Spoilers are off. You have been warned.
You be surprised how a film as dark as Oldboy can have many funny moments.
Somewhere in an alternate universe...
- Drunk Oh Dae-su, especially his blank, dead stare as he's dressed like this
◊. - When Dae-su gets a call at a restaurant, he lists off a number of people that could have caused harm to him. One of the people he names is the films director.
- Dae-su's very weird' interaction with the suicidal man is heartbreaking in context, but even with it, it's hilariously awkward how much joy he's taking from intimately feeling the man who's tearfully pleading with him to not stop him from jumping.
- After a Smash Cut to later where it's evident that Dae-su explained his situation to the man, the man expresses sympathy and begins telling his own story as to why he wanted to kill himself. Dae-su immediately leaves.
- A Special Effects Failure example: after the suicidal man jumps off the building with his "puppy", it can obviously be seen that the "puppy" is a toy with how it bounces off the car.
- When Oh Dae-su walks away from the upset woman and the suicidal man he had previously spoken to lands on the car close by. The smile he gives clinches it.
- The dotted line from the hammer to the mook's head, complete with Mickey Mousing: "Tick tick tick tick DING!"
- After being released from prison, Dae-su engages in various Mr. Bean-like antics, such as:
- Attempting to fight a group of young teenagers, and being called a "dick shit", an insult he repeats later to Mr. Park despite not understanding what it means because he views it as what's hip with the kids these days."Why did you lock me up, you... dickshit?"
- Deciding to wear a pair of hideous glasses because he saw an old lady wearing them.
- Attempting to fight a group of young teenagers, and being called a "dick shit", an insult he repeats later to Mr. Park despite not understanding what it means because he views it as what's hip with the kids these days.
- Before the infamous hallway scene fight, the man who Dae-su attacks drops his manga in surprise. Though it's never specified which manga, the cover art heavily resembles Sailor Moon's.
- During the Hallway Fight (it's not known if it's a Blooper or intentional), one of the guys attacking Dae-su takes a swing... and completely misses, falling onto the ground defeated because it's implied he sprained his ankle. Epic Fail.
- Once Dae-su has pretty much kicked the asses of everybody in the hallway, several of the writhing henchmen in serious pain over the beatdowns petulantly throw their wooden planks and baseball bats at him in a last-ditch attempt to score some hits.
- The imdb page of Oldboy has many behind the scenes shots that take out the "threatening" element of the film, such as this and this.
- Despite the tone of the film, Choi Min-Shik and the crew had fun filming the prison door scene.
