Fans of Bruce Lee might find a movie like “Finishing the Game” a little insulting, but considering the circumstances, it’s hard to imagine the real-life events occurred that much differently. After the shocking death of the martial arts star left his final project (“Game of Death”) unfinished, Hollywood producers set out on a worldwide search to find his replacement. Shot in the style of a mockumentary, “Finishing the Game” tells the behind-the-scenes story of five such candidates: Breeze Loo (Roger Fan), a successful B-movie action star; Cole Kim (Sung Kang), an aspiring actor managed by his girlfriend; Troy Poon (Dustin Nguyen), former star of the hit show “Golden Gate Guns”; Tarrick Tyler (McCaleb Burnett), a half-Caucasian, half-Asian equal rights activist; and Raja (Mousa Kraish), a doctor-turned-stunt double.
Though the laughs don’t come quite as frequent as you’d imagine a concept like this would serve up, “Finishing the Game” is an entertaining addition to director Justin Lin’s eclectic résumé. The reason it works as well as it does is because Lin has compiled a talented cast of Asian-American actors (most of which he’s worked with before) that are all on the same page. Sung Kang, specifically, delivers some of the film’s best moments (despite being given one of the weaker roles), while Dustin Nguyen’s parody of himself is worthy of a few giggles. Cameos by Leonard Nam (as the director’s dream replacement for Lee) and James Franco (as Nguyen’s suicidal co-star) are welcome surprises, while Roger Fan’s performance as the flashy and overconfident Breeze Loo (a melting pot of all those Bruce Lee knockoffs from the late 70s) steals the show.
