Sony Pictures Classics unveiled the official trailer for Shortcomings, the comedy-drama film developed from the award-winning graphic novel by Adrian Tomine, and starring Justin Min as Ben, a struggling filmmaker, Sherry Cola as his girl friend, along with Ally Maki as Ben’s best friend. Also starring in the film are Debby Ryan, Tavi Gevinson, Sonoya Mizuno, Jacob Batalon and Timothy Simons.
Directed by Randall Park, making his feature directorial debut, Shortcomings world premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and opens in theaters with a release date of August 4th, 2023.
Ben, a struggling filmmaker, lives in Berkeley, California, with his girlfriend, Miko, who works for a local Asian American film festival. When he’s not managing an arthouse movie theater as his day job, Ben spends his time obsessing over unavailable blonde women, watching Criterion Collection DVDs, and eating in diners with his best friend Alice, a queer grad student with a serial dating habit. When Miko moves to New York for an internship, Ben is left to his own devices, and begins to explore what he thinks he might want.
In its review ( 3 out of 4 stars) for the film, Slant Magazine said, “As a director, Park maintains a quick pace that fits Tomine’s scrappy and theory-laden screenplay, which focuses somewhat less on Ben’s self-hatred than the graphic novel and more on how his fixation on argumentative hot takes sabotages his relationships. Maintaining a high ratio of humor to introspection, and surrounding Ben with a strong cast of engaging secondary characters, the film manages the trick of presenting a frequently antisocial protagonist in a way that’s honest and unsparing while still empathetic. After watching Ben burn one bridge after another, viewers may not want to care what happens to him at the end of the film, but the power of this peppy and romantic-ish comedy is that many of them will.
Mashable also gave the film a good review, writing, “Shortcomings takes several scenes to solidify its rhythm and tone, but once it does, you’re in for a slice-of-life comedy that prefers understated, wince-worthy jokes to out-there laugh riots. For the most part, Tomine’s dialogue is very natural, helping solidify the film’s lived-in feel. There’s no question that Shortcomings’ best scenes are between Ben and Alice: Min and Cola volley dialogue in such an easy way that there’s no doubt these are two kindred spirits. Shortcomings especially picks up momentum in the third act, when an unexpected quest unites them in strange circumstances.”
Randall Park, best known as an actor, makes his feature directorial debut with Shortcomings. He’s also known for his work on ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat. Park co-wrote, produced, and starred in the hit Netflix comedy Always Be My Maybe with Ali Wong.
Watch the official trailer for Shortcomings.