While the cast of Randall Park's directorial debut are solid, 'Shortcomings' isn't the biting commentary that it needs to be.
Ben Tanaka is our negative, pretentious, hipster, movie-loving protagonist in Randall Park's feature debut Shortcomings. Based on Adrian Tomine's graphic novel of the same name, the film follows Ben's own struggle after he gets dumped by his girlfriend Miko , who abruptly moves to New York.
The opening scene sets up Ben's relationship with his identity and race perfectly, and the use of meta-humor and parody makes it one of the funnier scenes of the film. However, Park's first venture as a feature film director ultimately doesn’t stand out in the way that it needs to. Tonally, it is light and comedic, which feels on brand for Park. He continues to lean into meta-humor throughout the film, but when he wants to dip into drama, it doesn't really have the same impact.
That’s not to say that there’s nothing to admire about Shortcomings. The performances speak to the witty comedic timing of its actors. Specifically, Sherry Cola as Ben's lesbian best friend Alice has great chemistry with Min as Ben. Alice starts the film closeted to her parents but grows through the span of the film to embrace love. Considering that Ben is very easy to dislike, it’s still not hard to imagine why Ben and Alice have been friends for so long.
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