Better Luck Tomorrow

Better Luck Tomorrow is a 2002 American crime-drama film directed by Justin Lin. The film is about Asian American overachievers who become bored with their lives and enter a world of petty crime and material excess. Better Luck Tomorrow introduced film audiences to a cast including Parry Shen, Jason Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan and John Cho. The film was based loosely on the murder of Stuart Tay, a teenager from Orange County, California by four Sunny Hills High School honor students on December 31, 1992.[2]

Better Luck Tomorrow
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJustin Lin
Produced by
  • Justin Lin
  • Julie Asato
  • Ernesto Foronda
Written by
  • Ernesto Foronda
  • Justin Lin
  • Fabian Marquez
Starring
Music by
  • Michael Gonzales
  • Tobin Mori
CinematographyPatrice Lucien Cochet
Edited byJustin Lin
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • January 12, 2002 (2002-01-12) (Sundance)
  • April 11, 2003 (2003-04-11) (United States)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$250,000[1]
Box office$3.8 million[1]

After meeting at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Nevada in April 2001, MC Hammer (credited as a producer)[3] provided the much needed funding to the filmmaker Justin Lin for this film.[4][5] The director said, "Out of desperation, I called up MC Hammer because he had read the script and liked it. Two hours later, he wired the money we needed into a bank account and saved us."[6]

In its first ever film acquisition, MTV Films eventually acquired Better Luck Tomorrow after it debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. It later released to theatres in the United States on April 11, 2003.[7]

Plot

Ben Manibag and Virgil Hu are stereotypical overachieving Asian-Americans whose singular goal is to gain acceptance into highly prestigious Ivy League universities. Ben engages in perfectionistic pursuits including learning a new SAT word daily, and trying to best Calvin Murphy's record for free-throw shooting percentage. Ben reveals that his perfectionism cloaks another side of his life, including toilet-papering houses with Virgil and other petty crimes including the theft and return of computer equipment with Virgil and his cousin Han to earn easy money. Ben is involved in many school clubs, mainly to pad his college application. He makes the basketball team, though he ends up receiving only token playing time. At the same time, Ben develops a crush on his new lab partner, Stephanie Vandergosh, a girl of Asian descent adopted by a white family.

After meeting Daric Loo, senior valedictorian and president of nearly every student club, Ben becomes part of the school-wide cheat sheet operation Daric runs. Daric pays Jesus, another student, to steal the tests from the school office, and Ben makes cheat sheets from them which are then sold off to students. Ben also brings in Virgil and Han into the operation, and the four of them make a small fortune. Meanwhile, Ben has fallen for Stephanie. He discovers that her boyfriend, Steve Choe, seems to take her for granted. Steve discovers Ben's crush and offers to let him take her to the Winter Formal.

As a member of the Academic Decathlon team with Daric, Virgil and Han, the team practices at Daric's house with the practices devolving into drinking parties. After Daric mistakenly thinks he is going on a date with Stephanie, the group gets intoxicated and arrives at a party, where they are accosted by a football player who mocks them. A fight results in Daric pulling out a gun, stopping the fight. At school the following Monday, news of the fight spreads around school and the group's notoriety increases. They gradually expand into more dangerous scams, such as the theft of computer parts from the school and eventually selling drugs. They become users themselves, with Ben developing a heavy cocaine habit. Ben feels increasingly conflicted as he feels stifled by the expectations that others have of him. On his birthday, he wakes up with a nosebleed as a result of his cocaine use, which scares him into changing his life. He tells the group that he wants to quit. Daric agrees with him, adding that their operation has become a full-time job. Daric presents a gun from the three of them to Ben for his birthday.

Virgil takes over the lead of the operation, but is quickly exposed thanks to his carelessness and bragging. Han is forced to take the blame for the cheat sheet operation and is suspended, but not before beating up Virgil. Ben resumes his academic and extracurricular pursuits. He also begins spending more time with Stephanie, who reveals a wild side of her own when she gives him a CD that she shoplifted. He eventually asks Stephanie to the formal, to which she agrees. During a trip to the Academic Decathlon championships in Las Vegas, Daric hires a prostitute for the guys, with Ben losing his virginity in the process. During his turn, Virgil pulls a gun on the prostitute and she storms off, leading to a fight between Virgil and Han in which Virgil threatens Han with his gun. Despite the turmoil, the team wins the competition the next day.

Ben and Stephanie attend the winter formal together and cultivate their friendship. The situation is made clear to Ben when Steve is seen outside of the formal, waiting to take Stephanie home. Steve meets Ben and tells him that he has information on a possible score. The group is stunned when Steve wants them to rob his parents' house. When pressed for his motive, he calls it a 'wake-up call' for his parents. Ben and Han are against the plan, but Daric convinces them to instead give Steve a 'wake-up call', saying that Steve thinks he's better than them and this would be the perfect opportunity to teach him a lesson. They agree to Steve's plan and practice constantly, even agreeing to purchase a gun for Steve.

On New Year's Eve, the four meet Steve at Jesus' house under the pretense of robbing Steve's parents' house, but Daric, Virgil and Han begin attacking Steve instead while Ben keeps watch outside. In the ensuing struggle Steve gets Virgil's gun and it goes off. Ben runs in and, seeing the gun in Steve's hand, beats Steve to death with a baseball bat. The group convinces Jesus to agree to bury the body in his backyard for $300. Steve begins to twitch, revealing he's still alive, but Daric suffocates Steve with a gasoline-soaked rag while a tearful Virgil holds his arms back. Afterwards, the four go to a New Year's Eve party, where Ben and Stephanie kiss at midnight.

