MovieChat Forums > Sex and Death 101 (2008) Discussion > The End (spoilers included)

The End (spoilers included)

posted 16 years ago by madmurdoc78
14 replies | jump to latest

I must say I liked this film a lot, especially since I did not have very high expectations of it.

But the ending wasn't all that good, in fact the last 15-20 minutes (from the moment the lead characters meet in the Quality Diner) degraded the movie from a 9/10 to a 7/10 IMHO.

It just did not add anything useful to know why Death knell does what she does, and why do they need to show the "overly happy" ending sequence with the kid and the coma patients. It's not as if there's going to be kids watching who need to be assured that everything's gonna be "all right"

After seeing them walk out of the diner, I would have cut back to a shot of the two pills in the trashcan... The End...

What do you think?

[–] nathan-pham 16 years ago

You may be right about kid and the coma patients... but not to have some sort of happy ending would make this dark comedy unnecessarily tragic, too Shakespearean-esque. Yet, your ending seems too abruptly ended and without enough force. I think it is necessary that the two end up taking the pills, not to leave them behind. That sort of brings closure to everything in the film. The kid tells us that they have a future together, despite their past and the coma patients waking up symbolically explains that no one died therefore she was no murderer.

I would have had them wake up the next morning... sans kid, sans coma patients waking up... but happy ending nonetheless.

[–] s97batess 15 years ago

I thought that the name Death Nell was what happened to his numerous sexual conquests. Meeting her was the death nell to any more non-monogamous sex.

[–] HikerBoy57 15 years ago

I think you have to look at the almost silly unexpected happy ending as the twist to the film. You're certainly not expecting it to go in THAT direction for a finale, so I think it works as a surprise.

Then, since the writer was going for cornball romance happy ending anyway, they went satirical with it and threw in more upbeat stuff, like the coma patients waking up. The film is basically winking at the viewer at this point, and I think you're just meant to go with it.

The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.

[–] X-Hal 12 years ago

Cornball romance happy ending? Satirical? I can only imagine, dear sir, that after writing this completely cynical post you put the gun to your head and gently pulled the trigger.

The ending is meant to be uplifting yes, which nowadays to you only-like-miserable-ending jackasses means "cornball happy," but to us actual people with souls it's meant to show that change is possible. You can break out of a cycle of living life without any meaning. The people waking up from comas were meant to show that they, too, have had a "reset" button hit on their lives and been given a second chance to maybe reconsider how they're doing things and instead form real human connections instead of the crap they were doing before.

I suppose you wanted everyone to die at the end, right? Considering that the two main characters never really had good lives with true human connection and were really living in a kind of farce, if they died it would be utterly meaningless. But you, what, wanted them to die, and wanted all the guys in the coma to die after their meaningless lives where they just assaulted or screwed lots of women? That way everyone dies, no one learns anything, and no one's ever happy?

- - -

Whether they find life there or not, I think Jupiter should be considered an enemy planet.

[–] HikerBoy57 12 years ago

You, dear sir, have completely overreacted to my post. Maybe read a little more carefully next time.

Did I ever say I wanted everyone to die? Did I criticize the corny aspect of the ending? No, in fact, I applauded it and thought it was a brilliant stroke.

All I did was point out that the film's happy ending is a complete contrast to the incredibly dark humor of the 100 minutes that have come before it. I don't think that's a bad thing at all, but it is quite a tonal shift.

I'm not sure if you're sincere or just trolling, but you clearly misinterpreted my meaning. Don't try to psychoanalyze someone's entire personality based on 100 words.

The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.

[–] belleandguaca 15 years ago

I didn't understand the ending at all! At first I figured he was a writer and that was his fictional story where he thought of Death Nell as his wife and soulmate. But, that doesn't seem to be the case. How on earth did she never get arrested? I realize those people didn't die...but they can't expect us to believe that there are no charges for putting twenty people into an unnecessary coma. Plus, the guy that fell over the balcony...they don't know that was an accident. Couldn't they have shown them in Mexico, or something? Hiding out from the law?

[–] GhostFaceKiller 15 years ago

I didn't understand the ending at all! At first I figured he was a writer and that was his fictional story where he thought of Death Nell as his wife and soulmate. But, that doesn't seem to be the case. How on earth did she never get arrested? I realize those people didn't die...but they can't expect us to believe that there are no charges for putting twenty people into an unnecessary coma. Plus, the guy that fell over the balcony...they don't know that was an accident. Couldn't they have shown them in Mexico, or something? Hiding out from the law?

My fiance and I rented this movie because we were bored, and we actually found it really enjoyable. I have to say, though, you hit the nail right on the head with what confused me. At the end of the movie, I couldn't help but kind of wonder, "...What the Hell?!" I mean, how in the heck did she not go to jail? And how in the world were they already awake, and obviously long enough to have a kid, yet the coma patients were just waking up? they took the same pill she used to put each of them in comas. Shouldn't they have been out even around the same amount of time, and therefore be awaking long after the others? Oh well. Anyway, other than that, I actually found it really enjoyable. Certainly not one of the greatest movies ever, but something just fun and entertaining. Not all movies have to be Academy Award contenders.

Founder of the IMDb Ghostbusters

That's right, boys...IT'S DOCTOR VENKMAN!!!

[–] ckis 15 years ago

Actually I really enjoyed this movie a lot. I figured what the ending meant was they didn't take the pills, because you see them later in the glass case, as if they went to take them, and then changed their minds. And then they raised a family together, perhaps in a different country, but who knows. And then the coma patients woke up. Another thing as well, she didn't use the same pill on everyone, she used different things. One was like this needle thing, she was going to blow this dust into the face of the guy who ended up dying. It could've been the same drug I suppose... But she did posion people differently. I kinda liked the ending because if they had died, it would have been too obvious. The fact they lived and everything turned out all good, shows you that the universe has it's own way of fixing things. All and all I thought it was a good movie.

[–] tromafan01 15 years ago

It shows them taking a pill it never said it was the coma pills. Also in the diner she tells him the she can't guaranty how long the coma will last, I guess so that they could explain why they were not in as long of a coma as the rest. An alright movie a little to beat you over the head with the storyline, glad I saw it for free.

[–] samd51 15 years ago

i think they should have just took the pills and died. and then simon baker gives a monologue saying nothing turns out the way you want it to.

[–] hornoftuck 15 years ago

His character wanted to die and because he recognized the harm he caused (at least in his mind). He was reward with the death of his bachelorhood instead. Someone earlier said that this ending was not obvious. However not too long after he figures out that the last one on his list is Death Nell I knew she probably doesn't kill him and they might get hitched. Because she never had sex with her victims, she killed (coma) them first. So if she was on the list he was going to have sex with her at least and marrying her would be another way to end the list.

The movie was set in it's own world even outside the normal Hollywood or even Indies creations. Played by it's own rules. You were either going to like it or not. I really enjoy movies like this that I find compelling yet could never recommend because people moods are as important as their tastes with these creations.

[–] spincut 15 years ago

Yeah I still dont get the ending from those two major issues.

First off they took the pills. What OTHER pills would they have been taking? It was cheap copout to temporarily trick the viewer, but the fact that the same pills were in that framed pedestal later was kind of stupid, i even rewound to see if maybe it just looked like they were putting pills in their mouth, but nope, it was the pills (to imply it was "different pills" is kind of stupid regardless).

Secondly, yeah this clandestine organization, which has cameras on his house and is tracking this chick dont notice and/or care that they hooked up and are starting a family? They just decided to leave them be? It's not like they eluded those people, so what happened? How did she get off?

[–] profundity 15 years ago

If you guys want a REALLY bad but simple rationalization/explanation.

Simple version: Your pills have an expiration date for a reason. If not taken by a certain approximation they begin to drop their effectiveness rapidly and massivly.

If Death Nell produced all the pills at the same time then hers and Roderick's would have been much further towards their ineffective area than the original recipients.

Just a simplistic way of overlooking it so try that one and maybe it will help you enjoy the movie more. As to them all waking up from their comas in near unison...maybe they stumbled on to the right IV mix on accident and they responded well and quickly.

And they weren't the same pills. In the diner they were grayish and at the end they were almost perfectly purple.

[–] geezerbu 8 years ago

I sorta agree...if weren't for Winona, I could look at her forever!