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Better Luck Tomorrow
Better Luck Tomorrow is a 2002 American crime drama film directed, co-written, co-produced, and edited by Justin Lin. It follows a group of overachieving Asian American teenagers who become bored with their lives and enter a world of petty crime and material excess. The plot is loosely based on the 1992 murder of Stuart Tay. The film stars Parry Shen, Jason Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, Karin Anna Cheung and John Cho.
Better Luck Tomorrow debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. It became the first film acquired by MTV Films, which worked with Paramount Pictures to release the film theatrically in the United States on April 11, 2003. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and developed a grassroots following among Asian American audiences.
The film is notable for originating the character Han Lue (Sung Kang), later featured prominently in the Fast & Furious film series. Justin Lin has stated that Better Luck Tomorrow serves as Han's origin story, retroactively placing it in the Fast & Furious series continuity.
Ben Manibag is a stereotypical overachieving Asian American teenager in a wealthy Orange County suburb whose goals are to make his high school basketball team, get with his cheerleader crush Stephanie and to get into a prestigious Ivy League university. His perfectionism masks another side of his life, which is toilet-papering houses with his best friend Virgil and engaging in petty crime with Virgil's cousin, Han.
Though Ben makes the basketball team, he ends up being mostly a benchwarmer. Through Daric Loo, senior valedictorian and president of nearly every student club, Ben gets involved in a school-wide cheat sheet operation. Daric pays Jesus, another student, to steal the tests from the school office, which Ben uses to make cheat sheets sold to other students. Ben brings Virgil and Han into the racket, and the four make a small fortune. Meanwhile, Ben finds himself competing with Steve Choe, private school student and Stephanie's boyfriend, for Stephanie's affection. Steve discovers Ben's crush and offers to let him take Stephanie to the Winter Formal.
The group's activities gradually escalate into more dangerous crimes, such as stealing school computer parts and selling drugs. They become users, with Ben developing a heavy cocaine habit. Increasingly conflicted by the others' expectations and horrified after waking up with a nosebleed due to cocaine use, Ben leaves the group. He resumes his academic pursuits and begins spending more time with Stephanie. He eventually asks her to the formal, and she accepts.
After the Winter Formal dance, Ben is lured back to his life of crime when Steve tells him he has information on a possible score. The group is stunned when Steve reveals he wants them to rob his parents' house. Though Ben and Han are initially against, Daric convinces the group this would be the perfect opportunity to teach the haughty Steve a lesson.
On New Year's Eve, the four meet Steve at Jesus's house under the pretense of robbing Steve's parents, but Daric, Virgil and Han attack Steve. In the ensuing struggle, Steve gets Virgil's gun, which goes off. Ben runs in, seeing the gun in Steve's hand, and seemingly beats Steve to death with a baseball bat. The group convinces Jesus to bury the body in his backyard for $300. Still alive, Steve begins to twitch, but Daric suffocates him with a gasoline-soaked rag. Afterwards, the four go to a New Year's Eve party, where Ben and Stephanie kiss at midnight.
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Better Luck Tomorrow
Better Luck Tomorrow is a 2002 American crime drama film directed, co-written, co-produced, and edited by Justin Lin. It follows a group of overachieving Asian American teenagers who become bored with their lives and enter a world of petty crime and material excess. The plot is loosely based on the 1992 murder of Stuart Tay. The film stars Parry Shen, Jason Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, Karin Anna Cheung and John Cho.
Better Luck Tomorrow debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. It became the first film acquired by MTV Films, which worked with Paramount Pictures to release the film theatrically in the United States on April 11, 2003. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and developed a grassroots following among Asian American audiences.
The film is notable for originating the character Han Lue (Sung Kang), later featured prominently in the Fast & Furious film series. Justin Lin has stated that Better Luck Tomorrow serves as Han's origin story, retroactively placing it in the Fast & Furious series continuity.
Ben Manibag is a stereotypical overachieving Asian American teenager in a wealthy Orange County suburb whose goals are to make his high school basketball team, get with his cheerleader crush Stephanie and to get into a prestigious Ivy League university. His perfectionism masks another side of his life, which is toilet-papering houses with his best friend Virgil and engaging in petty crime with Virgil's cousin, Han.
Though Ben makes the basketball team, he ends up being mostly a benchwarmer. Through Daric Loo, senior valedictorian and president of nearly every student club, Ben gets involved in a school-wide cheat sheet operation. Daric pays Jesus, another student, to steal the tests from the school office, which Ben uses to make cheat sheets sold to other students. Ben brings Virgil and Han into the racket, and the four make a small fortune. Meanwhile, Ben finds himself competing with Steve Choe, private school student and Stephanie's boyfriend, for Stephanie's affection. Steve discovers Ben's crush and offers to let him take Stephanie to the Winter Formal.
The group's activities gradually escalate into more dangerous crimes, such as stealing school computer parts and selling drugs. They become users, with Ben developing a heavy cocaine habit. Increasingly conflicted by the others' expectations and horrified after waking up with a nosebleed due to cocaine use, Ben leaves the group. He resumes his academic pursuits and begins spending more time with Stephanie. He eventually asks her to the formal, and she accepts.
After the Winter Formal dance, Ben is lured back to his life of crime when Steve tells him he has information on a possible score. The group is stunned when Steve reveals he wants them to rob his parents' house. Though Ben and Han are initially against, Daric convinces the group this would be the perfect opportunity to teach the haughty Steve a lesson.
On New Year's Eve, the four meet Steve at Jesus's house under the pretense of robbing Steve's parents, but Daric, Virgil and Han attack Steve. In the ensuing struggle, Steve gets Virgil's gun, which goes off. Ben runs in, seeing the gun in Steve's hand, and seemingly beats Steve to death with a baseball bat. The group convinces Jesus to bury the body in his backyard for $300. Still alive, Steve begins to twitch, but Daric suffocates him with a gasoline-soaked rag. Afterwards, the four go to a New Year's Eve party, where Ben and Stephanie kiss at midnight.