Shortcomings

Of course, a protagonist can be a loser, but he or she has to have something of quality that the audience can fall in love with or even at least can relate to or root for. Ben is controlling, unfaithful, negative, and being a racist himself. Most importantly, he's the biggest hypocrite. All the other things, he can be loved by character development, but he does what he despises and criticizes without any moral conflict. That's when the audience drops any interest left in him. The ending is weak as well.

As Randall Park's directorial debut, 'Shortcomings' is not bad at telling the story and continuing it smoothly without any huge leap of logic.

Shortcomings is a very well made and acted slice of life type of movie. It's a comedy with full of heart. I love this flick. The directorial debut of Randall Park (who does a cameo) is an assured work. Must watch whether you're of Asian descent or not because there are many things relatable here, especially for those who've lived the single life and all its entanglements, or if they're still in the midst of their younger version.

It depicts many relatable themes like struggles, self doubt, finding love, heartache, friendship, family - - all with the brevity and lightness that's just right that it doesn't go too deep and depressing and it isn't too over the top funny.

The lead Ben (Justin Min) is someone you'd either relate to or know someone like that. Seems shallow, a bit of a prick, and still wandering about life. His good friend Alice is a lesbian (Sherry Cola) who's also living her best life (sort of); she even asks him to pretend to be her bf to placate her conservative Korean parents. (source of good comedy; it was also in one of the trailers so this isn't a spoiler). Sherry steals the show and provides great friendship chemistry with Justin. It's also a pretty funny movie at the right doses. Love to see Sonoya Mizuno (La La Land and Craxy

Wonderful job by Randall Park and the cast and crew. I highly recommend this.

Plus it's funny!

Ok. I overrated it. It's not that something worth a 10/10. But I really enjoyed watching it. It reminds me when I'm young. When I don't know how to appreciate what I have. Keep chasing the feelings like trophy collection. Obsessed with one relationship. Biased. Sometimes frustrated. All of these are actually called growing up. It's a period of time, while you learn how to fight, how to let go and move on. Learn how to live with it en enjoy the moment. Learn how to appreciate and respect. Park, I think I got what you trying to say.

There are several times in the movie people used the term of "what age is he living in". I think that was a key of explaining some times we are deeply impacted by the ideals that we were educated or lectured during our childhood. One day when you wake up and start to think and selectively review these things we were taught, that's called maturity.

That's what this movie made me think of. Kinda deep. Again, I really enjoyed it.

Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

"Shortcomings" is a story about a trio of young Bay Area urbanites--Ben Tanaka, Miko Hayashi, and Alice Kim--as they navigate a range of interpersonal relationships, traversing the country in search of the ideal connection. This is Randall Park's first debut feature and I gotta say it's a pretty good first time directing project. Shortcomings explores about friendship, love, narcissism, and growth revolving around Asians or Asian American communities. I wasn't fully wowed by anything from the movie but I was still able to connect with the movie.

Park is able to capture the interesting chemistry between the cast members and the modern setting with some fun humor and personalities explored. The performances from each cast members was really good and Justin H. Min does a pretty good job portraying a man child of a person. The camerawork wasn't too special but it was good for the overall setting. The production is good and some of the dialogue was well-written and funny.

However, the story does become pretty predictable as it continues. A generic rom-com story where predictable movements were going to happen. But without Park's charms and chemistry, it would have been like a bad hallmark movie. Despite having some good dialogue, there were some dialogue moments that felt really awkward or forced and I am not sure if that was intentional or not. If it was intentional then I can understand but if not then those dialogue moments were pretty rough. Some of the supporting characters were a little annoying. Even with my gripes, I was still able to be entertained throughout this film.

By all means, it's a decent romantic comedy with good pacing and interesting concepts explored. I'd recommend for those who wanna have a drink or two and watch it for fun.

Rating: B-

"Shotcomings"... Man, I've had bigger laughs watching paint dry. I mean, the previews had me thinking this was going to be the comedy of the year. Remember those? Hilarious. But the movie? A couple of chuckles here and there, but mostly crickets. And what was up with that plot? More like "What plot?" If movies had arcs, this one was stuck in the flatlands. Honestly, by the end, I was just sitting there thinking, "Did we really need this movie in our lives?" I guess I set my hopes too high. Thought I was in for a comedy feast but left feeling like I just had a light snack. Bit of a letdown, tbh.