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With: Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki, Tavi Gevinson, Debby Ryan, Sonoya Mizuno, Timothy Simons, Jacob Batalon, Scott Seiss, Mike Cabellon, David Niu, Ronny Chieng, Stephanie Hsu, Randall Park
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Written by: Adrian Tomine, based on his graphic novel
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Directed by: Randall Park
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MPAA Rating: R for language throughout, sexual material and brief nudity
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Running Time: 92
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Date: 08/04/2023
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Asian-Caucasian Situation
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
A rather brilliant and movie-savvy deconstruction of the romantic comedy genre, as well as a commentary on diversity and stereotypes, this is a sharp, surprising, and most welcome achievement.
East Bay couple Ben (Justin H. Min) and Miko (Ally Maki) are starting to struggle in their relationship. The cynical Ben wants to be a filmmaker but instead runs a small, struggling Berkeley art house theater, while Miko works for an Asian American film festival. After one fight too many, Miko announces that she's taking an internship in New York and will be gone for three months. Ben sees an opportunity to act on his crush on the new ticket girl, Autumn (Tavi Gevinson), he's just hired. It goes badly.
His best friend Alice (Sherry Cola) takes him to a party, where he meets Sasha (Debby Ryan). They date for a few weeks until Sasha's ex comes back into the picture. Finally, Alice announces that she's going to New York to find herself. With nothing left to lose, Ben meets her there, only to find out that Miko has begun seeing someone. Ben begins to lose it, alienating everyone around him and blaming everyone but himself.
A feature directing debut by Randall Park and based on a graphic novel by Adrian Tomine, Shortcomings begins with an argument over a Crazy Rich Asians-like movie (of which we see only the ending), about whether it's a banal formula movie or a ground-breaking work of diversity. Ben argues that he'd like to see more "real" characters, like himself.
The characters working at the movie theater provide more movie-talk and more perspective. There's even a line about running through the city to do one last grand gesture to win back the girl. The movie asks hard questions about representation, about how Asian-Americans view one another in various ways, especially if Whites are in the mix. For example, Ben is attracted to White women, but feels that White men who are attracted to Asian women are "fetishists."
The real challenge is that the movie asks us to stick by Ben, who, as Miko points out, is angry, depressed, relentlessly negative, and filled with self-hatred. But he's still a rounded character, and we can feel his highs and lows, his pain, and his realization. Shortcomings winds up with a wow of an ending, bringing us back around to the fictional Crazy Rich Asians movie, but this time seen from a different angle. This is a movie that understands its formula and uses it to create something new and bracing.
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