"Better Luck Tomorrow," an independent film written and directed by Asian-Americans, starring Asian-Americans, and mainly produced by Asian-Americans, opens in select cities this weekend on April 11. Vital facts: An official selection at the Sundance Film Festival. First acquisition by MTV Films. First Asian-American film picked up at Sundance. A big step forward for Asian-AMERICANS in the entertainment industry.

Please don't think I'm getting all affirmative action power to the yellow man oppressed like nothing else bullshit on you. I confess, I haven't actually seen the movie, but I've met some of the producers and one of the actors, I've seen a documentary that follows the making of the film, from its beginnings as a no-budget film (it was literally funded on 10 credit cards) to being championed by Roger Ebert at Sundance, and it actually looks pretty good. It follows a group of high school friends, overachieving Asian-American students in SoCal, as they engage in some risky behavior, believing that their good reputations equate to invincibility. It's a universal story, the protagonists' fall from grace, but it's being told from a previously unseen point of view. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it "provocative...a funny-sexy-scary powerhouse!"

But now to the oppressed like nothing else bullshit. I cannot stress how important it is to the Asian-Americans in the entertainment industry that you go see this film. Sure, we have Jackie Chan flicks and movies like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," but let me remind you that Jackie Chan isn't American, and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" wasn't in English. Yes, "Joy Luck Club" was a big step forward for us, but can you think of any movie where an Asian-American character was there for a non-Asian reason? Like that they were just there? Not playing a delivery boy, a launder, a waiter, tourist, an immigrant, just an American. This movie, according to one of the stars, is the "most damn progressive script" he's ever seen for Asian actors, and it's important that if you believe in increasing the diversity in Hollywood, whether you're Asian-American, black, or Latino, that you go see this film. There are literally six or seven Asian-American film projects sitting in Hollywood that are depending on this film to do well. If you live in New York, L.A., Chicago, or D.C., please support it.

Hollywood studios don't even see Asian-Americans as a separate audience demographic. They groups us with white people because we have the same spending patterns, and therefore, they target us (speaking in the sense of advertising) as white people. We need to change it, because face it, we're not white. Does anyone remember the Margaret Cho sit-com "All-American Girl" from about 10 years back? It was a groundbreacking achievement for Asian-American actors, the first sit-com featuring an Asian-American family. Unfortunately, it failed. It's taken 10 years for Asian-Americans to gain the trust of Hollywood enough to release another project like this, and if this fails too, it might be another 10 years before we can break the Charlie Chan cycle.

If you believe in diversity, if you believe in shattering stereotypes, if you believe in good cinema, please go see this movie. For more information, go to Better Luck Tomorrow's Official Website.

Come on! The "MILF Guy" from "American Pie" is in it!!!