hardboiled

better luck last time

by eunice kwon

I was thirteen years old when Justin Lin came out with Better Luck Tomorrow. Before this, the only Asian man I had seen on screen was the Origami guy on Channel 18 who made paper monkeys out of toilet paper rolls. He was unarguably talented, not to mention highly resourceful, but as a young Asian American, I still felt underrepresented in the mainstream culture. To see an entire cast of Asian American teenagers in a major blockbuster film was great, but what made it even better was that Better Luck Tomorrow was not just a good Asian American movie; it was a good movie period. The script was well written, the plot engaging, and the characters just happened to be Asian American.

Fast-forward five years later to the October release of Finishing the Game, another Asian American film by Justin Lin. Unpleasant memories of one of Lin’s last project, Annapolis, still linger in my head but I’m comforted by the thought that after Annapolis, Lin has nowhere to go but up.

Not that I don’t respect Justin Lin as a director. I understand why he took a break from meaningful Asian America cinema to make slick Hollywood films with budgets worth more than the gross national product of some small Asian countries. I don’t think he is untalented or a sell-out or the anti-Christ. It’s just that Annapolis is a truly terrible movie, which makes me concerned that Lin has hit a rough patch.

Finishing the Game seems to be a return to his indie roots. It’s a mockumentary on the casting of a Bruce Lee stand-in, in order to complete the film, Game of Death, which Lee started before his unpredicted death in 1973. The characters include Breeze Loo, a conceited action star who can’t understand why people confuse him with Bruce Lee; Colgate Kim, a good natured (albeit a bit soft in the head) southern boy who is trying to break into the show business; the mixed Asian American activist Tarrick Tyler who is played by the very, very Caucasian McCaleb Burnett; and Troy Poon, a talented, classically trained actor who is reduced to playing Chinese delivery boys and eventually selling vacuums door to door.

Although Finishing the Game is clearly a comedy, it makes serious points about the Hollywood industry, both back in the 70’s and in the present day. The tendency for Asian Americans to be typecast into a certain role has decreased in the last few decades but it still exists in Hollywood and in other forms of media. The film pokes fun at the various stereotypes of Asian Americans that the media has perpetuated, and uses snarky humor to slyly criticize these stereotypes.

The low-budget 70’s setting works for the film. The acting is convincing, the jokes solid and the cameos somewhat relevant. It even serves as a social commentary.

Still, it’s lacking. Lin created the characters to be ridiculous and the situations to be absurd but that leads to this movie feeling like one extended joke. The plot seems unsubstantial and overly silly. In an attempt to make the film an outrageous comedy, the strength of the story line is compromised and the movie feels like a SNL skit that has stretched on for far too long.

Finishing the Game is fairly entertaining, tackles social issues and has a cast studded with talented Asian American actors. The film does more good than harm, raising visibility and providing its audience with a few laughs. It isn’t the most impressive work in the history of Asian American media, but hey, it’s a step above paper monkeys.