Better Luck Tomorrow

Watch: Better Luck Tomorrow

1/12/20021h 41m

Theatrical (limited) Release (US)

~ Never underestimate an overachiever. ~

Overview:

A group of over-achieving Asian-American high school seniors enjoy a power trip when they dip into extra-curricular criminal activities.

Director:

Justin Lin

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$250,000.00

Revenue:

$3,800,000.00

Key words:

high school
high school student
petty crimes

Cast

Parry Shen

~ as ~

Ben Manibag

Jason Tobin

~ as ~

Virgil Hu

Sung Kang

~ as ~

Han Lue

Karin Anna Cheung

~ as ~

Stephanie Vandergosh

Roger Fan

~ as ~

Daric Loo

Jerry Mathers

~ as ~

Biology Teacher

John Cho

~ as ~

Steve Choe

Aaron Takahashi

~ as ~

Takashi

Darian Weiss

~ as ~

Kenny Vandergosh

Ariadne Shaffer

~ as ~

Rachel

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

r96sk
Written 9 month(s) ago
5
I found this unconvincing.

Gotta respect those associated with getting 'Better Luck Tomorrow' off the ground, reportedly with big help from one MC Hammer - I didn't expect to read that! However, I didn't like it sadly. You can tell if has a competent director in charge with Justin Lin, though everything to do with the plot and characters just didn't do it for me.

I found the story too far-fetched, personally. I have no issue watching stuff that is nonsensical, but when it is along those lines then it has to be very entertaining and this wasn't, for me. The actors didn't quite work either, not even Sung Kang as Han - who was the sole reason why I wanted to watch this, given the (loose) 'The Fast and the Furious' connection.

Parry Shen is underwhelming, his voice-overs are particularly dull - he is fairly likeable, I'm just not sure Shen (or his character) were a wise choice for lead. Jason Tobin as Virgil is also a tad irritating (as intended?), while Kang is actually quite forgettable; this Han is barely anything like the F&F version, quite the large reach for them to connect the two, if I'm honest.

A quick look at the Wikipedia article for this, which also talks about some other interesting production events (Macaulay Culkin?! Big props to Lin for rejecting that, despite the £££), notes that apparently Sung Kang wanted to play Ben - now that could've been something! Obviously it worked out best for him that he didn't, but still... what could have been.

Many others love this - who am I to object, really. All the same, I'm glad this was a success otherwise we most likely would not have got Justin Lin atop the F&F franchise; 'Fast & Furious' and 'Fast Five' are my favourites, behind the original of course. Happy that I've now belatedly seen a movie from him away from that world, though.