Better Luck Tomorrow

wow is all i have to say. As an asian-american, i was blown away because everything i saw in the movie i connected to. It felt like i was watching my neighborhood, my school, my life, except i don't do drugs. But still, the movie itself was not wonderful, if i was not an asian-american, i would only give it 2 and a half stars, but since i am, i'm giving it 3 stars. Overall, the movie's plot was kind of cliche, the ending was not that good i'm telling you, they had some good parts, but it really didnt' make sense. I couldn't understand how they kept getting from one place to another or how the main characters ALWAYS ended up at the same place! And another thing, where were the parents? I know they are rich and all, but still, don't they have moms and dads? There were absolutely no trace of adults in that film, they need to make things clearer. But overall, a decent movie.

Made for only $250,000, Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow is a dark comedy about a group of over-achieving Asian-American high-school students in Orange County, California whose boredom and feelings about being outsiders lead to acts of petty crime and ultimately to serious violence. It is a film that challenges assumptions about Asian-Americans as asexual computer nerds, showing that they can be just as shallow and bereft of values as any white-skinned American. Better Luck Tomorrow has been hyped in the Asian community as something imperative to support. As voiced in an "open letter" from actor Parry Shen, who plays the lead role of Ben in the film, "It is not just a movie. What hinges on this release is so much larger than the film itself." While I support the fact that this film is a welcome antidote to the traditional representation of Asian-Americans on film, it must be judged on its merits rather than as a political statement.

The film is narrated by Ben Manibag (Parry Shen), a 30-year old actor playing a 16 year old student. His narration sounds as if he's rehearsing for a high school play, speaking lines like "the morning after I lost my virginity, we won the national championship" and "You never forget the sight of a dead body. But then again, I was experiencing a lot of things for the first time. I guess it's just part of growing up." Ben and his friends Han (Sung Kang), Daric (Roger Fan) and Virgil (Jason J. Tobin) have everything going for them: top grades, near-perfect SAT scores, lots of money, extra-curricular activities, social clubs, and not even a parent in sight to call on them once in a while. "Our straight A's were our alibis, our passports to freedom. As long as we got great grades, out parents didn't care where we were" Ben explains.

Shot in the MTV-style with jump cuts and rock music, the film opens with the discovery of a dead body underneath the lawn of a suburban backyard, then flashes back four months to tell its story. After Daric writes an article about Ben being the token Asian on the basketball team, he invites Ben to join with his group in their questionable adventures. They start by selling "cheat sheets" to students, then to running a credit card scam at a computer store, snorting Cocaine, selling drugs, and ultimately to violence. They seem to love their bad boy image, it's all good clean fun. "It felt good to do things that I couldn't put on my college application," explains Ben. "Besides, it was suburbia -- we had nothing better to do." Other good things to do involve a cliched romantic triangle between Ben, Stephanie Vandergosh (Karin Anna Cheung), Ben's lab partner, and Steve (John Cho), a rich kid with an attitude that does not probe any depths.

While the movie is a sincere effort by a talented new director, it did not ring true for me. Although a film with an Asian cast (the first since The Joy Luck Club) that avoids ethnic stereotyping was long overdue, I was unconvinced by the one-dimensional performances and felt that the shift in the main character's personality, even accounting for years of suppressed anger, was too abrupt to be believable. To make a coherent statement about the pressure put on Asian teens to excel would have been welcome. Instead, what Better Luck Tomorrow offers is a Quentin Tarantino wannabe, a hopped-up exercise in "cool" with extended shots of brutality and an ending that can politely be called morally dubious. No attempt is made to probe the character's thoughts or feelings either before or after they commit their acts and that funny thing called "conscience" is as far removed from the film's reality as any adult authority figures. The effect, rather than a commendable attempt to resist offering facile explanations, is to glorify the crimes and make them seem acceptable. It is reported that Lin tightened up the editing, added new scenes, and "toned down" the ending because some viewers thought it was "too cynical." I would not liked to have seen the original.

Its all well and good that this movie is attempting to break down stereotypes (perhaps by replacing them with other stereotypes), but that doesn't necessarily make for a good movie.

You could have changed a few names, used some different actors, and this would be an ordinary, bland movie about "rich youth gone bad". It has been done better.

