As I'm reading these threads I'm realizing that most of the posters, didn't get the movie. Even if they enjoyed it, it just seems like they completely missed out on the actual point.
Also people saying it's not funny... maybe it's just not your kind of sense of humor but this is definitely a comedy. Black comedy. I'm sorry the jokes aren't "sex haha hard come/cum sex!"
I just think it's a shame.
just sayin.
So what do you think is the actual point of the movie?
"I don't want any Commies in my car. No Christians, either."
I don't think we were supposed to like justine because she's just such a likable character, I think any affection we have towards her is generated by being able to relate to her. Everyone is talking about how there is no way they could like that character after she makes such horrible decisions, but those decisions weren't supposed to make us like her...
And the end when the boy kills himself and she goes back to a normal life, not even telling her husband who she was sleeping around with, that wasn't supposed to be like, "oh look, she had a baby! it's happy now." because she wasn't happy then. It was just like it was before, and she was depressed before, so....
So I'd say the point is the depression of living life without a point. Even though she has a child, her life hasn't changed. Like when she asked, "no, I mean do you think anything's really gonna change?"
And I think that's made even more obvious by how at the end she acts like nothing happened, like not even that had a point.
just sayin.
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Possible spoilers... Just in case.
I agree. I always cry at the end but I can't tell whether it's completely out of sadness. Early on, Justine says that she can't think of anything to imagine anymore. All she sees is her life how it is, so she's bored. Holden brings something new into her life and, through the story he writes, gives her something to imagine. A life with him "in the wilderness". He's such an unstable person, I don't think she could cope with him and a baby, I mean, he was still a child really. In the end she has her secure family unit which isn't perfect but it doesn't matter because she has something to take her away from it and imagine now...
This is such a cool explanation. 11 years later, I thank thee.
shareAt the end of the movie he says he needed to escape and made a ref. that everyone needs to escape sometimes, that's exactly what she did with Holden, I thought that after that starment she no longer viewed his getting high as a problem, but understood it. I think that's what ultimately led them to happiness or at least balance.
shareThe end of this movie reminds me of the end of the movie Goodbye Again with Ingrid Bergman (if you haven't seen it spoiler alert). In that movie she is a middle-aged woman who has been involved with playboy Yves Montand who sees numerous women on the side. Needing love she becomes involved with a younger man played by Anthony Perkins who is somewhat unstable emotionally but loves her almost obsessively. She eventually breaks his heart and goes back to Montand who finally marries her but then continues the same philandering leaving in the same prison she was before. That is essentially the same thing that happens to Justine who thought to break out of the prison only to wind up right back there again. In both movies the lead character did not need to be involved with either of the men in their lives and didn't realize that they could have made it on their own.
shareI disagree, She was no where near a woman whom could take care of her self on her own. She was a married woman whom got pregnant having an affair. How smart is that. WITH AN Unstable man. She is not even 100% sure who the dad is. This is simply not a woman making it on her own movie. The husband was bad but so was she it could have been he did not need her, but that is not what they are trying to say either. She and the husband were just fine in the end.
shareHi,
I'm hot really a fan of the genre of movie usually associated with Jennifer Aniston but have to say I really did enjoy this and I think I "got it".
It was bitter sweet. To me it was a film about dead ends. Justine was plodding along in a whirlwind of discontentment. She hated her job and most of her colleagues. Her pothead husband was pretty useless on all counts and yet she felt an enormity of guilt when she cheated on him with Holden.
She had gotten herself into a bit of a rut though - even during the affair. The moment she realised that Holden was at best a mentally unstable loose canon, she just wanted rid of the situation. She even considered poisoning him with the same berries she believed had poisoned her colleague, Gwen!
The humour was subtle but effective. Most of it came from the Retail Rodeo boss. One of his funniest lines was his "tribute" to Holden. Something like "Maybe we can all learn from this - don't steal and don't be mentally disturbed"
I often drink to make people seem more interesting
Hi Highpriestess, didn't know you were a fan of this movie
I love that line too.
I think a lot of people think Justine was a horrible person and a sociopath but she was just miserable in her married life and bored. She seen Holden as an escape and when she realised that they would never have a life together she tried to cut him loose!
I think we can all agree in the early days of a relationship you cannot see any fault in your partner, especially when you're young. Justine married Phil because she loved him and then after the years went past she started to see him for who he really was.......a pothead loser! You can't blame her for being sad.
What happens in the meadow at dusk? NOTHING!, EVERYTHING!
Hi there FG!! Nice to see you on here!
Yes I agree with you there. She must have married him at 23 and probably didn't see much of the world so probably hadn't had a lot of experience (she was 30 when she told Holden she had been married for seven years). I think she kind of drifted into this fling with Holden, they were two kindred spirits in many ways. It wasn't as though she sought him out and persued him, he was the one doing all the chasing. Also, she would never have slept with Bubba had he not blackmailed her!
I often drink to make people seem more interesting
Oh god Bubba
I felt sorry for her having to do that!
What happens in the meadow at dusk? NOTHING!, EVERYTHING!
And that dog of his!! "Bits, in your corner, in YOUR CORNER Bits"
Eww and when he was in bed with her...he sounded so desperate like he was in pain or something LOL! Made me feel sick lol x
I often drink to make people seem more interesting
and then when Bits runs off with his sheet!
God I have to say I love that whole scene it's hilarious!
I just love this movie, I watch it over and over and never get tired of it!
What happens in the meadow at dusk? NOTHING!, EVERYTHING!
Oh goodness me yes - when he is left naked on his drive hahaha!!!! So funny!
And I agree, it is such a feel good film in many ways and ripe for a rainy day!
Cheryl is funny too on the loud speaker "Yes ladies you need to inject some drain cleaner (on aisle three) to clean your filthy pipes" LOL
I often drink to make people seem more interesting
My absolute favourite Cheryl line is:
"Ghouls and Goblins, Witches and Warlocks wander these isles day after day, I put a haloween hex on your hellish heads"
What happens in the meadow at dusk? NOTHING!, EVERYTHING!
LOL she aimed one at her boss Andy as well
I often drink to make people seem more interesting
Yes, I think the attempts at humour mostly missed the mark but that was the best line for sure.
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See a list of my favourite films here: http://www.flickchart.com/slackerinc
Black Humor isn't supposed to be ha ha funny, it's supposed to be a joke that comes off as disturbing. Humor is just a device that's being used....i mean suicide isn't funny...like ever.
That's why a lot of war stories often use black humor. For example, The Things They Carried is a book about the Vietnam war, a character makes a joke about a tree being a lemon tree after a guy named lemon 's remains are splattered all over it.
This is not a funny joke....it was never meant to be funny or make you laugh. It was meant to be disturbing. That's black humor's purpose in literature and film.
Now that's not the same thing as sadistic humor, that's probably what you're confusing black humor for. There are examples of both in this film, but they're not the same. One's purpose is to make you laugh at something you wouldn't normally laugh at (sadistic humor) the other is meant to disturb you (black comedy).
As for this film's humor, it's actually just offbeat humor, you see it all the time in independent films. Maybe some of it is absurdist humor. Some people don't like offbeat humor because it's not obviously funny. No one's falling all over the place or making bad puns. There are no sexual innuendos or people having their private parts smashing against things. No gorillas or fat people jokes, you know the usually comedy gimmicks that Hollywood loves to use over and over again.
Ironically people don't often laugh at witty things, they laugh at gimmicky things.
I do agree with lamont, the point is that Justine's experience was about escapism. In an odd way she finally learns to relate to her husband.
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