Shortcomings

Justin H. Min Plays Toxic Good Guy in Randall Park’s Directorial Debut. We all have that one friend. Or relative, or coworker, or ex. Some people, no matter how much you love them, can be exhausting — their own stubborn immaturity hindering the way they live life and build relationships.

In Randall Park’s “Shortcomings,” Justin H. Min plays Ben, a character with a laundry list of exactly what the film’s name invokes and exactly zero awareness of about it. He’s apathetic and irascible with his long-term girlfriend Miko (Ally Maki), self-absorbed with best friend Alice (Sherry Cola), and utterly complacent in his job as manager of a local movie theater, which is hanging on by a thread. Based on the graphic novel by Adrian Tomine, “Shortcomings” is the directorial debut of Park and premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Tomine wrote the screenplay, which bursts with visceral, heartfelt dialogue; the jokes sound like those issued from carefree friends, Ben’s lies like panicked improv, the couple’s fights like real-life quarrels between people who just keeping pushing the wrong buttons. Park directs with an eye to both adapt the novel into a new medium and also preserve its essence, aided by the help of editor Robert Nassau.

The film is divided into (unnecessary, but cute) sections with colorful title cards — “Flaws,” “Punk Sensibility,” “Sasha,” “Personal Hell,” etc. — which are less functional in maintaining that comic-panel feeling than some subtle cinematography choices by Santiago Gonzalez. Min faces a tough task playing probably a disquietingly authentic character, but rises to the challenge. You can see the minor machinations behind Ben’s entitlement and casual gaslighting, but there’s a layer of truth where he genuinely believes he deserves more. Despite being oftentimes unpleasant and toxic, he never careens into full villain territory, pulled back mainly by Cola’s inherently likable company and moments of hard-won self awareness. It’s tough to watch someone flail in such recognizable ways, but “Shortcomings” ends on a hopeful note.

Most scenes feature Ben and just one or two others in a cast that also includes Debby Ryan, Timothy Simons, Tavi Gevinson, Sonoya Mizuno, and Jacob Batalon. Ryan and Gevinson breathe life into their roles, but they illustrate Ben’s overwhelming fascination with white women, and the baffling politics he attaches to that attraction. When Simons shows up in the final act, it challenges Ben’s worldview to the point of a system failure, causing him to visibly short-circuit before our very eyes.

Genres:Comedy, Drama, Raomance

Director:Randall Park

Cast:Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki