Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee

Just watched this movie in a company of friends and got extremely disappointed with it. I first saw a trailer a couple of months ago and though it was a great premise - yes, a little goofy and maybe too post-modern for it's own good, but at least it seemed that it was a fun thing to watch.

The premise of the film is simple and is shown to you on the first minute of the movie - Bruce Lee dies while filming "Game of Death", he leaves behind 12 minutes of footage that a studio producer is willing to exploit. They start a nation-wide search for a double, so that they can film "the rest" of the movie. And so enter the bunch of hopefuls wishing to take the place of the master or just get a first acting job.

The jokes are tongue-in-cheek, but the problem with them is that they are simply not funny. The whole movie is filmed in a pseudo-documentary style that has become a most overused technique in the last 10 years of independent movies. The situations and plot lines are sometimes cute, but mostly predictable and definitely not intelligent enough. The story actually looks like a long episode of "Office" (the US version), and you have a twitch to start channel surfing instead.

I'm not sure how many Bruce Lee fans are still out there, but this film has very little to do with his work and just takes the premise and runs with it - unfortunately the end result is bland and devoid of any creative spark.

I had high hopes for this film (after reading some of the positive reviews). I was sadly disappointed. Most of the characters were supremely boring. There were some introductions to the main replacement Bruce Lee characters, but none of them seemed in the least bit interesting. I really, really tried to give this movie a chance, but it never really came through on any level. The action scenes were lame (I suppose they were supposed to be funny, but they weren't). The in depth character analysis just didn't work, other than to prove that this movie was shot on such a low budget. (Was it ever in theaters?) I think there was one funny scene, but I can't recall what it was (it was close to the end that's all I can remember). The one redeeming aspect was that most of the actors didn't completely blow it – they seemed somewhat better than most porn stars. (I know that's not much, but it's better than nothing).

There are very few movies I consider truly bad. I love B grades, I love cult films. I love chop sockies and Japanese sci fi from the 50s and 60s.

I can watch almost anything and enjoy it.

But there is one thing that is worse than a truly bad film. And that is a truly bad film that actually thinks it is a good film. And that is exactly what we have here. Unfunny, pointless crap that thinks it is clever.

And apparently so do a few other people. If you are the vapid sort who finds art in a ordinary object simply because it is contained in a plexiglas cube you too may find this exercise in mundane satire brilliant.

But if you are looking for comedy, an irreverent examination of the Brucesploitation phenomena or a martial arts spoof you will want to keep looking and not waste your time with this thief of life.

Just saw this movie at VC Filmfest 2007 on 05/03 Thursday night. It was a big surprise that how this movie came out.

Justin Lin was born in 1973 --same year as Bruce Lee's death. When I saw this movie,it was so real that You can't believe it was made in 2007 by a director who was just born in that era.All the details were well arranged that you almost forgot it's a mocumentry instead of real footage.

According to Justin Lin's answer on Q&A after the movie,this film was shot in 18 working days and under NO BUDGET....it's like WOW!--mission impossible.

There were so many actors in this movie and some of them were merely recognizable,like James Franco and Brian Tee or Leonardo Nam. Other major characters shared the scenes evenly and most of them were really funny. I like Meredith Scott Lynn who play the casting director the most,she was the one audience will remember when people talked about this movie.

Josh Diamond and Justin Lin wrote the script fill with funny lines and really works.

it's a movie totally different from Back Luck Tomorrow or Tokyo Drift.And it proved again--Justin Lin is someone you can expect.

I just saw this up at Park City. i waited in line for two hours and i have to say it was worth it. The premise is incredibly strong and the film is filled with enough kooky characters to make Christopher Guest proud. It is a solid and smart film. I was laughing out loud consistently. the main thing i love about the film is that it deals with issues without hitting you in the face with it. ultimately it shows in an entertaining way that things haven't changed at all through time. the performances were all strong and the music rocked. the camera work was authentic and the colors just popped. overall, go see it when it comes out.