Shortcomings
Directed by Randall Park
Written by Adrian Tomine (based on his graphic novel of the same name)
Starring Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola, and Ally Maki
Runtime: 1 hour and 32 minutes
Rated R for language throughout, sexual material and brief nudity
In theaters August 4

by Ian Hrabe, Staff Writer

It would be impossible to be a fan of graphic novels without at least being familiar with Adrian Tomine. His comic book series Optic Nerve is a seminal installment of the alternative comics boom of the 90s and belongs in the same curriculum as Daniel Clowes, Alison Bechdel, Marjane Satrapi, and Chris Ware. After a decade of delivering excellent short story comics, he published his first graphic novel in 2007. Though it was serialized in Optic Nerve, it was very much treated as a longform story and I have a vivid memory of reading the book and being excited for Tomine’s next longform story. 16 years later, I’m still waiting, and the Tomine penned film adaptation is only making me wonder why he hasn’t done another one because the movie is just as good as the book.

Shortcomings follows Ben (Justin H. Min), an Asian-American man with a predilection for white hipster girls, and his relationship with his activist filmmaker girlfriend Miko (Ally Maki). He is, for lack of more accurate descriptors, a narcissistic wastoid and a piece of shit. He manages an arthouse movie theater and fancies himself a filmmaker, and yet really does absolutely nothing with his life. His gay best friend Alice (Sherry Cola) serves as a sort of angel on his shoulder whose advice he routinely ignores. Because the whole point of the movie is that Ben is a toxic person and the reason we watch is to see if a seemingly unredeemable jerk can find a way to stop being an unredeemable jerk. 

Min has been on a hot streak of late, with scene stealing performances in shows like Beef and The Umbrella Academy, and conveyed so much heartbreak with his performance of the titular android in After Yang. I’ve been waiting for him to finally get his break and this has to be it. Playing an asshole that you have to care about is no easy feat, and it’s a testament to Min’s charm and talent that this movie is watchable at all. 

These types of character arcs are always a balancing act, and for the bulk of the movie I was sure Ben was never going to get to a point where following his quest to win his girlfriend back (despite seemingly not being interested in her at all) was going to lead to any sort of growth. But rest assured, it does, and not in a way that feels like, Shitty Character Has Revelation That They Are Shitty Person and Resolve to Change Bad Habits. Ben’s transformation is more going from shitty person to being a less shitty person, and it just feels more honest. That is a testament to Tomine’s script and director Randall Park proving that he’s just as talented behind the camera as he is in front of it. But the real engine that drives this thing is Justin H. Min, who turns in what should be a star-making performance. And while one star making performance would be enough for any film, this feels like a coming out party for comedian Sherry Cola as well. Despite being tagged as the “best friend” character all of these indie comedies have, because the protagonist needs someone to talk to, her magnetism is undeniable every time she’s on the screen. 

Which leads us to this film’s only real flaw, in that it feels like your standard indie dramedy. I have seen so many of these over the years and it’s still shocking that they all feel exactly the same. Which is to say, they are showcases for actors, the scripts are usually good, but they are stylistically bland. Randall Park does a great job with the performances and the storytelling, but does little to visually separate this from the pack which makes me think this movie will end up flying under the radar. 

That would be a shame because Shortcomings has a lot to offer. We’re in the midst of a mini Asian-American cinema renaissance and this absolutely belongs in that conversation. What’s really great is that we’re getting past the point where it’s becoming a novelty. Crazy Rich Asians was wildly successful because it’s a very well made, crowd pleasing romcom, but the conversation always started from a place like, “It has an all Asian cast.” Shortcomings actively comments on the nature of inclusion in film via Ben’s arguments with Miko about her own Asian-American romcom, and this metacommentary on reconciling art and inclusion, and the hurdles underrepresented groups have in making films without being pigeonholed because of their race. 

And yet the Asian-American perspective is incredibly valuable, so race has to play a role in that conversation. That’s the same for any film from an underrepresented group, and it’s something that makes form richer and more exciting. Really, everything from Crazy Rich Asians to Beef to Always Be My Maybe to Shortcomings (not to mention Everything Everywhere All at Once, American Born Chinese, and Fresh Off the Boat) have done an amazing job of giving audiences this perspective without tokenizing it, and it feels like we are in a place where the onus is on Western audiences to normalize hearing different voices in cinema. Shortcomings pushes that conversation further down the road.