At the surface level, the film is about an Asian actor trying to make it in Hollywood and the road blocks he encounters. At this level the film succeeds. It’s interesting and paced well, and sheds light on a topic often glossed over by a glossy industry. But, the more substantive drama plays out as a romance between this "leading man" and a casting director. These two storylines work well together for the first half (fun, dramatic, funny, engaging), but as the film rounds to the third act, its colors dim.

I don’t mean to poo-poo a brave non-traditional Hollywood ending, I just felt the script could have benefited by elaborating on the inner struggle in that third act. The writers had already done a great job of crafting the story, the drama, the conflict, and set their character’s intentions spinning in quite engaging ways … but that last step of juicing the lead character’s inner transition felt truncated.

"A leading man" is well acted, directed, and edited for the most part. (Exceptions: A scene or two felt prematurely interjected. Also, some straight-on shots of the actor talking directly to the camera as if he were speaking to another actor, didn’t quite match up with the flow of the edited scene as a whole.) However, that shot of the lead at the table with his mother on one side and girlfriend on the other and the camera place directly behind him, so that we see his back and the sides of the two women made for a refreshingly interesting cinematic choice to create a surprisingly strong POV for the audience.

This drama/comedy/tragedy brings to mind the film The Weather Man(Nicolas Cage).

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