Does anyone understand the Ending?

I think it was of an understanding they had, that both had gained some fresh perspective from Phil and could learn to embrace their differences. Kind of a silent apology between them, and a new bond formed through conflict.

Almost that old "boys will be boys" thing; I know when I was a kid I made a lot of friends by getting in fistfights, drawing a little of each others' blood, and gleaning some mutual respect from the fact we both stood up for ourselves as individuals - which allows you to accept the other at face value.

Then again, I'm an idiot. =)

"Don't try" - The headstone of one Charles Bukowski

i was confused about the ending when i first saw it, but watching it again i think it's apparent that bob at the end was talking to fuller and i assume talking to him about business trying to make up for his mistake of not doing it the other night. i think the look (and i'm just guessing here) is that larry noticed that he was looked different, you can call it humbled and when he smiled larry knew that he was talking to fuller so he smiled in return.

You have to look at their faces very carefully. At first, the looks are solomn, sharing their regrets from the altercation at the end of last night. BUT! Then Larry looks EVER SO SLIGHTLY down and to his right and notices who Bob is talking up, THE BIG KAHUNA! Bob then returns a smile to Larry to say "yeah, I get it now and know why I am here in Wichita. I am taking care of business." Larry returns the smile to acknowledge his respect of Bob for doing so.

I believe the look between Larry and Bob was an understanding. There is a lot of symbolism with their relationship. I think it starts with a more practical interpretation though. There is a circle of reverence between the three main characters, Larry, Phil, and Bob. The story is driven by that reverence circling in one direction. We see Phil's reverence of Larry because of Larry's honesty, Phil's reverence of Bob because of Bob's vitality, and Bob's reverence of Phil because Phil out-and-out earns Bob's respect and fear. The final scenes are a reversal of that reverence, so we ultimaetly see it flowing both ways; the meaning in my mind is that people have to conceed what they want to believe for what they actually believe. So in the end, we hear what we believe is Larry's reverence for Phil with the "I love you" phone call. Then we see Bob's reverence for Larry, because he is scared as *beep* when he looks up and sees Larry in the lobby. Once one arrives at this point of the analysis is where the truly imaginative part of the story arrives. We have to account the abscence of Phil's reverence for Bob. We can assume it, under the pretense that Phil is going through a spiritual catharsis and they are both on board with their belief in God. However, the point of Phil's abscence is that Fuller is symbolicly representative of Phil, insofar as we see Fuller's reverence for Bob by virtue of their three encounters. The nature of Fuller's reverence for Bob opens up an entire can of worms as to whether Fuller is actually trying to hire, or steal Bob. Then there is the further interpretation that Bob symbolicly represents Larry's wife, and that the relationship between Bob and Fuller is representative of Phil's relationship with Larry's wife; and that the "I love you" phone call is actually Larry's wife calling Phil because Phil and she are having an affair. So with this, Larry's look is so much more as it actually symbolizes not only the knowledge, but also the consent of the relationship between Phil and his wife.

That is my interpretation after watching the film last night. What makes this film great though is that my interpretation somewhat evolves and changes every time I see it.

the ending is it there is no solution for u to understand.
all of u are speculating on what u think is going on but U
DON'T KNOW.maybe thats the ending.speculate on that.

Damn, but I'm confused. I'd like to believe that at the end Bob was netting the Big Kahuna - that would be nice, since I think the point of going to a convention IS to get a client - but on the other hand, Bob might just be 'taking about stuff' again.

But then, maybe Phil's conversation about regret is to show us that at the end, Bob regrets not having made a pitch at all...

But it's all just speculation. Sometimes I almost wish they would tell us how it's 'supposed to be.'

I think Bob IS the Big Kahuna. This is like an episode of Undercover Boss! Why do we never see the old man very clearly? But that's when we see Bob at his most confident, genuine and not being fake at all, and also when we see him in the most detail, it's slow motion film. Phil and Larry admitted they DIDN'T know what the Big Kahuna really looked like, so should we assume the old grey-haired man was him? Bob goes undercover to see if this huge deal should go through, to see if these guys had any moral fiber, because this deal is so big. Remember how he had the business card ready, that was his own business card! Remember how confident he was at that high powered party, like he owned the place? He even offered the old guy some food like the owner would. Larry finally realized it when he saw him in his natural state in the lobby, and he let Bob know he knew.