The next day, while cleaning up the aftermath of the murder, Ben and Virgil hear Steve's phone going off under the ground in Jesus's backyard. They dig it up, revealing it was a call from Stephanie, and Ben takes the phone. Ben debates on whether to report Steve's murder to the police. The guilt over Steve's murder is too much for Virgil, who attempts to commit suicide, failing but suffering potential brain damage. At the hospital, Daric makes a flippant remark about Virgil's injuries that angers Han. Daric expresses concern about Han or Virgil revealing their secret, but Ben simply resolves to do nothing and walks away.

When the yearbook pictures are taken at the end Han is shown with a shaved head indicating his cousin Virgil passed away. Separated from the group, Ben is alone at school. He encounters Stephanie one day on the way home. She asks him whether he has seen Steve lately, and expresses some concern that he has not called. They kiss, implying the resumption of their relationship. Ben's voice-over tells the audience that he has no idea about what the future holds, but all he knows is that there is no turning back.

Cast

Development

Justin Lin said that the title "Better Luck Tomorrow" refers to how the film explores "the whole youth culture of today, specifically Asian-American, but also just the general mentality of teenagers today. I mean, I work with teenagers, I grew up in the 80s, and already it's very different, the mentality. You go to suburbia, you look at upper-middle-class-kids, and through the media they've literally adopted an urban-gangsta-mentality."[8]

Originally the film was going to be shot in digital-video, but within two weeks, after Fujifilm and later Kodak proposed deals with the director, the filming switched to 35 mm.[8]

Sung Kang had originally wanted to play Ben Manibag.[9]

Lin's original investors had wanted the entire cast to be caucasian. Lin objected and continued to fund the project with his credit cards. After those funds were depleted and as production was about to be canceled, Kang brought in $50,000 through Joan Huang of Cherry Sky Films, whom was a frequent patron of the korean barbecue restaurant where Kang worked. Lin also brought in an additional $10,000 from artist MC Hammer, whom he had met while working at the Japanese American National Museum.[9]

Connection to the Fast & Furious franchise

Director Justin Lin later directed multiple films in the Fast & Furious franchise, with Kang reprising his role as Han Lue. Better Luck Tomorrow was subsequently recognized as Han's origin story, retroactively making the film a part of the Fast & Furious continuity, although not officially an installment in the franchise.[10][11]

Reception

Critical reception

The film was rated "certified fresh" with an approval rating of 81% by the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 106 reviews with an average rating of 7.03/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A promising work by Lin, the energetic Better Luck Tomorrow is disturbing and thought-provoking."[12] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote "Lin is a talent to watch. There's a sting to this film that gets to you."[14] Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a full four-star-rating and wrote that it was a "disturbing and skillfully-told parable about growing up in today's America" and that Lin "reveals himself as a skilled and sure director."[15]

Awards and film festivals
  • Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival, 2002. In a question and answer session following a festival screening, in response to an audience member who asked director Lin if he thought it was irresponsible to portray Asian-Americans in such a negative light, Roger Ebert stood up and said, angrily, "What I find very offensive and condescending about your statement is nobody would say to a bunch of white filmmakers, 'How could you do this to your people?'". And then he continued: "This film has the right to be about this people, and Asian-Americans have the right to be whatever the hell they want to be. They do not have to 'represent' their people." Ebert's approval of the film drew the attention of major studios, leading eventually to MTV's buying the film for distribution.[16][17]
  • Official Selection – Toronto International Film Festival, 2002
  • Grand Jury Prize Nomination – Sundance Film Festival, 2002
  • Independent Spirit Awards – John Cassavetes Award Nomination, 2004

References
  1. "Better Luck Tomorrow". Box Office Mojo.
  2. Yi, Daniel."They're the bad seeds?". Archived from the original on March 21, 2006. Retrieved March 19, 2008.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Los Angeles Times. April 6, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
  3. "MC Hammer Biography". Sing365.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2010.
  4. "Press : Articles". Better Luck Tomorrow. Retrieved November 16, 2010.
  5. "Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) – Trivia". Us.imdb.com. May 1, 2009. Retrieved November 16, 2010.
  6. "New movie displays original view of Asian American films". The Daily Princetonian. May 9, 2003. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2010.
  7. Morales, Wilson. "better luck tomorrow". Blackfilm.com. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  8. Aderer, Konrad (May 20, 2011). "Justin Lin: Getting Better All The Time". Pak Man Productions. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015.
  9. Yamato, Jen; Shyong, Frank (May 19, 2020). "Sung Kang". Asian Enough (Podcast). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  10. Robinson, Will (June 16, 2016). "Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift: Here's the story of Han".
  11. Fuge, Jon (February 8, 2020). "#JusticeForHan Is What Brought F9 Director Justin Lin Back to the Franchise". Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  12. "Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  13. "Better Luck Tomorrow Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  14. Travers, Peter (April 13, 2003). "Better Luck Tomorrow". Rolling Stone.
  15. Roger Ebert (April 11, 2003). "Better Luck Tomorrow". Chicago Sun-Times.
  16. Downey, Ryan J. (April 3, 2003). "'Better Luck Tomorrow' Gets People Talking About Asian-American Stereotypes". MTV.
  17. "Better Luck Tomorrow". All Things Considered. National Public Radio. January 23, 2003.

Further reading
  • Brook, Vincent (January 1, 2013). Land of Smoke and Mirrors: A Cultural History of Los Angeles. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-5458-7.
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