Predictable Twist?

Maybe not for everyone.

From the very moment that Egan (Mickey's new sub-agent) offers him $20 and tells him to "just mail it back to me", it was discernible that the third act payoff would be a large scale confidence scheme reveal and that everyone Mickey met through Egan would be in on it. This may seem like a huge leap (I made it - really) but the story elements are there. Not with me? I'll explain.

When we hear mention of $20 we immediately remember the $20 Mickey lifted the night before. Egan is so folksy and innocent and Mickey is so contemptible even by this point that it's certain that Mickey won't profit from ripping off the same guy for the same amount the very next day. Maybe if Mickey was more the sort of penny-anty sleazy that David Spade might play (ten years ago), or if this were a Farley Brothers sort of comedy. However, Mickey (and the film he happens to be in) have too much of a heart for that. As an ironic side note, if it's more money, say $100, then it's possible Mickey can take the money and get off scott-free, because the escalation makes for good comic irony (he just stole 20, now the guy's giving him 100!). Less money, one expects this will be a commupance for taking the $20 the night before - someone approaches and says "Hey! I saw you take that guy's $20 last night!", or better, Egan looks in his wallet and says "I knew I had a $20 in here somewhere..."

A few more things about this - it's played like a setup for things to come, there's good irony in a story about swindling a swindler, there's a conveniently inaudible exchange that immediately follows - all of these are solid hints.

Maybe less obvious in the original cut. Sucks getting re-edited like that. Probably had something to do with female directors getting pushed around...not making a movie for ten years...