They say if you want to make a movie that everyone will go see, make it about Jesus or Superman. You could almost say, if you want Asian Americans to stop passing around pirated HK VCDs, put an AA actor in a mainstream film. Okay, you can't really say that since it would probably just mean we'd be passing around pirated USA DVDs, but it almost seems that way given the scarcity of us in non-"ethnic" films.

So when I went to see Superman last night, I was pretty excited that Kal Penn (Kumar) was sharing 80s-style, zooming neon credits at the beginning of the film with the likes of Parker Posey and Kevin Spacey. Since I never quite got around to subscribing to Variety magazine, this was an exciting surprise. Penn plays Stanford, one of Lex Luthors tiny band of thugs (he rolls with a crew only six deep- what?!). Great name, huh- a nod to his characters technical skills (he's the only one whose main function doesn't seem to rely on looking ugly)? Probably not. Maybe they were hoping for someone more FOB-y.

Don't get too excited, though- despite appearing to be the least replaceable of the band of four-guys-wearing-black-toughguy-costumes, I couldn't tell if he actually had a line in the movie. I think he did, but they all sounded like they were coming from off-screen. He does probably get more single shots than any of the other thugs, but for those hoping for just one snappy untterance upon which to hang the hopes of Asian Americans mainstream movie thespians, don't hold your breath. To be fair, though, he comes off with no less than the other cronies, ie he's basically a warm prop who gets it with the others by the end (assuming you make it that far in a 2.5hr long effects movie with bland characters and more relationship tension between Lex and Kitty than between Clark/Superman and Lois).

It seems not even Superman can do much to break the ethnic boundaries of the mainstream film world. That should be no shock given that most of the cities in which he performs his heroics are American or European, according to the newsreels in the movie. For the summer, maybe those hopes will have to rest on Tokyo Drift.