***1/2 (out of ****)
Starring Parry Shen, Roger Fan, Jason J. Tobin, Karin Anna Cheung, John Cho, Sung Kang, Ryan Cadiz, and Jerry Mathers
Directed by Justin Lin & written by Lin, Ernesto Foronda, and Fabian Marquez
2002 (wide release 2003)
R 98 min
Dozen-or-So Best Films of 2003
When we first meet them, the teenage protagonists of “Better Luck Tomorrow” are unable to appreciate anything intrinsically. Everything that could be potentially enjoyable or interesting has been co-opted by their overwhelming, omnipresent ambition to get into a good college. Their “apps” are like giant black rain clouds, ruining everything. For the sake of getting a good transcript they belong to every club they can find. They clean beaches, collect canned foods, sell candy bars, wash cars, and memorize one SAT word a day. They work menial jobs for money they don’t need just so the words “Employee of the Month” can help thicken their college applications. Even church membership is only a means to an end. One boy shoots 250 free throws a day, not because he likes basketball anymore, but so he can break a record and write it on his application.
During class, a girl writes “this is soooo boring” on a boy’s notebook and he smiles in agreement. But in a brief, reflective moment, he can’t seem to think of anything interesting he would rather be doing. In their gated neighborhoods and big houses, they go on and on about how great college will be and how much they hate their current lives. But what will be different once they’ve graduated into real life, what more will they have? When one of them imagines having a house all to himself, he loves the idea but can’t think of what he would do with it. Despite endless college talk, only one boy is asked point blank what his major will be, and his answer is the vague, weak-willed syllable “bio.” So when, at the much delayed ages of 16 and 17, these children discover the pleasure of things that have no business going on college transcripts, they become giddy, drunken, and reckless with joy. And dangerous.
When the boys turn to crime—first cheat sheets, then petty theft, then drugs, then up from there—it is as if they are protected by a lead shield. Doing crimes that don’t matter, that don’t really gain them anything, that are merely tests for their wits, egos, and brains, and not college applications, is like a tremendous breath of fresh air. Like so many teenagers, they are simultaneously hyper-responsible and constantly fearful when it comes to their scholastic future, yet childishly invincible about everything else.
The most striking scene in “Better Luck Tomorrow” is so short you might miss it. One of the boys accidentally breaks the CD player he won for selling the most candy bars. It’s a cheap, no-name device, and he can buy three of them easily with his ill-gotten gains. But, finally, it was an intrinsic prize, it was an end to itself and not merely just another step. It’s a tribute to the actor who plays him (Jason J. Tobin) that the episode is as sad as it is.
The core friend group of the movie consists of Ben (Parry Shen), Virgil (Jason J. Tobin), Han (Sung Kang), and Daric (Roger Fan), who have terrifically written and realized dynamics. Except for Daric, who is a new addition to the group, the other three convincingly share space and obscenities like they really have known each other since elementary school. Virgil rivals Bust-Ass from “All the Real Girls” as the most obnoxious movie character of 2003, who never knows when to shut up or settle down, and is the heel of every joke. Han is Virgil’s cousin and chief tormentor, the cool one, the man of few words and a classic car. Daric is the alpha male, and perhaps the most dangerous, a boy they’ve all known vaguely from school, but only a recent friend. He is cocky, overbearing, and manipulative, yet he must be also completely likable, sitting as the president of every club in the school.
Ben is our sotto voce narrator, who sometimes seems to have a conscience, but is essentially victim to the whims of his group. He is infatuated with Stephanie (Karin Anna Cheung), who may represent the boys’ lost conscience, or who may simply be too terrified of being captured, of “getting into trouble,” to live beyond established boundaries. Her performance is a delicate one, seemingly good-hearted and oblivious, yet she ends the movie with one of many suspicious expressions that remind us boys about the unfathomable depths of girlhood.
Page two of "Better Luck Tomorrow." Back to home.