Ben is dissatisfied with his love life.
He’s been with his girlfriend, Miko, for nigh on six years now. But lately, they’ve grown apart. There are a lot of reasons for this: Ben’s lack of professional motivation; his snobbery; and his racially charged, self-deprecating sense of humor.
But Ben is blind to all these flaws. No, it must be because Miko, like himself, is Asian. And frankly, he just prefers white girls.
Sure … that’s what it is.
Of course, Ben can’t say that’s the reason why he doesn’t want to be with Miko. After all, that would make him a jerk. (And Ben is at least superficially aware that it would hurt Miko’s feelings to learn that her boyfriend isn’t attracted to her because of her race.)
But on the other hand, Miko’s not dumb. She’s seen the kind of pornography Ben watches. And after six years, she’s grown tired of this and his many other … shortcomings.
So they take some time apart, during which Ben finally fulfills his fantasy of dating a white girl—several white girls, in fact.
However, as Ben soon discovers, race wasn’t the reason he and Miko split. No, no, no. It had to do with Miko’s flaws—things Ben is completely prepared to overlook now.
Ben is certainly in for a rude awakening. After all, it can be quite disappointing to finally look at yourself and come up short.
Shortcomings has plenty of content, as we’ll see. But as the film progresses, its characters do become more self-aware. They begin to recognize their own shortcomings and try to improve upon these negative traits.
Along the way, a few female characters gain the confidence to finally (and rightly) stand up for themselves when they’re being mistreated. When a couple of men realize they aren’t making certain situations better, they choose to walk away instead of continuing to make things worse.
Racism is a big issue in Shortcomings. And the film critiques it throughout—sometimes by obviously showing us how ugly and destructive it can be. Characters describe their experiences with discrimination due to their race. And there are some discussions about crimes committed during World War II against certain ethnic minorities both in America and in Asia.
Ben’s best friend, Alice, lies to her parents, saying that Ben is a Christian youth pastor when they attend a wedding together at a church. And Ben awkwardly says, “Praise Jesus,” to reinforce the lie. Ben describes his old high school as a “Mormon modeling agency.”
Ben kisses a woman, and the pair begins to remove clothing as things progress toward sex. (We see the woman’s bra.) The camera cuts to the next scene before anything critical happens, but Ben brags to Alice about having sex with the woman the following day.
Alice is gay. She engages in many same-sex relationships (which we hear are sexual), and we see her kiss another woman onscreen. Sasha, a woman that Ben dates, is bisexual. And she eventually breaks up with Ben to get back together with her ex-girlfriend. A male salesclerk acts effeminately.
Ben and Miko argue when she finds pornography (which we briefly see some still images of) on his computer. He rationalizes that watching it doesn’t constitute cheating. But Miko tells him its more about the fact that the videos only feature women who adhere to the “typical Western-media beauty ideal.” And when Miko admits that this makes her feel badly about herself (since she doesn’t fit that ideal), Ben condescends to her, calling her crazy and continuing to defend both his usage and his preferences.
A man performs in the nude, and we see his bare rear on a few occasions. We see several pictures of a woman posing in lingerie. People talk crassly about sex, masturbation, and male and female anatomy (and we hear a few crude terms describing the latter). Ben and a few other guys openly gawk at women they find attractive. We see a few women in tight and revealing clothing.
Some couples kiss and flirt. A man tries to kiss a woman, but she rejects him, later saying that she’s not physically attracted to him. A woman says she has “exhibitionist tendencies,” and Ben takes this as an invitation to watch her when she’s working (which she encourages by blowing him a kiss).
Miko travels to New York for an internship; while she’s gone, Ben begins dating (and sleeping with) other women. But when he learns that Miko began dating someone new as well, he gets angry, not realizing how hypocritical he’s being. He accuses her new boyfriend of having a fetish for Asian women (which is ironic since Ben himself has a sexual preference for white women). Later, when he’s called out for his hypocrisy, he defends himself by using “pejorative slang” and by making demeaning comments about a woman’s mixed parentage.
We hear how some characters have been discriminated against due to their sexual orientation. Ben tells one of his male employees not to call a female employee “Baby.”
Alice says she was kicked out of her college for kicking another woman in the crotch. We hear that people raped and pillaged during World War II. Someone jokes about suicide. A man strikes a defensive pose when he feels physically threatened. Characters discuss an action sequence from Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.
There are 55 uses of the f-word and 25 uses of the s-word. We hear about 10 uses of “a–hole,” as well as a few uses each of “b–ch,” “d–k,” “h—,” “p-ss,” “p–ck” and “p—y.” We also hear racial slurs and a few crude terms for female anatomy. And God’s name is abused 15 times, while Christ’s name is abused four.
People drink at parties and bars throughout the movie. One woman smokes several cigarettes, even after she’s advised that it’s bad for her health.
Ben is incredibly rude toward Asian people and cultures, despite being Asian himself. He accuses Miko of becoming racially political because it’s “trendy.” He insults several Asian filmmakers for what he believes is selling out after they create a mainstream romcom featuring a predominately Asian cast.
Ben gets angry when someone judges him for being in a mixed-race relationship (though it appears that perception was false). But when his ex-girlfriend does the same, he hypocritically accuses her new beau of fetishism—an insult to her as well since he suggests that the man only likes her for her race. He also implies that someone’s ethnic background was made up for college applications.
When folks try to call Ben out for this and other bad behaviors, he tries to justify it, usually by claiming he’s “joking.” But even setting that particular response aside, Ben’s actions and attitudes throughout the film could be succinctly described as selfish, manipulative, judgmental and really, just toxic.
A film shows a man denying a woman’s application for a penthouse apartment because of her race. In response, her husband purchases the building; they say money can buy happiness; and they essentially turn the racist man into their trash collector.
People lie and are generally rude to each other. Ben acts obsessively over his girlfriends, losing his temper with them during arguments and even stalking one. A movie depicts a man yelling at his son for setting a building on fire. Several people illegally live in an abandoned building. A guy gives out sensitive employee information, even though it’s against company policy. We see about a hundred pictures of a toilet filled with urine as part of an art exhibit. Someone says, “All men are trash.”
When it comes to relationships, even platonic ones, Ben is constantly in a state of denial.
There are a lot of things he can blame his failing romances and friendships on: society, sexuality, race, etc. But when he discovers the only common denominator in all his failed relationships is himself, he gradually realizes it’s time to start making some changes.
And change is hard, particularly when it means changing some fundamental aspects of your personality. Which in Ben’s case includes problems with anger, depression, self-hatred and especially, “relentless negativity.”
But if Ben can let go of his cynicism long enough to be genuinely happy for those he cares about most, he just might find some happiness for himself.
There’s a good message here about removing the plank from your own eye before pointing out the splinter in someone else’s. And the strong, predominately Asian cast grants some representation that—as the film itself attests to—has been sorely lacking in Hollywood. Obviously, the film has a lot to say about what it’s like to be the victim of racial discrimination, too.
But those positive elements are weakened by a plethora of foul language, multiple premarital sexual relationships and several LGBT characters that some folks may not wish to navigate.
In short, Shortcomings isn’t a film families should be rushing to the theater to watch.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
