Trent: the biggest douchebag in movie history
Seriously. Steve Carrell nailed the part. I hated him so much.
shareNot even close, as I argued in my thread "Anyone else think Trent wasn't that bad?".
shareTrue, he wasn't the biggest jerk in movie history, but he wasn't a good father-figure. Trent revealed his hypocritical legalism when playing Candy Land: He demanded that everyone play by the rules in the board game, but didn't apply the same standard to vastly more important real-life matters, like being faithful to Pam and, by extension, his new family. The bible puts it like this in reference to Hebrew legalists of the 1st Century: "You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."
Part of the genius of the movie is that the potential stepfather (Carell) isn’t made out to be totally evil nor is the seeming mentor (Rockwell) perfect. They’re both flawed men with presumably good intentions toward the boy, but only one proves that he’s a worthy father-figure.
Basically Trent put Duncan into a shell whereas Owen pulled Duncan out of the shell. It's the difference between night and day.
Meh, I think you were right in your middle paragraph about both men having bad and good characteristics. Which makes it hard for me to see them as night and day.
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