Better Luck Tomorrow

Better Luck Tomorrow is a 2002 American independent crime drama film directed by Justin Lin. The film is about Asian American overachievers who become bored with their lives and enter a world of petty crime and material excess. Better Luck Tomorrow introduced film audiences to a cast including Parry Shen, Jason Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, and John Cho. The film tells a purely fictional story of youth violence, drawing inspiration from several sources, including the Columbine shootings and the murder of Stuart Tay, a teenager from Orange County, California. Crucial funding for the film came from MC Hammer, whom Lin had met in April 2001 at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. "Out of desperation, I called up MC Hammer because he had read the script and liked it. Two hours later, he wired the money we needed into a bank account and saved us," Lin said. MC Hammer is credited as a producer of the film. Better Luck Tomorrow debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, and was subsequently acquired by MTV Films, its first-ever acquisition. MTV Films teamed with Paramount Pictures to release the film theatrically in the United States on April 11, 2003. Plot Ben Manibag is a stereotypical overachieving Asian American 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 Lue.