BETTER LUCK TOMORROW

Year: 2002
USA: Paramount Classics
Cast: Parry Shen, Jason J Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, John Cho, Karin Anna Cheung, Jerry Mathers, Aaron Takahashi, Beverly Sotelo, James Isaac Barry, Rick Cortes, Laura Esposito, Suzanne Keilly, Crystal Keith, Ariadne Shaffer
Director: Justin Lin
Country: USA
USA: 101 mins
USA Rated: R for violence, drug use, language and sexuality
USA Release Date: 11 April 2003 (Limited Release)


Synopsis

Everyone knows a person like Ben (Parry Shen) - the perfect Asian American high school teen. He's an extremely intelligent perfectionist, an overachiever whose tunnel vision will lead to nothing less than graduating at the top of the class and acceptance to the best Ivy League university.

Ben lives in an upper middle class, conservative L.A. suburb in Southern California. As he struggles to achieve social success in high school, we discover his darker side. Along with two friends, Virgil (Jason J Tobin), a brilliant yet socially inept misfit, and Virgil's cousin Han (Sung Kang), a lost soul with more brawn than brains, Ben leads a double life of mischief and petty crimes that alleviate the pressures of perfection.

At the start of his high school freshman year, Ben befriends Daric (Roger Fan), the senior valedictorian and another archetypical overachiever and perfectionist. But Daric is somewhat odd. While being the most intelligent student in the class, he also seems to be the most volatile and dangerous. Behind his trusting and benevolent façade lies a lurking secret, a time-bomb ready to explode. With Daric at the helm, this group of misfit teens bands together into a suburban gang.

As their adopted identity grows, Ben and the gang tumble into a downward spiral of excitement, excess, fun and lurking danger. Ben's life careens out of control, into an intoxicating mix of sex, drugs and crime, leading to a surprising end that will leave audiences engrossed, speechless and ultimately disturbed.