MovieChat Forums > The Big Kahuna (2000) Discussion > Phil is not sleeping with Larry's wife.

Phil is not sleeping with Larry's wife.


As others have explained in other threads.

We don't know who Phil is talking to on the phone at first. When he says "you just missed him", we know it is someone who knows Bob. When he says, "I love you, too" it takes a second to figure out, but then we know he is speaking to Larry (and that he had called to apologize to Bob for grabbing him).

Earlier, Phil asked Larry if he loved him. Larry hemmed and hawed and argued and qualified. Larry simply could not answer with a simple, truthful statement. It isn't in him to say to a man's face, "I love you".

The reason the scene was done that way was to maintain Larry's character. Larry is so cynical and leery of real human emotion it took being pushed to his boiling point to actually admit that he loves and is faithful to his wife.

Larry could only tell Phil he loved him on the phone, not face to face. And to preserve the character's deep sense of privacy, the writer/director did not even let the audience see or hear his confession. We are expected to deduce it (and not that his wife and Phil are having an affair).

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I'm chiming in here, because I was the only one that supported the interpretation that Phil was having an affair.

Your interpretation is fairly sound, with one exception. We DON'T KNOW Phil is speaking to Larry on the phone. It is left to the audience to believe Larry is on the phone ... but it is not a certainty within the framework of the film. If you think the point of the scene is a point-blank inference, that's fine. But this is not the same as "know[ing] he is speaking to Larry."

Hence the reason I thought Capt. Thorpe's interpretation was interesting, and I support it. That isn't to say this is the ONLY interpretation of the film. It's left up to the imagination -- to belief -- but you can't justifiably say that Capt. Thorpe's interpretation is wrong. That information is a variable, and that variable is NOT defined in the film.

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[deleted]

Oh for crying out loud. The point is we DON'T KNOW who is on the phone. We have to BELIEVE in who it is. It's a question of fact vs. faith. The whole Phil is sleeping with Larry's wife statement is hardly the point. I'm not the one who proposed this point. I merely support it as a case in point that we DON'T KNOW who it is.

Yes, it is incorrect to state Phil is sleeping with Larry's wife. But, it is also incorrect to state that it IS NOT Larry's wife on the phone, because we DON'T KNOW who it is.

Believe what you want to believe. But, until someone recognizes that FAITH is the premise of this debate, and NOT FACT, I've got to question the vast majority's ability to grasp the simple moral of the overall story in this film.

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But we DO know who is on the phone (those who actually saw the hole film). It's Larry. And the reason is simply that there were things in the film before that moment, that led to that scene being obvious.

The thing is here, you say "we have to BELIEVE", but actually the skeptical one is precisley you. Because you are basically saying you have to SEE to BELIEVE - you have to actually see LARRY calling Phil in order to believe it's Larry, or otherwise you can basically make any interpretation as randomly ridiculous it can be.




Paul Avery: Someone should write a *beep* book, that's for sure.

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With all due respect, your argument is flawed. I am NOT saying "you have to SEE to BELIEVE." If we were to SEE who called, we would no longer be required to BELIEVE who called. We would KNOW who called.

Faith vs. fact is a central theme of the film. And, the fact is we DON'T KNOW who is on the phone. I've seen the whole film, many times. Sure, we are led to believe it is Larry. But, THAT is the whole point. We are required to BELIEVE it is Larry.

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I get it. We didn't see who was on the phone, so it could have been Abe Lincoln's ghost. Hold on now, before you call me a sarcastic juvenile, think about it. What if that's what the writer wanted us to ponder? Anything that can't be proven is up for grabs and we should consider it, right? So there it is. To deny that consideration despite what you may think my motivations for bring it up, would be unfaithful to the idea that what has been left off screen is open to any possibility you can dream up.

And when you think about it, that's why Phil wanted to die. He wanted to be with his friend Abe.

Yeah. It fits. Nice talkin to ya again, Cap.

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What's utterly freakin' priceless here is I am not Capt. Thorpe. You don't know what you think you know. But, like I said before, believe what you want to believe. I appreciate the profound irony.

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Or a flying car. He coulda been talking to a flying car.

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Yes, this is correct. The idea that Phil is sleeping with Larry's wife is WAY out of left field.

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See a list of my favourite films here: http://www.flickchart.com/slackerinc

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