| Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: August 4, 2023 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
18
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
Shortcomings might have felt like more standard Sundance fare — an inoffensive slice-of-life portrait with an imperfect lead — were it not for its self-awareness and vibrant characters. While worth watching for Justin H. Min’s performance alone, Shortcomings will leave the viewer excited to see what Randall Park might do next as a director.
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RogerEbert.comAug 4, 2023
Shortcomings is a wickedly funny, absorbing character study and solo feature directorial debut by actor Randall Park (“Fresh off the Boat”). In the hands of Park, Adrian Tomine's graphic novel (adapted here by Tomine) finds cutting new dimensions in the miserabilism of an unabashed assh*le.
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It’s a piercing portrayal of culturally specific nerd rage in Tomine’s comics; on film, it’s a little talky, and could’ve used more Ghost World-style moments of caricature, like that savaging of Crazy Rich Asians at the opening. But while Shortcomings doesn’t turn Ben into a misanthropic hero or excuse his often-terrible behavior, it does stick to the ethos he espouses early in the picture: This is a movie full of people who are flawed, and real.
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For all the film’s chatty insights into modern dating mores and its casually pointed discussions of racial identity, the formula to which Shortcomings mostly adheres is a familiar one, as though someone has given one of the Apatow-esque man-child comedies of the aughts an Asian makeover.
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The Film StageFeb 1, 2023
ColliderFeb 9, 2023
While Park injects his own joie de vivre to his on-screen performances as an actor, there is a distinct lackluster quality to Shortcomings in its biggest moments. It feels, at times, generic. The story, penned by Tomine, still holds the same feelings for me as the graphic novel, which is to say that at least they provoke thought, but Park’s own style feels far from refined.
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It’s more like the kind of standard Sundance-bound dramedy we’ve seen lots of times before, albeit with a charming cast and some sharp bits of commentary on race, identity and gender that come courtesy of screenwriter Adrian Tomine, who adapted his 2007 graphic novel of the same title.
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