* InformedWrongness: Garfield is only evil because other characters tell us he is. He is never shown doing anything illegal, and he genuinely believes those who might be hurt by his actions will be better off in the end. He is certainly no [[Film/BarbariansAtTheGate Henry Kravis]] or [[Film/WallStreet Gordon Gekko]], even with his shareholder speech that sounds similar to the latter.
* QuestionableCasting: The source material is a screwball comedy where two people on opposite sides of a corporate case fall for one another. It's a little harder to pull off a convincing love relationship with a plus-sized bald, older man and Creator/PenelopeAnnMiller.
* StrawmanHasAPoint A big part of the point of the movie. The film pits a ruthless corporate raider (played by Danny [=DeVito=]) against noble, idealistic businessman (played by Gregory Peck) who just wants to keep his business open. In the end, we have to face the fact that the corporate raider may be right. Also an example of KnowWhenToFoldEm.
-->'''Larry:''' Why're you so hard on me?
-->'''Kate:''' You're not nice.
-->'''Larry:''' Since when do you gotta be nice to be right?
** The argument here is whether Garfield is a Strawman at all as both sides of the argument are balanced fairly well and no one is really portrayed as corrupt or immoral.
* TheWoobie: It's easy to feel sorry for Jorgy at the end, when he loses control of his company. The plays adds to it with the reveal he died two years later.