Better Luck Tomorrow
Better Luck Tomorrow is a 2002 drama directed by Justin Lin. This movie is about Asian American overachievers who become bored with their lives and enter a world of petty crime and material excess. Better Luck Tomorrow introduces Karin Anna Cheung and stars Parry Shen, Jason Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, and John Cho.
Cultural Impact
This movie challenged the model minority stereotype for Asian Americans.
Plot
Template:Spoiler Ben Manibag is your typical honor student. He does well in his classes, does volunter work outside of school, and even holds down a part time job. However, Ben is bored with his life and at times goes with friends Virgil and Han to rip off electronics from the local store for extra cash. Ben reherses words for the SAT (a new word often appears on the screen indicating the next chapter is beginning) and is practicing shooting free throws in an attempt to break the all-time record. Ben tries out for the basketball team and makes it, but is restricted to being a bench player.
When student newspaper editor Daric Loo arrives to interview Ben, he asks questions on how it feels to be a minority on the team, a victim of affirmative action. Ben refuses to believe it, but Daric writes the article anyway. Daric's article results in a mass demonstration by the Asian students in the school, who protest at the game and will continue to do so until Ben gets to play. Though this works for the first game, Ben is so embarressed by the affair that he quits the team soon after. Daric later finds Ben at his job, where Ben angrily asks Daric why he wrote the article. Daric counters why he left the team. Upon hearing Ben's answer, Daric offers a proposition to Ben: he hands him a copy of an exam, asks him to solve it as a cheat sheet, and hand deliver it for $50. Ben pockets the copy, but throws it away. However, Ben later reconsiders and types the cheat sheet. He later brings in Han and Virgil into the partnership, and the four begin to profit richly.
Ben also begins to fall for a girl, Stephanie Vangergosh, a asian teenager adopted by white parents. Ben works with her as a lab partner, study partner, and later as a friend. However, she currently is dating the rich, charming Steve Choe. Steve immediately picks up on Ben's crush on Stephanie, in which he offers to allow Ben to take her to the Winter Formal. Ben, confused, informs Steve that that's his job as her boyfriend, only to be shocked when Stephanie confronts him later and tells her that Steve informed her that he was taking her to the formal. Confused, angry, and jealous, Ben leaves her in a huff.
Ben, Virgil, and Han all try out for Academic Decathlon (Aca-Dec), the presumed cream of the crop of high school associations. All three make it in, thanks to Daric being th team captain, and practices begin at Daric's home, where it is assumed that he lives alone. The practices usually involve large amounts of drinking to help calm their nerves at competition. This strategy doesn't work as well as they are beaten in their firms competition. It is during a break that Ben and company discover that Steve is cheating on Stephanie with another girl.
Ben confronts Steve later, telling him that Stephanie deserves to be treated better. During one of Ben's basketball practices (in which the enitre group has now begun going to), Daric cockily annouces that he has a date with Stephanie, only to discover later that it was a double date. After the date is over, Daric and the group proceed to drink heavily, then head to a party, where several jocks from the school are at. Things get rough quickly as Virgil and Ben are assaulted until Daric pulls out a handgun and proceeds to pistolwhip the offending student. News soon spreads across the school, and the group now gains notoriety (along with amusing rumors of them being affiliated with a Hong Kong crime family.) Their schemes become more and more daring and more lucrative. They branch off from their cheat sheet scams and begin to deal in drugs, stolen electronics, and other unlawful activities.
Steve calls up Ben to purchase drugs from him, and then asks him to accompany him for a bit. It is then that Steve tells Ben that he should be happy with what he has in his life, but feels he is becoming strangled by the expectations that are being asked of him. He states that he envies Ben for his freedom to choose his own path, for his own is already planned out for him. Ben by this time has developed a nasty cocaine habit, which he stops when he awakens one day soaked in his own blood. During a volunteer activity the next day, Ben annouces he's out, upon which Daric also agrees to leave as well. Han and Virgil decide to continue, though Han only does so reluctantly. They then present him with a birthday present, an automatic pistol.
Ben begins to rebuild his life, studying hard again, reboudling his efforts in volunteers, and even manages to patch things up with Stephanie. The two begin spending more time with each other, even taking her to the basketball court to show her how to shoot. She also reveals a wild side he never saw, as she steals a CD that the two were marveling at earlier.
