Shortcomings Parent Guide

Having abandoned his dreams of being a filmmaker, Ben (Justin H Min) now manages a rundown theater while living with his girlfriend, Miko (Ally Maki) in her trust fund Berkeley apartment. The couple have started drifting apart so when Miko announces that she’s been selected for a film internship in New York, they agree to “take a break” for a few months.

Miko’s departure accelerates the downward slide in Ben’s life. Two attempted relationships burn out and his job is increasingly precarious. All he’s left with is his outspoken friend, Alice (Sherry Cola), who uses him as a fake boyfriend so her traditional Korean parents won’t discover that she’s a lesbian. When a chance encounter removes Alice from Ben’s orbit, he becomes increasingly desperate. But Miko isn’t returning his calls…

This is a difficult film thanks to the shortcomings of its protagonist. Ben is selfish, insecure, totally self-absorbed, and incapable of honest emotional communication (ironic, considering that he’s highly articulate). His good looks and agile mind aren’t enough to compensate for the character traits that lead him to repeatedly sabotage his relationships. He’s hard to like and that makes the movie hard to love.

The trailer might lead you to assume that Shortcomings is a relationship story but it’s really a maturation tale; an examination of Ben’s painful journey to honest self-assessment. It’s also a probing look at issues of race and identity. Is Ben’s penchant for blondes an aesthetic preference for golden hair or is it a sign of internalized racial self-hatred? The complexity of racial identification occurs in Ben’s life as a two-edged sword. For him, acknowledging racism can be both freeing – in recognizing the validity of his own experiences – and also frustrating – when he isn’t sure if he should be viewing an experience through a racial lens. This is the most interesting part of the film and provides more to think about than his tortured love life.

This introspective, darkly comic film isn’t aimed at a mass audience and its potential audience is further narrowed by its negative content. There are over 140 profanities in the script, 101 of which are sexual expletives. A naked man appears in two scenes, providing full rear nudity, and a porn website is briefly shown on a character’s laptop (without explicit detail). Other sexual content includes innuendo, straight and lesbian characters kissing, and implied sex. Scenes of smoking and alcohol consumption confirm the movie’s Restricted rating.

Even aside from the content issues, this is a frustrating film because it could be so much better. The exploration of race and identity is compelling and the relationships between the characters feel authentic. Miko’s assertion of her autonomy is a particularly rewarding moment in the story, but there aren’t enough moments like that. Watching Ben slog through a series of grey days while battling his own self-justification, rationalization, and self-absorption simply isn’t rewarding and the final payoff is weak, albeit credible. More humor and less angst would make for a better film; this one just feels like it needs to spend some time in therapy.