What's his problem?
What a depressing movie, first of all, just saw it for the first time. I kept expecting it to go somewhere but it never really did, just the main character hating himself and thinking he's a hopeless case. Yeah his father sucked hardcore and was a loathsome man but he could just get away from him. To be honest though I had a hard time feeling like this guy was "poor" when he's turning down $8,000 jobs in 1957 (or whatever year), that's like $65,000 these days and he acts like the guy is offering him minimum wage, but he's not willing to accept ANY LESS than $20,000 (don't forget, plus gross), which is like $170,000 today. So what's his problem? That's more money than most people will ever make in a year.
Is it just because his dad makes him feel miserable about not being a millionaire or something? If so he just needs to get away from that awful hotel (hotel hell, full of zombies who only care if a person has money) and be around some real people. Or am I just missing something? I just can't take him seriously as being poor when he's being offered good pay but acts like he's poor, when really he isn't (and aside from his alimony what debts does he have? That makes a huge difference). Watch him, he's on the verge of coronary through the whole movie, you'd think he owed some huge amount to the mafia or something. Is this all just the result of a lifetime of degradation from his father, making him feel inferior just because he isn't in the top 1% of the wealthiest people in the nation? What's the deal? I just had a hard time feeling like he was poor as he thinks he is. He has a bad family situation (no love there) but that's it, then again he does have that nice girlfriend. Guy needs to get away from Manhattan where his father is and be happy with his girlfriend, lighten up, seriously. Aside from the rejection from his father and the way he lets his wife step all over him, he is doing better than most people. It just seems to me to be an emotional problem. Maybe that's the point the movie was trying to make but if so then it could have been presented in a more clear, better way. Just my opinion though.