AllMovie

Three Chinese students in New York City find their preconceptions of life in America permanently shattered in this comedy drama from director Shimon Dotan (Hot House, Diamond Dogs). It's the summer of 1980. Chen (Leonardo Nam), Tzu (James Chen), and Wa (Keong Sim) have just arrived in the country when they move into a crowded apartment building and meet their new neighbor -- a friendly graduate student named Dexter (Ryan O'Nan). Up to this point, Tzu, Wa, and Chen have learned everything they ever knew about life in the U.S. by watching endless hours of television. But shortly after meeting Dexter's sometimes-girlfriend Suzanne (Gillian Jacobs) and starving filmmaker Billy (Michael Esper), the newly arrived trio get a rude awakening in the form of a vicious mugging. Meanwhile, relationships get complicated when Suzanne comes on to Chen, and her ex-boyfriend Zap (Peter Scanavino) turns menacing. Convinced that something ominous looms on the horizon following the assassination of John Lennon, the unnerved trio decide that their only hope for personal safety in the city is to buy a handgun.