MovieChat Forums > The Trip (2002) Discussion > the end? (possible spoiler)

the end? (possible spoiler)


I liked the entire movie, but I did not like the ending... It felt like a bit of a cop out.

js

reply

Well, it was certainly an ending, in more ways than one. I suppose the point there was that the two of them had the chance to make things right and after all that was said and done, what was left?

The ending really grated on me until I watched the deleted scenes on the DVD. I think that was possibly the first time I actually didn't say to myself "Why on earth was THAT cut out?" - talk about too much information.

reply

I suspect the End was the way it was because it had been that way for Mike Swain some time back? Dunno. It would be interesting to find out ....

reply

I agree, the ending was a reconciliation but not a "happily ever after" which I truly respect. Right off I felt raped. Like I'd just spent the length of the film learning to love and admire a relationship that ends so tragically. But after thinking it out it now seems to me only right. What tore them apart didn't have to. They both let it. They missed the oppurtunity to explain and mend the problems. And after years of being apart had lost any chance of continuing a life together. I found a timeless message in this.
"Don't put of until tomorrow what you can do today".

reply

The ending was based on some actual events which had nothing to do with the filmakers own life but rather a story they had heard. No happy ending in the story they heard unfortuantly. A "Hollywood Ending" was considered but rejected out of respect to the memories of those individuals who may have been involved.

reply

I thought the ending that was used was the right choice. It's sad and depressing, but also beautiful and thought provoking. The fact that Tommy and Alan got to be together for a little while longer, and Alan got some kind of closure (or, at least that's the way I see it!) was a great way to end the movie.

reply

This is the typical anti-hollywood ending. If it was inspired by real life then they should have figured out another way for a good ending, because the way it's finished leaves us sad and dissapointed.

I would have had Alan write the book and meeting another guy who illustrates the same sort of humor and coolness that Tommy had. Letting us know, everything's okay and that Alan will be allright.

For instance, while signing his books a guy in line is reading the back cover and asks. "You're gay and a republican? We've got to talk". Sort of going back the humor between the two that we so learned to love. Tommy might be gone, but the writers let his spirit die. You should never do this in a movie in my opinion. Even if they die, bring back what makes them great.

A good example is Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black. One of my favorite movies of all time. Pitt dies twice in this movie, yet through creative storytelling is brought back for his future-love. Thus we don't feel like crap because even though her father has died she has Pitt to take care of her. This is a rare movie, where such endings are rarely possible.

Steve Braun I thought was incredibly good in this movie. He played the part really well. The other guy Alan was good as well in his own way. He's laugh was one-of-a-kind and the kissing/romatic parts were perfect.

Good movie, Great comedy but unfortunatly a bad ending.

reply

I don't think they let Tommy's spirit die at all. That's what the "For Tommy" being the last shot of the movie was probably for. And I wouldn't have wanted Alan to find someone new because Tommy was his true love. I think that the only way the ending could've been better would've been to have Tommy not die, but that wouldn't have been realistic. I thought the ending was perfect.

Also, I agree with you about Steve Braun. His performance was beautiful.

reply

You know what they say about opinions ::))

I HATE BAD ENDINGS. I simply can't stand the "anti-hollywood bad ending movies." The "For Tommy" to me was the nail in his coffin. Sending us home sad and depressed, but we all have our own opinion's.

I've watched a lot of gay flicks and almost all of them have bad endings. The writer no doubt thinks this is more true to life because they are so scourned. What I would'nt give for just one great movie that is gay/lesbian focused but doesnt end so badly! lol, no heartbreak without a positive resolution!!

-Robby

reply

hey boys {and possibly some girls}
I didn't mean that him dying was a cop out. I felt that his death was inevitable. {forgive the bad spelling i lost my dictionary} The thing I felt was a cop out was the book signing at the end of the film. I thought that it was just too bland. It made me feel like the film was suddenly trying too hard. I don't know but it just sat badly with me, kinda like the turkey curry I had last nite.

and this is for Robby, the guy who posted right before me: watch the film "Trick." It is largely light hearted, and ends happily. Though Tori Spelling's singing made me wince a lil.

js

reply

I see your point about the book signing being a cop out, although I don't believe it was. Well, maybe it was a little bit, but I'm just glad that the movie ended with Alan being at least a little happy, and finding out that he helped that kid come out. I'm just glad they didn't use the ending they were going to use (have you read the script? It's pretty...nasty).

Jenny

reply



(have you read the script? It's pretty...nasty).


I'd love to read the script! Is it available on line anywhere?

