meaningful.
