Roger Fan

Better Luck Tomorrow and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin takes a comic look at a longstanding bit of cinema mythology with this mockumentary exploring the making of Bruce Lee's unfinished final film Game of Death. When martial arts star Lee died in 1973 after having shot roughly twenty-minutes of the full-length feature, director Robert Clouse vowed to complete the film using a Bruce Lee look-a-like. Though the film was eventually released into theaters in 1978, fans continue to debate just how much involvement Lee had in the making of the film nearly three decades after the fact. Perhaps viewers will never know for certain just how much of Lee they are seeing in the final product, but in this knowing satire director Lin offers a hilarious look at how things might have gone down while simultaneously skewering mainstream cinema for it's stereotypical treatment of Asian-American actors. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A hotel plays host two four couples who are having problems coping with their relationships in a variety of ways in this independent comedy-drama. In one room, a young man who has had bad luck with women is spending the night with a hooker, which proves very uncomfortable for both of them. Elsewhere, a married couple who think the thrill is gone from their sex life decide to add some variety by inviting another woman to join them for the evening. In room number three, a woman who often laments her bad taste in men argues with her former beau about her current significant other -- except that the former lover is only present in her imagination, she's in the bathroom, and her new man is listening to her on the other side of the door. And a couple are planning to spend their anniversary together until the man gets the bright idea of bringing one of his no-account buddies along, much to the woman's annoyance. Starring Kip Pardue, Roger Fan, Jennifer Siebel, Jordan Belfi and Emily Liu, The Trouble With Romance is the first feature film from writer and director Gene Rhee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A group of unlikely high school students take up crime as an extracurricular activity in this independent drama. Ben (Parry Shen) is a 16-year-old high school student who is the living embodiment of the stereotypical Asian overachiever. Ben obsessively studies even though he gets straight A's, takes part in a dizzying variety of school activities and community volunteer work, which he thinks will look good on his resume to colleges, and is even a member of the basketball team, even though he spends most of the season riding the pine. Ben also hopes being part of the team will help him win the heart of Stephanie Vandergosh (Karin Anna Cheung), a cute but equally obsessive girl who is on the cheerleading squad. When the big man on campus, Daric (Roger Fan), publishes an article in the school newspaper that points out Ben's true role on the team is to add a touch of ethnic diversity to satisfy Board of Education requirements, Ben is so embarrassed he quits the team and imagines his academic future going up in smoke. Daric seizes the opportunity to propose that he and Ben go into business, creating and selling detailed cheat sheets for school tests and placement exams. The cheat sheets are an immediate hit, and soon Ben and Daric advance to other forms of low-level crime, including drug dealing and fencing stolen goods. Before long, Ben and Daric are joined by a handful of friends -- Ben's close friend and part-time kleptomaniac Virgil (Jason Tobin), Hong Kong gangster wannabe Han (Sung Kang), and Steve (John Cho), a kid from a wealthy family who happens to be dating Stephanie -- but they soon find themselves moving deeper into the criminal underworld than they ever anticipated, and things get ugly when they try to move on. Better Luck Tomorrow was enthusiastically received in its screenings at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Saturday Night Live cast member Chris Kattan stars in this mob comedy as Corky Romano, a veterinarian with a penchant for pop music from the '80s. As a youth, Corky was kicked out of his Mafia-connected family for being an oddball. Now his long-lost father (Peter Falk) has been indicted and needs Corky to infiltrate the FBI and steal the government's evidence against him. Corky is willing to aid the relatives who so long ago turned their backs on him, but his brothers go overboard when intimidating the computer hacker who gets Corky's bogus application into the FBI academy, presenting him as a super agent named Pissant. Now Corky must live up to his reputation for an eminently qualified top cop while simultaneously trying to get the goods on his dad. Corky Romano co-stars Peter Berg, Chris Penn, Vincent Pastore, Vinessa Shaw, Fred Ward, and Richard Roundtree. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

It has been quite a while since one of Frasier's old pals from the Cheers gang has paid a visit to Seattle. This episode makes up for lost time as Woody Harrelson returns in his old sitcom role as hayseed bartender-turned-politician Woody Boyd. Arriving in town to attend a wedding, Woody regales a delighted Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) with updates about his friends back in Boston (the news about Cliff is particularly intriguing). But once conversation flags, Frasier realizes that he and Woody just don't have all that much in common any more. And there's one more thing: Woody evidently hasn't the slightest intention of leaving. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide