Ben Tanaka’s got a small dick. It’s an unfortunate anatomical fact that he blames on being Asian. And, well-founded or not, this insecurity has made him a socially toxic mess of racial self-hatred, neurotic sexual hang-ups and denial on all fronts. I mean, imagine an unfunny Japanese Woody Allen from the West Coast with a fetish for white chicks and a porn stash to match … Total fun times, right?

WRONG. In just over 100 pages, Ben manages to alienate three different women:
1) Miko, his live-in girlfriend and the assistant Asian-American Digi-Fest organizer;
2) Autumn, a grungy white girl performance artist; And, 3) Sasha, a blonde bisexual grad student. Until finally, there’s no one volunteering for Ben’s bullshit … Except his Korean BFF Alice, a promiscuous, pussy-kicking lesbian. (But, then, even she ends
up leaving him.)

Now, amid total rejection and general bad vibes, Shortcomings isn’t the major bummer you’d expect. Sure, it’s a quietly sadistic look at Gen-Xers brutalized by domesticity and premature middle age. Not to mention, its meanest moments read like a graphic novelization of some ’90s date movie getting barebacked by Todd Solondz. But Tomine’s massive talent saves a seemingly ugly scene, spinning something both damning and tender … A sort of tribute to the negative creep in all of us.