Better Luck Tomorrow Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)April 3rd, 2003
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
Inextricable -- an adjective meaning, among other things, "hopelessly intricate." This is one of the many words Ben (Parry Shen) is trying to cram in his head so that he can get a perfect score on his SAT. BETTER LUCK TOMORROW, directed by Justin Lin (SHOPPING FOR FANGS), is pretty inextricable itself, as it tries to stuff in so many different subjects and genres that you'll stop caring about what start off to be interesting characters.
Ben is part of a group of four friends, Ben, Virgil (Jason J. Tobin), Han (Sung Kang) and Daric (Roger Fan), who become famous and infamous in their high school. When we meet them, they are all obsessed with the "college app." Joining as many clubs and sports as possible in order to get into the best universities, they are overachievers in overdrive.
No sooner has the story begun to explore the pressures on Asian-American overachievers than it begins to take its first of many sharp turns. The four boys' academic gang becomes a more traditional gang, even if they still act and dress like all-American boys. While apparently maintaining superior grades, the kids get into snorting and selling cocaine, stealing, scamming, and even murder.
A romantic comedy drama, BETTER LUCK TOMORROW contains a teen suicide, a hooker, test cheaters, guns and basically everything but the kitchen sink. It looks briefly at Affirmative Action and at the problems of an Asian being adopted by a Caucasian family. There are probably a half-dozen other subplots that I have forgotten. If the director could have picked a topic or two -- or even just three or four -- and stayed with them, the movie could have been worth recommending since the acting is honest. Especially promising is a romantic triangle between Ben, Stephanie (Karin Anna Cheung), Ben's lab partner, and Steve (John Cho), a cocky preppy who goes to a rich school across town. The romance alone would have made the foundation for a rewarding film. Instead, the director serves us a thick goulash of conflicting flavors that needlessly spoil what should be a tasty treat.
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW runs 1:41. It is rated R for "violence, drug use, language and sexuality" and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, April 11, 2003. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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