* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Aside from his pedophilia, Ronnie talks in a stilted manner, [[CreepyBlueEyes has a tendency to stare]] and can't make small talk without it sounding CreepyMonotone.
* HollywoodPudgy: A lot of emphasis is put on Sarah's feelings of being overweight and "fat" compared to Kathy. While Sarah is definitely more voluptuous than Kathy, the red swimsuit shows that she is neither.
* JerkassWoobie:
** Larry Hedges. A cop who got fired after he mistakenly shot a kid at the local mall, his life ever since has become a downward spiral. Having lost his job and suffering from PTSD, he doesn't find a new one, instead taking up vigilantism against local sex offender Ronald. His wife gets exasperated by that, which causes him to lash out at her and she leaves him. He latches on to Brad and includes him in his team as a protege, only to be overshadowed by the charismatic Brad. At the end, Larry [[spoiler: gets frustrated by what he perceives to be Brad and everyone else's embarrassment of him, and harasses Ronnie again, causing his mother's death by a heart attack]]. And when he sincerely apologizes to Ronnie about his mother's death he finds out to his horror that Ronnie has castrated himself because of it.
** Ronnie [=McGorvey=]. He's a registered sex offender who just finished serving his time in prison. Despite his horrific crimes, it's clear that Ronnie's life ''sucks''. Hated by literally everyone in the neighborhood except his elderly mother, Ronnie is arrested by the police when he goes to the pool and is humiliated in front of the whole neighborhood, angrily shouting that he just wanted to cool off. Ronnie desperately wants to have a normal life but finds himself unable to resist his urges, threatening to kill a woman who he has drive by a playground on their date so he can masturbate, something that it's clear he despises himself for. The misery of his life is exacerbated by local cop Larry, who harasses him constantly with no repercussions whatsoever. When Larry goes to Ronnie's house and taunts him with a bullhorn, [[spoiler: Ronnie's mother goes out to defend her son but suffers a heart attack from the stress and dies.]] Afterwards, Ronnie goes home, reads a note from his mother asking him to "Please be a good boy", loses it completely and [[spoiler: castrates himself with a kitchen knife to keep himself from hurting anyone again, telling a horrified Larry "I'll be good now".]]
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/AmericanBeauty''.

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