Are 19 year olds that good?
Sure, some are good. From Ben's purely hedonistic point of view, the girls he sleeps with give him large amounts of pleasure and this is worth something, for sure. But is it worth the costs?
Ben had a lot and lost it all because he started chasing young tail (and decided to embezzle money along the way as well). But even after losing everything to the point he can't pay rent, in the final scene he still is not sure that the young girls were not worth it all. His wife offers to take him back. This means no more money problems and he gets the best view in NYC. This means he gets his daughter and grandson back. But Ben is on a fence. How good these 19 year olds must be?
So here is a question:
Since Ben lost so much and still the amount of pleasure he has had makes it worth it all (or at least it is close), shouldn't all men who have less to lose start thinking seriously about doing what he did? Plus, you don't really have to embezzle money in the process. Save the crime that almost landed him in jail, isn't the rest of Ben's behavior look just the best rational thing to do?
Clearly, some guys have more to lose than Ben had. Take Tiger for an example. Or Bill Clinton's cigar. But for the grand majority of, say, 50-year-olds with kids out of the nest, or close to, with a little money, maybe this is the way to go. Maybe guys who don't do it just don't have enough balls, that's all? Maybe this is the natural thing to do? As King James said recently: "LeBron needs to to what's best for LeBron." After all, who can tell a man that pursuing his own happiness is wrong in this country?
I don't know what to think... I guess it depends on how great these 19 year olds can really be. Really.