Hundred Percent

I saw Hundred Percent during the Asian film fest at the Art Institute of Chicago some years ago. Using multiple plot lines and mixing humor with a bit of light drama, Hundred Percent was really a fun, entertaining movie, featuring the talents of Dustin Nguyen, Tamilyn Tomita, Garrett Wang, and others. The audience was truly laughing out loud in the theater. The movie also did a good job of showcasing Asian American talent, but also illustrated the scarcity of non-stereotypical roles for Asian American actors. It is truly a shame that this film never found a wide release or even a return appearance on the independent or Asian film circuit. Perhaps one day somebody will bring it to DVD for the masses to enjoy?

I saw this at the Asian Film Fest here in LA last May. Its aims are admirable and a lot of amusing stereotypes are held up for display in this movie. It's kewl to see some Asian actors get big parts in a good-looking movie at least.

But the dialogue is pretty trite and too many characters are underdeveloped. Its attempts at "hip" references and humor are mostly just embarrassing and laughable in the wrong way. It's OK for unintentional humor but not much else. And some of the performances...whew!!! Cringe city. Tamlyn T., Dustin and Garrett are pretty good but it goes downhill from there.

Too bad. A squandered opportunity cuz it's got some great cinematography and production values. too bad the writing stinks to high heaven and the story is reeeeaaaallly uninteresting---really just a hodgepodge of 20something Asian-Am issues and themes smattered about with no interesting structure or dimension to hold them.

Hundred Percent is a movie I'm not accustomed to seeing on a movie screen. It's not often you get to see a movie where all the main characters are Asian. Not only that but each character isn't portrayed as the usual stereotypical Asian role such as a Chinese cook, someone with a heavy accent, or some genius who gets all A's. In the movie the audience gets to see what it's like to be Asian American. Each character is diverse in lifestyles and well as personality wise. What I was impressed about was how easily you could identify yourself if not someone else you may know to each character in some shape or form. Life is full of diversity and as Asians go we are diverse in our own ways.

As a Hapa(half) Japanese American, I found this film to be a breath of fresh air. A big thank you goes out to those who made it. Keep them coming. There are great performances by actors who likely did this project out of the love for it and acting. Eric Koyanagi does an excellent job in capturing the personalities of drastically different characters. Its nice to see Asian actors not making a martial arts movie. Some of the scenes are absolutely hysterical. Imagine an Asian as a Hip Hop Rasta thug. I first saw this film at an Asian american film festival at the Art Institute of Chicago. I am certainly not a fan of art house indie product, but this indie film is really entertaining and looks big budget.