The Perfect Score

[TB4000]

I may actually have to check this one out, only because I pondered doing this back in high school(shhhhh... :wink: ). I feel MTV owes me some royalties for coming up with this idea first. It's about time someone made a flick showcasing how desparate and crazy people get when SAT time rolls around.

[mr. x]

im not sure but i think this has been brought up (either that or im thinking of the Rottentomatoes.com forums)

anyway that asian dude looks pretty "ugh"-worthy if u know what i mean

[TB4000]

Yeah, it was in the My Baby's Daddy forum, but it didn't have the honor of getting it's own thread.

[golden_buns]

It has Korean-Latino representing

Leonardo Nam

Power to the Korean-Latinos!

[etcj]

Well I don't know about you guys on the West Coast, but I haven't seen their trailer that features the Asian guy. I'm seen a trailer featuring the athlete, the architect, the bitchy chick, and the overachieving girl. However, still no trailer on the hacker..

[mr. x]

Well I don't know about you guys on the West Coast, but I haven't seen their trailer that features the Asian guy. I'm seen a trailer featuring the athlete, the architect, the bitchy chick, and the overachieving girl. However, still no trailer on the hacker..

i have, you'd shake your head if u did

basically they are talking about SAT scores and something to the effect of "who gets such high scores" or something and the asian dudes like "Asian girls!" :biggrin: and they all look at him like "wtf"

another scene he is with his female boss and she drops something and goes like "pick it up mailboy" or something like that. i duno if its a fantasy sequence tho cuz theres a bunch of those in the trailer.

[TB4000]

i have, you'd shake your head if u did

basically they are talking about SAT scores and something to the effect of "who gets such high scores" or something and the asian dudes like "Asian girls!" :biggrin: and they all look at him like "wtf"

another scene he is with his female boss and she drops something and goes like "pick it up mailboy" or something like that. i duno if its a fantasy sequence tho cuz theres a bunch of those in the trailer.
Actually they showed the remainder of that scene in some of the new commercials, and it looks like old boy gets some underneath that desk with the chick, according to their flirty ass conversation afterwards. This movie looks goofier and goofier everytime I see the commercials, but I need something humorous to watch after all these dramatic award nominated movies.

[moJo]

i want to see. i'm in a goofy-movie kind of mood. i wanna check out the stoner asian guy, as well as darius miles.

isn't scarlett johannsen in this, too? that's amusing considering her last two films. :p

[yoMAMA]

I may be wrong, but isn't the asian guy looks like that kid from the indiana jones movie, temple of doom?

Is that the grown up version?

(for some reason, the first time i saw that guy, that was my gut reaction).

[ellsworth81]

this movie looks awful
not even worth a download

for a great humorous movie, watch cabin fever.

[mr. x]

Actually they showed the remainder of that scene in some of the new commercials, and it looks like old boy gets some underneath that desk with the chick, according to their flirty ass conversation afterwards. This movie looks goofier and goofier everytime I see the commercials, but I need something humorous to watch after all these dramatic award nominated movies.

heeeeey, if HE can get some of that two scoops of vanilla (borrowed that from John Updike) than imagine what i can get :tongue:

[Banana]

Movies like this make Baby Jesus cry.

[ellsworth81]

Movies like this make Baby Jesus cry.
i thought lying did

[Banana]

No. Just movies.

[VV o n g B a]

an interview w/ leonardo nam. the article says he steals the movie. but that may just be a pun having to do w/ the movie plot. and hey... he gets to do the nasty w/ erika christensen's character. hmmm. i might have to go see this one...

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/475/475967p1.html

[moJo]

an interview w/ leonardo nam. the article says he steals the movie. but that may just be a pun having to do w/ the movie plot. and hey... he gets to do the nasty w/ erika christensen's character. hmmm. i might have to go see this one...

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/475/475967p1.html
Cold Mountain?!?! lol.

Hey, that was a cool article. The more I hear about this guy, the more I really hope he makes it in this industry. It seems promising, doesn't it? And i didn't know he was raised in Australia...aussie accents are sexy. :tongue:

[moJo]

anyway that asian dude looks pretty "ugh"-worthy if u know what i mean
actually, he looks pretty good, imo. i feel like such a teenybopper, but i just found his website (http://www.leonardonam.com). the boy's got incredible bone structure.

