All too Caucasian in its tired devotion to the bloody, boneheaded tropes of Quentin Tarantino and Bret Easton Ellis.
Comment
10/02/02
Rate this Movie 
Better Luck Tomorrow (2003)
80
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:95
Fresh:76
Rotten:19
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: A promising work by Lin, the energetic Better Luck Tomorrow is disturbing and thought-provoking.
Theatrical Release:Apr 11, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $3,687,324
Synopsis: Everyone knows a person like Ben - the perfect Asian American high school teen - extremely intelligent, a perfectionist, overachiever whose tunnel vision leads to nothing less than graduating at... [More]
Get This Movie
Reviews for Better Luck Tomorrow
Shen and Tobin are particularly good as the straight-laced, handsome Ben and the half-mad Virgil.
04/11/03
Sublty captures the mood of the fast-track contemporary California teenager and saturates it with poignant black humor.
04/23/03
The film really rumbles in the undercurrent of race and identity that Lin sketches in the margins of their lives...
04/17/03
Reviewers seem surprised that a young Asian-American filmmaker has been reading Bret Easton Ellis and watching Quentin Tarantino, when in reality the opposite would be startling...
05/09/03
At times Lin's story slides into crime cliches, but whatever he lacks in plotting he makes up for in style and brute emotional force.
09/06/03
MTV (which bought this movie out of Sundance) believes the target audience to be high school and college students. I would argue that it's anyone in search of a well-made, thought-provoking motion picture.
04/26/03
Top CriticMost of writer-director Justin Lin's shapeless movie is as bland as the neighborhood.
04/22/03
Top CriticSmartly photographed and edited, it manages to walk the difficult tightrope strung between the typically loopy coming of age film and a simmering disaster in the making.
12/08/02
Lin starts with the stereotype of the Asian-American kid as clean-cut, hard-working and industrious and turns it on its head.
04/25/03
Better Luck Tomorrow is an inventively delivered cautionary tale about some smart and upwardly mobile Asian high school students who, bored with their lives, embark on a course of violence and self-destructiveness.
04/03/03
Provides both a searing satire of modern suburbia and provocative insight into the malignant maturation of generally well-meaning and privileged kids.
02/13/02
Top CriticThe picture's relative uniqueness is what intrigues and compels, marking Better Luck Tomorrow as important, if not ultimately entirely successful.
05/14/03
Being simultaneously proud of and embarrassed by one's scholarly perfectionism is a trait I find particularly identifiable to young, male Asian-Americans. Better Luck Tomorrow draws on this trait for its strength.
04/10/03
An accomplished technician and an adept director of actors, Lin doesn't have a distinctive visual style but he does have the advantage of being as smart as he is slick.
04/10/03
Top CriticStarts out like an Asian-American version of The Breakfast Club, but quickly turns more towards Boyz N The Hood...shows what can happen when rich kids at private school and smart kids at public school get bored.
04/18/03
What's most impressive about this movie is how familiar, rather than how different, everything feels.
04/15/03
It makes you think about the clichéd pictures of Asian kids in the popular imagination and how painful it must be for them to carry the burden of perfection.
04/25/03
Top CriticSolid performances by the cast and Lin's expressive storytelling techniques combine for an absorbing twist on this coming-of-age tale.
04/11/03
A savvy, seductive and observationally vivid bit of popcorn culture that is every bit as brainy as its characters.
04/25/03
Latest News for Better Luck Tomorrow
March 24, 2007:
Idris Elba Flashes Back With "Prom Night" Remake
In announcing his involvement in the "Prom Night" remake, Idris Elba also revealed the new hook for this version. Instead of one slash-fest, this "Prom... More...
September 29, 2005:
Third "Fast & Furious" Flick Gets a Title ... and a Few More Cast Members
Just a few days ago we learned that Bow Wow and Lucas Black would be starring in "Fast and the Furious 3," and now comes word from Variety that the sequel's official... More...
September 27, 2005:
Bow Wow & Lucas Black to Headline "Fast and the Furious 3"
Hanh Nguyen of Zap2it.com brings some new casting notices for the third entry in the "Fast and the Furious" franchise, which is scheduled to begin shooting in Japan... More...
June 09, 2005:
"Better Luck" Director to Helm Third "Furious" Flick
Justin Lin, director of the acclaimed indie "Better Luck Tomorrow," has been signed by Universal to direct the third entry of their "Fast and the Furious"... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
History of Disney Animation 
MSN Movies offers a little background on the success of Disney Animation.
90 Years of Screen Vampires
TIME takes a look back at the history of vampires on film.
Virtuoso Vistas of Lovely Bones
Techland examines the visual splendor of Peter Jackson's upcoming film.
Recent Headlines as TV Movies
AOL put together a list of 10 recent news items that would be perfect as TV Movies.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds