Institute History
Description
Egos fly and collide as hard and high as the karate kicks in this scathingly smart swipe at racial stereotypes and movie-biz hypocrisy. Justin Lin returns to Sundance (Better Luck Tomorrow played at the 2002 Festival) with Finishing the Game, a wickedly conceived comedy spoof about the search for the "new Bruce Lee."
On July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee died suddenly at the age of 32, leaving behind an exciting 12 minutes of action footage intended for his own passion project, The Game of Death. Lee's unexpected demise came at the zenith of his popularity, and the public's intense hunger for another Bruce Lee movie spurs movie execs to try and complete the film by finding a replacement for its deceased star. Ambitious documentarians (funded by tobacco and oil companies) capture the search on film as they follow the prime candidates competing for the role: a volatile Vietnam vet, a starry-eyed doctor, a Caucasian-looking activist, a cursed TV actor, a traumatized refugee, and a Bruce Lee knockoff named Breeze Loo.
Lin pumps up the volume on '70s style and takes no prisoners as he makes massive fun of the dysfunctional process of filmmaking, fueled by greed, ignorance, and ambition. All the while he cleverly lands sucker punches of his own as he exposes the million-and-one faces of racism.