The script would have been a lot stronger if Miles' tantrum after the fight had alienated him from his own friends and furthermore, with his profane condescension towards "nerds" it would have made sense for there to be some consequences for his website! There's a guy there who was capturing the whole thing on video with his phone. What if that had gone viral, the founding editor of GeekChic trashing nerds? I was expecting it to happen and was a little disappointed that the tantrum had no real payoff.
I think the whole point of that scene was to show Scott's friends wouldn't be any better off hanging out with Miles than Scott. Both were huge egotistical jerks. Scott turns his nose up at "nerds" but is that really any different than Scott throwing applications in the face of anyone who mentions MMOs?
I actually wondered if there'd be a payoff for the website, in the form of Miles secretly writing articles about playing with the "biggest losers ever." But I'm not really sure what that would have accomplished. They could have dedicated much more screentime to making Scott's friends aware what a jerk Miles really was, but him not inviting them to his party says a lot. Scott may have been right about Miles' little "experiment," but whether or not they forgive him, Scott is going to move to Arizona with his family and play games with old folks. The friends really weren't that central to the story. They were just pawns in a game between Miles and Scott.
As for the video trending, no one at the party was a "nerd." They were more like trendy hipsters. The video will likely stay in their own little circle of friends. And let's face it, these are *Miles'* friends. They had no idea who Scott was. Only that he was this huge weird drunk guy who showed up, insisted on play fighting with the host, got WAY too rough (even with the host politely asking him to lay off), and wound up accidentally hurting the guy. Then -- hey, go fig -- the host snaps and hits him back, then throws him out of the party. It was hardly one of those scenes where the evil guy unknowingly reveals his schemes on film. "Nerds" crack aside, out of context, if you saw that video online, would anyone blame the little guy? Hell no. The comments section would be filled with people saying the big bully got what he deserved. People love an underdog.
If Miles' empire had crumbled as a result of he fallout, it would have been satisfying, in a very over the top, neatly wrapped bow kind of way. But I think it works as is. In the end, Scott redeems himself, at least partially. He's willing to give you a 19 *or* a 20. He's helping his grandmother, instead of mooching off her. But Miles doesn't grow as a character. He continues being an insufferable, egotistical, condescending, elitist douche. And in a way, that's punishment enough.
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ixtrm-sol
9 years ago
Kicking some belligerant drunk *beep* out of your house is hardly a tantrum, miles was fully justified whle scott was the one throwing unreasonablw tantrums though out the movie. Dont know why people keep saying miles is bad guy just because he didnt invite the tabletop players, some people have broad interests inmany fields and have friends from many circles, and some of them just dont mix well, same reason you dont invite your weed smoking atheist buddy to your bible study group. Miles already showed incredible restraint when fighting scott and wayne because he clearly knows how tofight. I think holding "nerds" in contempt is perfectly reasonable after some fat drunk neck beard just crashed your party and insisted fighting you thinking he could beat you up just because of the size advantage. You could say miles showed his true color if he snapped and beat scott into a senseless pulp, but no, miles stopped and told them to get the f out. What would you do in miles shoes? Smile and say I love nerds and you guys are welcome to my party any time? The point of the movie is like miles said, its not his fault nobody liked scott, almost everything bad happened to scott was his own fault, and when he admitted that hes finally able to grow up.
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Carols_Murderous_Moppets
9 years ago
Miles was hipster scum, that is more than enough reason to root for a fat, awkward, annoying slob like Scott.
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"They're not dead, they're just...different."
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rolf_thorne
9 years ago
I agree with everything you just said, and it's pretty ridiculous for people to make comparissons between Miles and Scott when Miles only reacted to extreme provocation. Only caveat is that I don't see Scott as really having done that much growing up at the end (if any really) it's just the circumstances that force him to shuffle on.
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