As for Virgil and Han, Virgil's bragging about the cheet sheet operation becomes such widespread news that the district is forced to take action, suspending Han. Before he leaves school grounds, Han finds Virgil and proceeds to give him the beating of his life.
The four head to Las Vegas for the National Aca-Dec Championships, during which they gamble, are thrown out of a casino, and even have sex with a prostitute (originally purchased for Ben). Things take a turn for the worst when Virgil pulls a gun on her during sex. Han attempts to hit him, only to have the gun turned on him. Han leaves in disgust. This doesn't hurt the team, as they place in first.
Ben and Stephanie go to the formal, upon which the two continue to get to know each other. Their attraction deepens, but when the two appear that they are going to kiss, Steve arrives to pick her up shortly after the dance is over. Ben is painfully forced to watch her leave. Steve later approaches Ben at the basketball court, asking him to gather up his group. He has a opportunity for the five of them to potentially make some money. Ben intially refuses, partly out of anger for the aftermath of the formal, but later reconsiders and gathers up the crew once again. There, Steve reveals that he is taking the initative on "breaking the cycle". He wants them to rob his parents, then fence their property. He refers to it as a wakeup call.
Daric agrees for the group, but later confides that the one in need of a wakeup call is in fact Steve. He manages to convince the group that they will play along, until the opportunity arises for betrayal. Steve is meticulous over the planning, and reherses the plan over and over until he is sure the four have it down.
In late december, the five meet at a party of a mutual friend's. Ben and Stephanie briefly meet, with Stephanie showing him her new tatoo, before Steve kills the moment by arriving drunk. Steve confides to Ben that he is intending to ask Stephanie to marry him. Daric indicates to Ben that their opportunity has just knocked.
Meeting at Jesus' house, Ben is left to serve as the lookout, while the other three meet with Steve in the garage. The fight begins, but Steve gets the upper hand against Virgil. Virgil drops his pistol, and during the struggle for the weapon, it fires. Ben rushes into the struggle, grabs a bat, and knocks the weapon away. Losing control of himself as he feelings for Stephanie, his jealousy of Steve and his disgust over Steve's infidelity overwealm him, Ben procedes to beat Steve viciously with the bat.
Initially, it is thought that Steve is dead. Jesus comes in and at first is repulsed, but upon recieving $300 (plus Steve's wallet), he allows the four to bury the body in his backyard. Then, to the surprise of all, Steve slowly starts to move. Daric quickly soaks a rag in gasoline, tells Virgil to hold Steve steady, then proceeds to suffocate him.
Later, at a New Years party, Ben finds Stephanie, who is under the impression that Steve stood her up. As the countdown to midnight begins, Stephanie remarks how neither of them will get kissed at midnight. Shortly there after, they kiss each other, upon which Stephanie annouces she has to find Steve to talk about "something's come up." Presumably, it's to break up with him.
During the clean up of the crime scene, Ben and Virgil discuss Ben's impending graduation and his opportunities that await him outside of high school. Then, a cell phone rings out of nowhere. The two check their own phones, then find out that the sound is coming from underground. Digging quickly, they discover the decomposing body of Steve and his cellphone, announcing that his missed call was in fact from Stephanie.
Unable to handle his role in Steve's murder, Virgil calls Han over to his house under the pretext of watching some brand new porn, only to commit suicide once he's sure he's not alone. Virgil survives the gunshot wound, but in in a coma and will most likely suffer brain damage as a result. When Daric panicks and questions Ben if Han will reveal their secret, Ben leaves Daric behind on the hospital floor, his final words being "Later Daric."
Graduation approaches, but Ben is haunted by the experiences that this year in high school has left him with. He later realizes that it is in fact fear of what is happening next, as his life up until this point had been mapped. Walking home from the basketball court, where he found himself unable to take a shot, he is found by Stephanie, now styling in a brand new Mercedes convertible, a graduation present. She picks him up, and reflects with Ben on the fact "You know how you make decisions that lead to other decisions but you don't remember why you made those decisions in the first place." She and Ben kiss, then drive off to face the unknown future...
External links
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