Better Luck Tomorrow
January. 12,2002 RA group of over-achieving Asian-American high school seniors enjoy a power trip when they dip into extra-curricular criminal activities.
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Reviews
The greatest movie ever made..!
Simply A Masterpiece
Lack of good storyline.
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
This story is a very true character study that I can attest to of the freedom that everyone grants you when you maintain a scholarly and overachieving front, maybe not as to the extremes of the murder as shown in this movie but still very real. This shows the lesser characterized side of intellect, how you use it when your bored and you realize you can outsmart everyone around you and expand into drugs, scams, etc. Operate with impunity and because your keeping grades and appearances up no one suspects a thing. I'm not saying its true for everyone but this movie is a very real look when your bored, stuck in suburbia , and decide to make the rash jump into more "interesting" pursuits and figure your smart enough to get away with.The film itself never leaves you bored even though its not flashy. The characters themselves are very believable and conceited in their own greatness. The story is well paced and shows the gradual progression into the dark underbelly when temptations meet brains that think they are beyond limitation. And despite what others try to slap on as a detractor to this film, race really doesn't have anything to do with it, its just the group of kids portrayed in the film. Their grades, immorality and decisions they make have nothing to do with race
I just say this indie movie "Better Luck Tomorrow" yes because I loved John Cho in Harold and Kumar. I also saw Kal Penn's earlier indie work movie "Where's The Party". It is fascinating that these two young Asian American male actors are very good indeed. In Cho's film "Better Luck Tomorrow" is about a group of young discontented Asian American youth. The central character is Parry Shen who plays Lin. Lin is a nice young Asian guy on his high school basketball team yet he rarely ever gets to play. This basketball scene to me seem to be sending the message that Asian American men are never shown to be masculine, or strong or to be part of the "in crowd". The basketball scene to me seems to be inferring that Lin is an outsider because he is Asian even though he is American as any of the other kids. Now the star of the movie played by Parry Shen has a crush on a girl that has a weird boyfriend played by John Cho named Steve. Steve despite his wealth and riches allows Parry's character to go on a date with his girlfriend. But Steve isn't being nice he is imposing the message to Lin that he is more of a man and he gets to have sex with the girl while Lin doesn't because he is viewed as a wimp. So, Parry's character and his friends Virgil and the others are tired of being viewed as stereotypes and they decide to rebel against the system and commit some petty crimes. I won't give anymore plot info. For all of the people that judge the director the movie only cost $250,000 to make which by Hollywood standards is very very low budget. Lin did an amazing job and this movie is long over due. Its nice to see that John Cho and Kal Penn progressed to Harold and Kumar a big screen movie about Asian American men which wasn't stereotypical. Although people like Jet Li and Jackie Chan are stars they do make millions of dollars in salary and at the box office they are not considered serious actors. John Cho and Kal Penn it seems to me they are both now leaders of a new Hollywood movement that details the experiences of young Asian American men. And I hope more excellent films will follow.
I had been wanting to rent this movie for a while now, ever since I read an article about it in "Entertainment Magazine". That article piqued my curiosity about this film. Since I am African-American I know how we see ourselves in society but I wanted to see how Asians (especially young Asians) view themselves in this society. The amazing part about the film was as long as these teens grades were good no one suspected them of committing any crimes plus the fact that their demeanor at school was so laid back and normal. Unfortunately that is also the eerie part about this movie because those kids could be your own next door neighbors or friends of your own kids and you would never suspect them of such crimes. Also the fact that out of all the character's "dark sides", Ben (the most unlikely one) had the "DARKEST SIDE OF ALL". I think it was a piece of symbolism to say that when he lost his virginity that all his inhibitions were released to the point that he would do just about anything which led to his ultimate act of violence. It was quite disturbing to see Han trying to comfort Virgil as they were finishing off killing Steve and then to have the guilt weigh so heavy on Virgil to where he attempted suicide. It seems as though Virgil and Ben mentally switched places. I was explaining to my daughter the fact of what happens sometimes when people are too smart for their own good--you get bored and your "idle mind becomes the devil's workshop". These kids were striving and pushing themselves towards perfection but what they did not realize was "perfection (or near perfection) comes with a price".
Justin Lin does a great job in displaying Asian Americans in a light that reveals that Asian Americans are no different than your average Caucasian Americans. Although it somewhat reconstructs the model minority image, it deconstructs the image that Asian Americans also participate in similar activities than their Caucasian neighbors would participate in if they had similar social milieus - that is, gang-like activities. I think Lin had something going, and towards the end, the movie lost some of its initial attraction. I think the movie could've stayed in the same direction that it was starting on, that of the SAT cramming and the trouble that they brought as well. Parry Shen does a great job as does John Cho.