Better Luck Tomorrow (2003)

Written by Justin Lin and Ernesto Foronda / Directed by Justin Lin
Starring Parry Shen, Jason Tobin and Sung Kang
101 mins / MTV Films / Rated R

The Poster

Sex. Drugs. Alcohol. Violence. Organized crime. Pornography. Prostitutes, guns, beatdowns and SATs - these are the rigors of high school life for four overachieving Asian males. Better Luck Tomorrow is director Jimmy Liu's attempt to break the ethnic stereotype of the straight-laced Asian so prevalent in current popular culture.

Ben, Vince, Han, and Derek are doing what Asian males in high school do. Getting perfect SAT scores, joining every academic club on campus, working, volunteering and doing community service...you know, stuff that looks good when you apply for college. And of course they all have a crush on Stephanie. Stephanie already has a boyfriend, Steve, who has buttloads more money than you. Their obsession lead them down a path of violence. Yet they manage to maintain their grades during their violent streaks.

Isn't it Eric Clapton who said drug addiction starts from eating too much sugar? Well naturally, selling cheat sheets to needy students leads to stealing school equipment which leads to drug dealing. And if you're dealing drugs, you gotta pack yourself right? Right. And beat people up if they punk you. Yeah, you can't let anybody punk you when you got an organized crime image to keep up. Writer /director Lin is brilliant in the way that he balances both the academic and the violent without tipping the scales too far with either. And it does so in a way that nearly takes the idea of race out of the picture.

Cheung and Shen

You should see Better Luck Tomorrow if you think that the only way ethnic minorities get on the big screen are either to be super-hot or fit neatly within the traditional stereotype. Better Luck Tomorrow proves that you don't always have to fit into either of these categories to be part of an important and significant film. It's the kind of film you'd like if you normally don't like the typical Hollywood prototype.

If seeing Disney cartoon characters kiss on screen makes you queasy (like my mother...yes...she's strange that way) you probably won't like Better Luck Tomorrow. It contains plenty of controversial elements that paint a complex and fascinating portrait of Asian youth that can't fit into any category.

Movie Grade: B