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.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com
Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email?
Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 34521
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1123975
X-RT-TitleID: 1121015
X-RT-SourceID: 703
X-RT-AuthorID: 1271
X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/4
NOTE: This review was posted on the usenet
to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup.
Mooviees.com accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review.
Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Movie Database
In Theaters
