Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
84%RT Audience Score: 79%
Awards & Nominations: 3 wins & 4 nominations
A promising work by Lin, the energetic Better Luck Tomorrow is disturbing and thought-provoking
Better Luck Tomorrow is a movie that will make you question everything you thought you knew about high school. It’s like The Breakfast Club, but with gangsters and perfect SAT scores. Justin Lin’s direction is sleek and skillful, and the story feels rooted in something more solid than prefab posturing. Plus, who doesn’t love a movie that shocks audiences and breaks the mold? It may be a bit thin on drama, but it’s still a huge step forward. So, if you’re in search of a well-made, thought-provoking motion picture, Better Luck Tomorrow is the movie for you.
Production Company(ies)
United Artists Lions Gate Films, Industrial Development Corporation, of South Africa
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Los Angeles, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for strong language and some violence
Year of Release
1997
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 41m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Apr 11, 2003 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 30, 2003
Genre(s)
Crime/Drama
Keyword(s)
Better Luck Tomorrow, Parry Shen, Jason Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, John Cho, Karin Anna Cheung, Justin Lin, Julie Asato, Ernesto Foronda, Fabian Marquez, Crime, Drama, R, Paramount Pictures, $3.8M, Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR, Flat (1.85:1), Violence, Drug Use, Sexuality, Language, reviewed by David Ansen, Ben Nuckols, Joe Morgenstern, Todd McCarthy, Marc Savlov, James Berardinelli, Jake Mulligan, Barbara Shulgasser, John Powers, Felix Vasquez Jr., Mark Halverson
Worldwide gross: $7,281,450
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $13,573,212
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,859
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,480,176
US/Canada gross: $7,281,450
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $13,573,212
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,520
US/Canada opening weekend: $3,020,015
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $5,629,552
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,075
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $18,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $33,553,456
Production budget ranking: 1,085
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $18,068,536
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$38,048,780
ROI to date (est.): -74%
ROI ranking: 1,826
Jason Tobin – Virgil Hu
Sung Kang – Han
Roger Fan – Daric Loo
John Cho – Steve Choe
Karin Anna Cheung – Stephanie
Julie Asato – Producer
Ernesto Foronda – Producer, Writer
Justin Lin – Director, Writer
Director(s)
Justin Lin
Writer(s)
Justin Lin, Fabian Marquez, Ernesto Foronda
Producer(s)
Julie Asato, Ernesto Foronda, Justin Lin
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
3 wins & 4 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (108) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (88) | Rotten (20)
Lin’s movie tries to do too much–it takes some dark, credibility-defying turns–but you come away knowing you’ve witnessed the birth of a moviemaking career.
March 7, 2018
David Ansen
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
Better Luck Tomorrow, a corrosive, insightful study of the pressure-packed lives of suburban high school students, brings a new variant to gangster movies: gangsters with perfect SAT scores.
April 2, 2013
Ben Nuckols
Associated Press
TOP CRITIC
Better Luck Tomorrow breathes new life into a familiar story: coming of age in high school.
April 2, 2013
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
TOP CRITIC
A enerally absorbing look at a slice of society normally taken for granted, both in life and onscreen.
July 6, 2010
Todd McCarthy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Feels nearly as hollow and unknowable as its characters’ hearts.
April 27, 2003 | Rating: 2/5
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
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.
April 26, 2003 | Rating: 3.5/4
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
TOP CRITIC
Perceptive at dramatizing moments where teenagers’ performances of masculinity and maturity inadvertently melt into something more fraught and real.
August 6, 2021 | Rating: 3.5/5
Jake Mulligan
Dig Boston
Justin Lin’s sleek and skillful Better Luck Tomorrow is a well-contoured fantasy, not about magical worlds, secret gardens, or Middle-earths, but about the place within where demons may lie in those who may otherwise seem to be the best of us.
June 21, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Barbara Shulgasser
Common Sense Media
Better Luck Tomorrow is a huge step forward, and though it doesn’t fully transcend its small budget, the story feels rooted in something more solid than prefab posturing.
May 17, 2018
John Powers
L.A. Weekly
Justin Lin succeeds in shocking audiences with a story that breaks the mold…
April 29, 2009
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
Intriguing but dramatically thin.
August 7, 2008 | Rating: 3/5
Mark Halverson
Sacramento News & Review
Incisive [and] cautionary.
December 27, 2007 | Rating: 3/4
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound…
Plot
Maureen is pregnant and her husband Eddie is missing. Nervous, Maureen shares a couple of drinks with neighbor Kiefer, who tries to rape her and then beats her. When Eddie returns and finds his wife bruised, he goes ballistic, shoots a paramedic and is put in a psychiatric institution. Ten years later, Eddie is released and finds that Maureen has divorced him and is remarried with three children, one of whom is his little girl Jeanie. Eddie goes to reclaim his wife.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film Better Luck Tomorrow on Fresh Kernels.
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