A better ending?

I really thought they had a pretty good set up for him to kill himself after losing Kay and finding out that his wife had a lover....

1) Rich mentioned suicide, whether serious or not, when he was talking to Pat and O'Brien.

2) When Harry was in the bathroom putting the poison in the bottle Pat came to the door looking for it. He lied and said that he was taking the medicine. She suggested he use the "toothbrush mug" instead of a glass.

3) In that last bedroom scene, Harry exchanges the poisoned bottle with a new one. When he goes into the bathroom he still has the poisoned one in his pocket.

Therefore, while he was in the bathroom at the end and Pat was suggesting that they go on a trip, Harry could have been pouring the poison into the mug, all the while agreeing with her plans. He pours some tap water into the mug and we fade to black. Movie over.

Not sure that would have been a better ending, but I thought they had set us up for it. There seemed to be a lot of little devices that kept popping up in this movie that didn't get paid off. Maybe it was misdirection, I'm not sure. Overall, I feel unsatisfied with the film. It wasn't bad, it just didn't come through for me.

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I thought the ending was perfect just the way it was. It was not over the top for the content of the entire movie but was very realistic, very realistic. The movie seemed to me on the edge of a Hitchcock. I do usually set out to watch romance/relationship movies but am glad I watched this one.

I was worried that Pat had already put the poisoned powder in her glass, and when her husband switched the bottles back I thot she'd still have had the poison in her glass and drank it after he thot he's saved her. I had to watch it over and I guess her putting the powder in the first time was just his imagination on his way home. I would have been tragic tho, and then he'd have to take the poison too since he wouldn't be able to live with himself. Them living instead is tragic too tho.

I was very disappointed with the ending. They all end up friends who play charades together? How realistic is that? Can you imagine Harry and Richard being friends after Richard went behind his back and lured Kay away? Can you imagine Harry finding out about Pat and John, and never confronting Pat about it? C'mon already!

On the DVD I watched alternative endings, any of which would have been better.

The acting was superb, however. Pierce Brosnan is excellent, his facial reactions are perfect!

I actually thought the ending was pretty satisfying if we see it in an ironic way; however I was really disappointed with the contrived happy feeling, uplifting music and fuzzy new puppy dog which all seemed to indicate that it was a feel-good ending, no irony intended. If so, it's the ultimate cheese.

I thought it would've been brilliant if they had kept the same plot ending but presented it in a darker, sublty sarcastic way, because I think that should've been the whole point: that these 'happily' married couples are not really 'happy' below the surface. But with the happily-ever-after vibe, I think the director really blew it. The film should've left us with a nagging sense that something is terribly wrong, despite outward appearances. Very few directors have a knack for punctuating a good farce properly, like Kubrick ("Dr. Strangelove") or Gilliam ("Tideland"). This movie could've used their touch at the end... maybe showing the new puppy dog pissing on the grave of the dog Harry killed. Something like that would've made all the difference.

*edit a few days later*

I finally got around to watching the alternate endings, and any one of them would've been better. Alternate #1 (ending in the courtroom) was by far the best, I thought. Alternate #2 (basically the same as #1 except Richard gets away with it) was also very good. Alternate #3 (Harry & Pat drive off happily into the sunset) was awful but at least the billboard scene highlighted Harry's unrest, or at least his acknowledgement that everything is not perfect.

It's really a shame that the director pandered to the screening audiences. Any one of the original endings would've been an improvement over the sappy Hollywood ending he gave us.