Crappy film

Absolutely Brilliant!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This story is a very true character study that I can attest to of the freedom that everyone grants you when you maintain a scholarly and overachieving front, maybe not as to the extremes of the murder as shown in this movie but still very real. This shows the lesser characterized side of intellect, how you use it when your bored and you realize you can outsmart everyone around you and expand into drugs, scams, etc. Operate with impunity and because your keeping grades and appearances up no one suspects a thing. I'm not saying its true for everyone but this movie is a very real look when your bored, stuck in suburbia , and decide to make the rash jump into more "interesting" pursuits and figure your smart enough to get away with.The film itself never leaves you bored even though its not flashy. The characters themselves are very believable and conceited in their own greatness. The story is well paced and shows the gradual progression into the dark underbelly when temptations meet brains that think they are beyond limitation. And despite what others try to slap on as a detractor to this film, race really doesn't have anything to do with it, its just the group of kids portrayed in the film. Their grades, immorality and decisions they make have nothing to do with race

Ben is an overachiever who does a little petty crime on the side with his friends; this petty crime begins to expand and soon he finds himself way over his head and must make a vital decision...The film explores various relationships between the characters and pays close attention on Ben and Stephanie.I found the rise of the gang very amusing and there lack of 'gangster' skills funny and how they rise so high....The whole geek gangster thing was a little far fetched but its a movie......So I'll let it slide...I also kept thinking is this the Han from Tokyo Drift....same director, same actor.....Anyway....a satisfying gangster movie...

What I mean is this seems more like an amalgam of Kids, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Cheats, Dazed and Confused, Napoleon Dynamite, Risky Business, Trainspotting, Juice and Very Bad Things, from a teenage, angst ridden Asian perspective. Things get real. Instead of hanging out doing drugs, and having sex, these "kids" study hard, get good grades and build up extra curriculum activities to get into a good university. The twist is that all this is a facade/cover for their teenage rebellious activities in the suburbs, again from an Asian American perspective. This is when the Math Club pulls scams, sell drugs, uses drugs, parties like '99 and guns (Colt '45, maybe ?), in an attempt to be the high school Triads. No one is who they seem to be. Through this cycle of events, life is lived and things are learned. Growing up is tough and sometimes it is more than shelter, warmth and food. The movie somewhat implodes in the third act when making an omelet takes precedence over it all. I do believe this is one of the director's (Justin Lin) best. This isn't saying much. The whole experience isn't overly original but time passes quickly and it sure beats Annapolis or Tokyo Drift.

PLOT: It ain't easy havin to represent when you are rollin with your homies in the suburban upper middle class Asian hood yo. A handful of idiots think they are smart by creating their own flavor of Asian gang. This particular gang is about as believable as any other fairy tale you might tell a small child or retarded individual to get them off to sleep.This is classic Hollywood here, nothing believable or groundbreaking or that we haven't seen before better somewhere else. The main notable difference is that all the actors are Asian for the most part and it focuses on the exploits of a thoroughly unbelievable suburban Asian gang.This is an obvious stab at the Asian market with the proper watering down of any ethnic reality to make it accessible to American audiences. You can tell they have their fingers crossed for a crossover hit with this puppy.One of the themes I have issue with is these children voicing that they are so smart- that's repeated a lot throughout the film. Yet the scenes belie a naiveté and a stupidity that is more indicative of the writers of the script defying any logical sense(for the simple reason they have none) than the believable actions of members of a gang that gets top grades and packs heat.What we see here is a fairly common beast in high school- the "smart" kid with a serious mental issue that proves he's actually quite stupid via choosing the role of sociopath and draping it in the illusion of mental superiority. They think the next logical evolutionary step in higher consciousness is to be as evil as possible to achieve your goals. Only stupid people are nice is their message. I find the film unrealistic since a pack of idiots like this would have been caught. They are not smooth at all.There are plenty of edgy Japanese films that involve high school that aren't made by Hollywood dummies and are cool and quite entertaining. This is not one of those movies! Unfortunately, since the titles are usually Japanese and hence easily forgettable, none come to mind right now to mention specifically.