Smashing Stereotypes

This is one of five films featured in the DVD collection "The Short Stack: Volume 5". I have enjoyed their other compilations and can recommend this one as well.

Josiah D. Lee is a struggling young actor. However, again and again, he's frustrated as everyone seems to want him to play stereotypical Asian guys--and he just wants to play normal roles--not some sort of Charlie Chan wannabe! It's funny to see but also quite sad that EVERY time he gets picked for a part it's to play a Chinese delivery boy or act in a martial arts film! He's dying for better parts--ones that aren't completely stereotypical.

I think this film had a good point to make (much like Robert Townsend's film "Hollywood Shuffle"), though I think occasionally the situations and actors are a bit too broad. After all, not EVERYONE who Josiah meets would act the same racist way all the time. However, I liked the acting of Josiah--he seemed pretty natural and likable. And, the film was very enjoyable from start to finish.

Smashing Steretotypes started off great! It had a clever idea, it was funny, and very entertaining. But then, it kept going on and on and on. There are at least 5 deleted scenes that were unnecessary and could have easily been removed without losing the essence of the story. It would have been a much stronger piece had it been cut down to the bone. The film ended up being repetitive and got to be too much in the end, like the point was being smashed into the face of the audience. The film's theme came across in the first 5 minutes, the rest of the film was pointless. The friend and girlfriend characters were unneeded and didn't add anything to the story. I enjoyed the film, but felt it would have been better had it been shorter. A 5 minute film dragged out to 23...