[TB4000]

Check out Ebert's review of this one. He liked it to an extent, but said it wasn't the best he's seen.



THE PERFECT SCORE / ** (PG-13)

January 30, 2004

Francesca: Scarlett Johansson
Anna: Erika Christensen
Kyle: Chris Evans
Desmond: Darius Miles
Roy: Leonardo Nam
Matty: Bryan Greenberg

Paramount Pictures presents a film directed by Brian Robbins. Written by Mark Schwahn, Marc Hyman and Jon Zack. Running time: 93 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for language, sexual content and some drug references).











BY ROGER EBERT
The dialogue in "The Perfect Score" mentions "The Breakfast Club," which is nice. (How come the characters in movies never seem to know there are movies -- except the ones they attend but never watch?) And there are similarities between the two films, not least in the way that Scarlett Johansson, with her red lips and brunet haircut, resembles Molly Ringwald. There is also a certain seriousness linking the two films, although this one tilts toward a caper comedy.The film takes place in Princeton, N.J., which in addition to being Albert Einstein's place of last employment, is also home to the Princeton Testing Center, home of the SAT exam. The SATs, we learn, were once known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, but since this name presumably reeked of common sense, it was dropped, and now "SAT" simply stands for -- SAT. "Ess Ay Tee," the Web site explains, making it easy for us.
We meet Kyle (Chris Evans), who for as long as he can remember has wanted to be an architect. That for him translates into being admitted to Cornell, but for Cornell, alas, he will need to score a 1430 on his SAT, and his first score is down close to triple digits. He can take the test again, but he doubts he can improve his score.
"Kyle," says one of his buddies, "this is your dream, man. If they want to put a number on that, then the hell with them." Yeah. So Kyle and his posse decide to break into the Princeton Testing Center, steal the answers to the test and realize their dream. And that they set out to do, in a film that sketches various motives for a half-dozen characters. You may be able to find parallels between these characters and those in "The Breakfast Club." On the other hand, you may decide life is too short.
I wasn't thinking about "The Breakfast Club," anyway, while I watched the film. I was thinking about "Better Luck Tomorrow," the 2002 film by Justin Lin about a group of Asian-American high school students in Orange County, Calif., who started by selling exam answers and ended up involved in drugs and murder, all without getting caught. In the original ending of the film when it played at Sundance, the central character considers turning himself in to the police, but "I couldn't let one mistake get in the way of everything I'd worked for. I know the difference between right and wrong, but I guess in the end I really wanted to go to a good college."
Lin reshot some of the film, including that ending, but I've always thought it was a good one. It shows an ability to separate achievement from morality, and places so much value on success that it finally justifies any action. Lin's young heroes, I wrote in my article about the best films of the year, have positioned themselves to take over from the fallen leaders of Enron.
I thought about the film because "The Perfect Score" considers similar material without the bite and anger and savage determination. It's too palatable. It maintains a tone of light seriousness, and it depends on the caper for too much of its entertainment value. "Better Luck Tomorrow" also has a plot that involves crime, but the difference is "The Perfect Score" is about the intended crime and depends on it, while in "Better Luck Tomorrow," we see a process by which the behavior of the characters leads them where they never thought to go.
There is a kind of franchising of movies going on right now, in which the big studio product is like fast food: bad for you, but available on every corner. Good and challenging movies are limited to release in big cities and in a handful of independently booked cinemas. Whole states and sections of the country never see the best new films on big screens, and they're not always easy to find on video.
"The Perfect Score" will play in hundreds of markets that were not open to "Better Luck Tomorrow," even though it will only bore or fitfully distract its audiences, while "Better Luck Tomorrow" might have shaken them up. And that's a shame. What does it say when a dozen of the titles nominated for major Academy Awards this year did not play in a majority of the markets? Have I drifted from the movie under review? I'm not drifting, I'm swimming.