*****
Randy
*****

reply

I bought it for $20 at http://hometown.aol.com/thetrip2001/myhomepage/movies.html, and it comes signed by Miles Swain.

reply

Mine was signed by Steve Braun (so hot), Sirena Irwin, & Miles Swain ^_^ Cause im special =)

God was created in mans image.

reply

Really? That's cool. I wish mine would've been signed by them, too, but that's okay. :) I also got a series of two posters that were signed by Larry Sullivan, Steve Braun and Miles Swain. And, I agree with you about Steve Braun being hot!

reply

I agree. The ending of this movie literally made me sick with depression. I also didn't really buy the break-up...at least from Tommy's perspective. It seems as if he would have tried to work through it, instead of just leaving without a word for seven years. One of the most needlessly depressing movies I have ever seen. A real shame, seeing as how the first hour was pure bliss. Even "21 Grams" had me crying less than this one.

reply

it was a really depressing ending and it really didn't explain anything to us. So we're supposed to believe that Tommy just gave up on Allan over a stupid book when he claimed to love him so much and in this time they were broken up we're supposed to assume he had lots of anonymous unprotected gay sex and contracted HIV....i don't know it just seemed like a lot to handle. Why couldn't it have been a happy reunion? They still could have had all the basic elements, the thelma and louise stuff, the lady being a prejudiced bitch and not wanting to let either of them on the plane. Having Tommy die as a martyr was just so *beep* depressing, it seems gay people can never have a happy ending in movies, aren't we playing into the heterosexual stereotype then that all gay people have to be punished?

reply

I don't agree here. I love indie films, but the gay ones always seem to go for the stereotypes -- this is probably the first gay movie I've ever seen that most of the characters weren't one-dimensional in. They didn't go for the over-the-top, silly humour of "Trick" or "The Birdcage" (or "La Cage"); it didn't delve into the outlandishness of "Tales of the City;" they didn't delve into the tear-jerkiness of "Philladelphia;" they didn't go for the outrageously hot and heavy sex scenes that dominate nearly every gay film (and "Queer as Folk"). What Miles Swain did was integrate the best of all of these traits and more to deliver a realistic and powerful movie.

That said, I wasn't born until a couple years after the film begins, so I only having a passing knowledge of what it was like to live through Anita Bryant and Harvey Milk... But I lost my Tommy in a similar (but ultimately less dramatic) way to how Alan lost his - two years ago. Perhaps it's because of this that I'm biased, but I didn't find the ending to be a cop-out or depressing at all.

Not only is the ending in which Tommy dies and Alan writes a book that he's passionate about, right for the characters but it was realistic (at least through my somewhat altered perception). It would have been too depressing to have ended it with Tommy's death (and burial) after such a rollercoaster ride of a film. The ending tag showed that two years later Alan was still here and all right without the love of his life or the leach he became dependant upon. While it's not your traditional Hollywood happy ending, it felt right for the character. I like a great many Hollywood films, but it seems like people are disappointed if they don't leave with the "happy ending" (anyone with a knowledge of film knows that a lot of very popular '60s and '70s films ended with the heroes dying... "Willard" is the first one to pop into mind for some reason).

Now, xy77boy, though I doubt you'll read this... You said: "So we're supposed to believe that Tommy just gave up on Allan over a stupid book when he claimed to love him so much and in this time they were broken up we're supposed to assume he had lots of anonymous unprotected gay sex and contracted HIV..."

First of all, it only takes one time to contract HIV, and most gay men didn't use condoms in the late '70s and early '80s, before anyone knew what HIV was. As for us believing Tommy gave up on Alan over the book - he never really gave up on Alan. He says that he always loved him shortly before he dies. Sure, he may have left, but in the same situation with all the pressures that the Tommy character would've been under, it doesn't seem implausable.

Well, that's my two cents (though I'm probably overestimating its value...).

reply

Couldn't have said it better myself Junkie.

reply

I thought the end fo the movie was approriate for the story line and not a cop out or a depressing ending. I liked the fact that Tommy got to die with the one he loved and not some stanger. I had a patient a few months ago and he died of Aids at the age fo 28 alone and with no one he knew. I broke my heart to tell mom that he had died. I wished of my patient's sake that he would have got to die with the one he loved. It would have made his life worth more than what it turned out to be.

reply

try watching "Big Eden"...a total feel good hollywood fantasy ending movie.

reply

Robby,
Try "THE LAST YEAR", I think you'll like the ending. The critics, who think they know what is good, bad or indifferent for us, didn't give this gay flick a strong recommendation. I happened to think it was a very honest film very well acted by the main characters. Supposedly this is an actual story, of course, somewhat exagerated at times for effect. It made me cry at certain points, but then, to me, this is the sign of a good film and good acting. I suppose I'm just a romantic at heart because I really liked this story. The ending is very uplifting. I think you would like it. Tad

reply

I recommend to you Formula 17.
it is the sweetest and most adorable gay movie I have seen.
And my friends also all loved it.

annakas

reply

Watch "Amor de Hombre"! It has a not so perfect ending, but it does leave you feeling happy! It is in spanish so make certain to get it with subtitles!

reply

Thank you! The *beep* ending was such a cop-out. Why do so many gay movies have to have a *beep* sad ending? I mean, it's like gay directors and writers feel like some kind of self-hate like they can never allow themselves happiness or do not deserve to be happy. I can count the amount of gay films that do not rely on sad endings on two hands (by sad I mean, the 'couple' doesn't end up together, someone dies, someone dies of AIDS, or someone goes back to their wife/girlfriend or is really 'straight'.)

