Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

dilbertsuperman PLOT: It ain't easy havin to represent when you are rollin with your homies in the suburban upper middle class Asian hood yo. A handful of idiots think they are smart by creating their own flavor of Asian gang. This particular gang is about as believable as any other fairy tale you might tell a small child or retarded individual to get them off to sleep.This is classic Hollywood here, nothing believable or groundbreaking or that we haven't seen before better somewhere else. The main notable difference is that all the actors are Asian for the most part and it focuses on the exploits of a thoroughly unbelievable suburban Asian gang.This is an obvious stab at the Asian market with the proper watering down of any ethnic reality to make it accessible to American audiences. You can tell they have their fingers crossed for a crossover hit with this puppy.One of the themes I have issue with is these children voicing that they are so smart- that's repeated a lot throughout the film. Yet the scenes belie a naiveté and a stupidity that is more indicative of the writers of the script defying any logical sense(for the simple reason they have none) than the believable actions of members of a gang that gets top grades and packs heat.What we see here is a fairly common beast in high school- the "smart" kid with a serious mental issue that proves he's actually quite stupid via choosing the role of sociopath and draping it in the illusion of mental superiority. They think the next logical evolutionary step in higher consciousness is to be as evil as possible to achieve your goals. Only stupid people are nice is their message. I find the film unrealistic since a pack of idiots like this would have been caught. They are not smooth at all.There are plenty of edgy Japanese films that involve high school that aren't made by Hollywood dummies and are cool and quite entertaining. This is not one of those movies! Unfortunately, since the titles are usually Japanese and hence easily forgettable, none come to mind right now to mention specifically.

bjorkpluto I just say this indie movie "Better Luck Tomorrow" yes because I loved John Cho in Harold and Kumar. I also saw Kal Penn's earlier indie work movie "Where's The Party". It is fascinating that these two young Asian American male actors are very good indeed. In Cho's film "Better Luck Tomorrow" is about a group of young discontented Asian American youth. The central character is Parry Shen who plays Lin. Lin is a nice young Asian guy on his high school basketball team yet he rarely ever gets to play. This basketball scene to me seem to be sending the message that Asian American men are never shown to be masculine, or strong or to be part of the "in crowd". The basketball scene to me seems to be inferring that Lin is an outsider because he is Asian even though he is American as any of the other kids. Now the star of the movie played by Parry Shen has a crush on a girl that has a weird boyfriend played by John Cho named Steve. Steve despite his wealth and riches allows Parry's character to go on a date with his girlfriend. But Steve isn't being nice he is imposing the message to Lin that he is more of a man and he gets to have sex with the girl while Lin doesn't because he is viewed as a wimp. So, Parry's character and his friends Virgil and the others are tired of being viewed as stereotypes and they decide to rebel against the system and commit some petty crimes. I won't give anymore plot info. For all of the people that judge the director the movie only cost $250,000 to make which by Hollywood standards is very very low budget. Lin did an amazing job and this movie is long over due. Its nice to see that John Cho and Kal Penn progressed to Harold and Kumar a big screen movie about Asian American men which wasn't stereotypical. Although people like Jet Li and Jackie Chan are stars they do make millions of dollars in salary and at the box office they are not considered serious actors. John Cho and Kal Penn it seems to me they are both now leaders of a new Hollywood movement that details the experiences of young Asian American men. And I hope more excellent films will follow.

rbritton I had been wanting to rent this movie for a while now, ever since I read an article about it in "Entertainment Magazine". That article piqued my curiosity about this film. Since I am African-American I know how we see ourselves in society but I wanted to see how Asians (especially young Asians) view themselves in this society. The amazing part about the film was as long as these teens grades were good no one suspected them of committing any crimes plus the fact that their demeanor at school was so laid back and normal. Unfortunately that is also the eerie part about this movie because those kids could be your own next door neighbors or friends of your own kids and you would never suspect them of such crimes. Also the fact that out of all the character's "dark sides", Ben (the most unlikely one) had the "DARKEST SIDE OF ALL". I think it was a piece of symbolism to say that when he lost his virginity that all his inhibitions were released to the point that he would do just about anything which led to his ultimate act of violence. It was quite disturbing to see Han trying to comfort Virgil as they were finishing off killing Steve and then to have the guilt weigh so heavy on Virgil to where he attempted suicide. It seems as though Virgil and Ben mentally switched places. I was explaining to my daughter the fact of what happens sometimes when people are too smart for their own good--you get bored and your "idle mind becomes the devil's workshop". These kids were striving and pushing themselves towards perfection but what they did not realize was "perfection (or near perfection) comes with a price".

lkuok Justin Lin does a great job in displaying Asian Americans in a light that reveals that Asian Americans are no different than your average Caucasian Americans. Although it somewhat reconstructs the model minority image, it deconstructs the image that Asian Americans also participate in similar activities than their Caucasian neighbors would participate in if they had similar social milieus - that is, gang-like activities. I think Lin had something going, and towards the end, the movie lost some of its initial attraction. I think the movie could've stayed in the same direction that it was starting on, that of the SAT cramming and the trouble that they brought as well. Parry Shen does a great job as does John Cho.