[mr. x]

actually, he looks pretty good, imo. i feel like such a teenybopper, but i just found his website (http://www.leonardonam.com). the boy's got incredible bone structure.

not looks i mean like the way he acted in the trailer

[kitty]

i saw this. review forthcoming.

[TB4000]

i saw this. review forthcoming.
Damn, you beat me again! A couple people from work want me to go see this thing tomorrow, so I'll have to see what you say before I decide to go or not.

[ShortNBitter]

Heh yeah that interview made me laugh in my head. I didn't think the review would be so vivid when he described teh sex story lol. I wonder if this is gonna be something new... like how we have God be black people all the time? Well maybe this is like: LEO NAM, COUNTER STEREOTYPE ATTACK!

[tommyhtown]

I haven't seen the movie. I only read the review. Here is one

review (http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2004-01-29/film.html/1/index.html)

Here are a couple excerpts from the review related to Leonardo Nam's character:

Roy (Leonardo Nam) initially appears to be a bold attempt at an anti-stereotype -- a stupid Asian! -- but alas, it turns out he's really good at math and video games. The rest of the time, he's being Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

The perpetually stoned Roy appears to be a favorite with advance audiences, but while he works as a character, the decision to have him narrate the movie is a disastrous one. No doubt it was a call prompted by test screenings, which would be ironic for a movie that argues that test scores are no measure of a person's substance, but there you go. As it stands, some decent character backstory is ruined by speedy music, sloppy editing and Nam's slurred voice-over.

[mr. x]

^---interesting didnt a asian guy narrate BLT as well (yes i know the "no shit sherlock" aspect of my own words)

[moJo]

here's (http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2004/01/30/perfect_score/index.html) Salon.com's review (you need either a membership or a free day-pass to access the full article - but you might just care to know that they basically panned it).
here's the section that noted Nam's performance:

"The Perfect Score" is lively and fun in places, but overall it has a listless, tepid feel, like a movie that's trying very hard not to be about sex.

The only relief in that department comes from the lascivious stoner character played by Nam: He looks at just about every woman in the movie, young and old-ish, as if he were unpeeling her garments with his eyes, and his forthrightness just makes you laugh. Nam is sleepily hilarious in every scene: He always looks as if he's just tumbled out of a bed that hasn't been made in three years, and his comic timing is genius in its elasticity. He's also the movie's puckish truth-teller, pulling off a few hilarious, hugely politically incorrect jokes (one of which involves the driving skills of members of a certain ethnic group).

[Kuchana]

actually, he looks pretty good, imo. i feel like such a teenybopper, but i just found his website (http://www.leonardonam.com). the boy's got incredible bone structure.

haha. you, too? :tongue: and all those dialects that he speaks. i'd love to hear how he sounds.

[moJo]

haha. you, too? :tongue: and all those dialects that he speaks. i'd love to hear how he sounds.
recently, i decided that aussie accents were hot. :tongue: except when atttached to Russell Crowe's voice.

[Kuchana]

recently, i decided that aussie accents were hot. :tongue: except when atttached to Russell Crowe's voice.

oh you don't say?? i've always thought an aussie accent was hot hehe moreso than a british one. but then again, how do you tell the difference between them??
but yeah, what's with russell crow's voice??? ah well. can't please everyone i suppose :biggrin:

but this asian aussie actor in the movie reminds me of my friend from back in school. he was korean and raised in down under all his life. mannnn! his accent is s-e-x-y!! hehe

[mr. x]

"He's also the movie's puckish truth-teller, pulling off a few hilarious, hugely politically incorrect jokes (one of which involves the driving skills of members of a certain ethnic group). "

asian women? doesnt he also say they are the ones who ace the SATs? and doesnt everyone look at him like "wtf" afterwards?

[kitty]

review posted
http://forums.yellowworld.org/showthread.php?p=231960#post231960

[mr. x]

it made number 5 on the BO, i hear it only made like 5 mil, so basically it bombed

[TB4000]

it made number 5 on the BO, i hear it only made like 5 mil, so basically it bombed
It couldn't have cost them anymore than a million to make, so technically...they made a profit. :wink: Unless the oh-so-well known A list cast wanted a larger salary.