Seriously? When can we as a *beep* community move past this self-hating *beep* and allow ourselves to have a plethora of happy endings. The word GAY means happy, but if you took the microcosm of gay flicks archived from a future standpoint or from the standpoint of some outsider / alien race- they'd think gay people were the most sad and depressed culture that's existed in cinematic history. Movies with 'sad' or 'twist endings' that are ANTI HOLLYWOOD were unique when they were RARE. The problem is, in a sea of movies that subscribe to self-hatred and the feeling that we are 'unworthy' of love or that elusive happy ending, the 'happy ending' has become a rarity, unlike heterosexual movies. When a heterosexual movie has a sad or twist ending, it's often a surprise, sometimes appropriate, sometimes a shock- but that's because heterosexual movies contain that seed of hope and the want for a happy ending that's often fulfilled; when confronted with a 'nasty' ending in which the couple splits or the villain wins- yes, it's original. But when the typical formula for gay cinema is 'build up and crash at the end', the sad ending is just another *beep* cliche` that makes me sick to my stomach from the pure acerbation of the *beep* genre of gay cinema.

MORE HAPPY ENDINGS PLEASE. Then in 10 years, when every gay movie is awesome and happy, you can do a couple of 'twist endings' and be *beep* original and 'edgy'. Seriously. This is a major problem. Don't ignore it.

'Cause I ride like Kelly Bundy, Yo I keep that *beep* nasty~ (Spank Rock)

reply

So true. Sad endings are cop outs because in real life the % of happy endings versus sad endings is a little more 50/50 according to statistics (happiness quotients, single vs taken elderly gay men, etc.) versus what hollywood shows us (sad all the time). It's *beep* and it's a cop out. The guy didn't die from AIDS and it was just a 'story they heard' so it's not based on anything real, if anything, it's hearsay. This movie is a crock of *beep* and a waste of time. #WORSTGAYMOVIEEVER

'Cause I ride like Kelly Bundy, Yo I keep that *beep* nasty~ (Spank Rock)

reply

Steve Braun was AMAZING. I wouldn't have wanted Alan to find someone either. But I wish he'd done something before Tommy left him... He just sat, and even his "sorry" was after Tommy had already left. I would've had him beg and cry and hug and explain and grovel. It's his true love and a completely unnecessary end to a once-in-a-lifetime love. They were so tender and loving and caring and sexy together... Sigh.

reply

The fact that you actually stayed awake through Meet Joe Black has me incredibly impressed. But it also explains why you hated the ending. "Art imitating life." I'm sorry but I know very few people, besides Oprah, who have that "life is roses and everything works out for the best" type life. Life is sh*t, period. There are more stories like Alan and Tommy's than you can even imagine. Sorry to burst your bubble.

reply

>>Life is sh*t, period.<<

C'mon, Hiptily. Life is no more all sh!t than it is all sweetness and light. It's different at different times and it's different for each person. None of us gets out alive, but that's not tragedy, just reality.

reply

Wrong again *beep* "LIFE IS *beep* PERIOD" Sorry I don't subscribe to your *beep* negative view on LIFE. I've met hundreds of thousands of gay men since the 1980s and been out since 1994 and I've met maybe like a dozen out of those hundreds of thousands of people who died from aids, died from cancer, or committed suicide. The 'happiness' number is much higher than you think, but it's self-hating *beep* like you who want to *beep* all over our lives and hollywood because YOUR LIFE SUCKS. Well LIFE doesn't suck for the rest of us, sure it's got it's pain and trials and tribulations, but that's a PART of life, and not a reflection of life as a whole. Studies show us most gay men's happy vs sad ending is much more closer to 50/50 than 95(sad)/5(good) as hollywood and screaming angry *beep* like you want us to feel is reality. This movie is *beep* and it's just another reason to have a sad ending to make it seem like a 'masterpiece' because it's a dramatic ending and not 'hollywood happy'. There's like a handful of 'hollywood happy' endings I can even think of in the entire world of gay films because of self-hating drama queens who think they can only be taken seriously if they write the next Philadelphia or it's my party or AIDSGONEWILD!

'Cause I ride like Kelly Bundy, Yo I keep that *beep* nasty~ (Spank Rock)

reply