I liked the characters, but the story just wasn't developed enough and they never really get into motivations. They tried to throw in a few lines of "what is the meaning of life", but that does *not* connect various scenes into an actual telling story and it does *not* a plot make.

Too many loose ends are left at the end of this movie. If they want to pretend they "meant to do that", well, I just don't believe 'em. You never really get into most of the characters deep enough to explain why you had to watch them run around for the previous 2 hours.

"Amongst Friends" was the same movie done several years back, but it was just better written.

Director Justin Lin's drama, Better Luck Tomorrow, brought back memories of seeing Larry Clark's Bully on TV, which was also about teens who looked for partying to have something to do with their time in the midst of dreary, same-temperature-all-the-time suburbia. But this time, Lin has his teenage characters not as aimless- these kids, and at least the lead, have futures and/or aspirations, thanks to rich families, and because of which feel secure in their side life's of drug-dealing and robbery.

The beginning sets a perfect mood, as two Asian-Americans lie in their backyard, basking in a hazing heat, think they hear one of their beepers, and realize that the sound is coming from under the soil, alongside with a body. This is set up not to spoil the story (this tale is inspired by true events some eleven years ago), but to set up the slick, if bleak, atmosphere.

The central character of Lin's film is Ben, a JV Basketball player who rarely gets picked to play, repeats words he picks up in the dictionary over and over in preparation for SAT's, and works a part-time job in a food court so he'll have something to put on college applications. Along with this are his friends, Virgil, Han, and Daric, the last of which being the most intriguing of the supporting characters.

Instead of Lin getting overtly cocky with his plot ideas and characters, he creates a study of them, and of the paths they are each on in their high times of adolescence. He does this in a style that is kinetic even in scenes that slow down or just have minor dialogue, and when things pick up they pick up (and slow down) at the right pace. We get a sense where the movie will take us, yet by the time it does it's surely not as expected.

When the last scene rolls around, and Ben has made decisions that will possibly effect the outcome of his life, it's clear that Lin has made a film for MTV that has a life-force, a cool if sorrowful spirit, and an understanding of the additudes of youth that skims close to the line of a soap, but never is stupid enough to even try it. Some will leave cheated; I think this it may be one of the best films of the year, a little gem for the Asian-American community. Between A and A+ (A because of a slightly weak side-plot with the character of Stephanie)

Being Asian and a film study graduate doesn't validate what I"m gonna say, but I thought it would get somebody's attention.

What I did like about this film is that it reminded me a lot of what I did in Highschool, minus killing people and playing with guns. I got really good grades in school, and after a while me and my friends would goof around and cause a lot of trouble. Add in all the alcohol, parties, and drugs, you have an interesting side story for bored students. Most people wouldn't agree with what I said, but hey its my review.

Two, being Asian American and growing up in a middle class-uppermiddle class area, it was strange being one of the few asian americans around. people might look down on this film as "gimicky" because it gained attention because it was an all asian american cast. well here's something peole who are not asian american maybe should consider: when you're asian american, and you live in an area heavily populated by caucasions and feel like an obvious minority, you'll naturally start a clique of your own, that, low and behold, has other asian americans primarily in it. the group of friends in this film are asian american not just to start some gimmicky marketing scheme. this is what often happens in real life. certain subtleties like this can't be overtly explained, but will be appreciated by its asian american audience because it hits pretty solid. this is very much an asian american film, even though people don't like all the violence and blah blah blah.

now from a film perspective, i like the stylistic techniques lin used. he changes film speed a lot, which is a lost art in film. this film reminded me alot of Scorsese's "Mean Streets," plus with the obvious "Good Fellas" homage in the film w/ the continuous shot where the group walks into the party where the fight breaks out. i like how this film worked hard to challenge general film conventions. this film breaks down into five acts (not the standard hollywood three), has asian americans playing roles that are reserved not for them, and has a post modern ending. american audiences are used to having everything resolved at the end, with clearly defined moral positioning. i don't think people knew how to respond to the ending, and felt kind of empty. well guess what, osama bin laden was never caught, and some 30% of murders are never solved or have their killers brought to justice. i felt that the ending was appropriate