Review of Better Luck Tomorrow (2003) by Michael P — 23 Jul 2007

This movie got so much hype in the Asian community when it was released that I decided I wouldn't watch it while it was in the theater, but rather wait until it was out on DVD. I ran across it while I was wasting time at my cousin's apartment, so I figured I'd watch it during my off time after my TAing gig up here.

That being said, I think the massive word-of-mouth marketing push for this movie was both overplayed and counterproductive. The film isn't bad, but it's certainly not the groundbreaking, powerful drama that it was billed to be. It was basically Menace II Society or Boyz N Tha Hood, but Asian style. Which is to say, the thugs in this film deal drugs while practicing for the Academic Decathalon in their spare time.

I give the film credit for being more realistic than any other portrayal of Asian-American life to this point, and I can even relate to some of the pressures and relationships that occur during the course of the plot. But at the same time it feels like the entire point of the movie was to break stereotypes by using them as a lens to get the audience to see beyond it... to another stereotype.

Definitely worth seeing, but certainly nothing worth getting worked up over.