I think a lot of people missed the point **lots of spoilers**

I won't claim to have the lock-down on what this movie is about, but since it had so many bad reviews, I was expecting something truly terrible. Instead, I found it to be a sweet and melancholy story about how much we all expect out of life, and I really liked it. So, for what it's worth, here's my take on the movie.

Steve expects a lot out of life, and finds himself constantly disappointed. This is why he medicates with sex, booze, and weed. He is always waiting to finally feel a certain way or receive some kind of reward from the universe. He even tells Angela when he's angry with her, "if you only knew how much s*** I went through to deserve you." An interesting line, given that said "s***" was how much he's been through helping Ben, his friend, and earlier in the movie he'd said, "Friendship is rarer because neither party gets anything out of it." Seems as if despite this statement, he was still waiting for his karmic reward. He seems to have finally given up on that reward when he tells the news anchor that he wished he'd realized that enjoying *beep* her was all there was. I took that line to mean that he used sex as a way to kill time until the Awesome Thing happened. Since no Awesome Thing ever happened, he should've probably been content with the sex part.

Angela, meanwhile, expects very little out of life. So little, in fact, that she married a man more than twice her age simply because he could offer her a life that looked "normal." She genuinely doesn't care that she received no wealth from his will; she only wishes she'd gotten something sentimental. Angela, it seems, has traded the idea of "more" for the idea that human connection is what gives life meaning. This is why she challenges Steve's escapism via substance use, and why she has sex with Ben. This is also partially why Steve is drawn to her - here's a person who isn't constantly striving for more, who isn't exactly happy, but isn't trying to escape from life either. Her acceptance of the way things are mesmerizes him.

This leads us to Ben's sister. She's internalized the idea that a "normal" life unlocks all of the universe's riches. She says several times to Ben that if he could just take his meds and be "normal," he would prosper. This is why the storyline about her difficulty conceiving is included. A child is the last piece of her Perfect Life Puzzle - she has the supportive husband; she has the nice house in a good neighborhood; now she just needs the baby. The fact that she can't will a baby into existence challenges what she knows about how to be happy, which is why she asks the Amish man how to make sense of the fact that she can't get pregnant.

Ben is perhaps the most challenging character. Like Steve, he expects a lot out of life. His mania fuels Steve's fragile dreams; there is so much energy behind his ideas, and it's an energy Steve needs. His decision to take the pills and be "normal" feels like giving up on the one hand, but on the other hand, he has one of the most important insights (imho) of the movie when he says, "maybe the problem with this whole thing is that everyone is always wanting more." In other words: at what point do we stop waiting for life to give us this indescribable thing to which we all feel entitled? This inner conflict - between contentment and striving - is one that is never solved. We float along on a continuum between the two. That final shot, where Ben is looking at the mechanized horse versus the real one, is a nice depiction of that conflict. He's found some sort of contentment with existence on his medication, but that doesn't mean there isn't still a longing for more. And that's okay; I don't think there's an objectively right or wrong decision Ben can make with the meds. Taking the pills or not both have their advantages and disadvantages. But that's an unsettling reality.

And because the movie ends on an image that depicts tension, it feels dissatisfying. The viewer is left to work this out on his or her own. So I guess I get why people didn't love this movie, because it leaves us with an unanswered question. But I think it's an important question. So I loved it.