----
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** Is Lance a scheming opportunist who shamelessly uses [[spoiler:his son's death to finally receive the recognition and adulation he craves, or just a grieving father who tried to give his son's life the dignity and meaning it never had and inadvertently took it too far]]? Maybe a little of both?
** Is Kyle really an unpleasant asshole for the sake of it? Or does he have some deep-seated personal issues that he's internalized? Considering his father is a bit overbearing, his mother is deceased, his father's girlfriend is possibly stringing Lance along, and he isn't well-liked in school, it could point to someone who is genuinely troubled and coping with unpleasant and hedonistic behavior. [[spoiler: It is possible his death from autoerotic asphyxiation ''wasn't'' accidental and that Kyle saw himself as worthless. Perhaps Lance's fake story is just his own interpretation of Kyle's true feelings?]]
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Lots of the soundtrack, which contains both recent, indie songs and some more classic songs (Peggy Lee). Also, Bruce Hornsby.
* CatharsisFactor: Seriously, how many people were actually upset when Kyle gets beat up ''and'' sent to the principal's office for demeaning his female classmate?
* CultClassic: Has a large following among black comedy fans and those who see this movie as Robin Williams' last amazing performance.
* EsotericHappyEnding: Lance Clayton loses his job as a teacher and is despised by his former co-workers, his community (and, due to his fame, people around the country) for using the claim that his poetry was actually written by his deceased son as a ruse to gain publicity. On the other hand, in the final scene, Lance is able to do what he wanted all along: spend time with authentic people who appreciated him for who he really is.
* HarsherInHindsight: Lance Clayton states that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem and that it should be avoided. Robin Williams committed suicide in 2014 -- and his death was attributed to asphyxiation, [[spoiler:which is how Kyle dies in the movie]].
* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: The very, very end where [[spoiler:Lance, his neighbor, and Andrew (Kyle's only friend, who knew Lance faked the note and the journal all along) watch zombie movies together as fellow outcasts.]]
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Robin Williams had been doing serious movies for decades and won an Oscar over 10 years before this film, but it was still a far cry from the lowest-common-denominator stuff he'd been doing over the past few years.
* MisaimedFandom: Probably intentional. There were posts on this film's IMDB board about how "awesome" Kyle is.
* {{Squick}}: Kyle’s obsession with fetish websites.
* TearJerker:
** [[spoiler:Kyle's death. Lance's breakdown when he realizes his son is dead and his anguished sobs being drowned out by the film's music are really something to behold. The audience only cries because they're sad for Lance, not because they miss Kyle, obviously.]]
** The pool scene at the end might make you cry tears of joy since it shows Lance is finally free. It's also somewhat sad because of the RealitySubtext: It's the last time we ever saw Robin's chest without the scar from his heart surgery.
* UnintentionallySympathetic:
** Claire can be this depending on whether or you believe she was cheating on Lance (which the film never explicably confirms or denies). If she wasn't, then while she did blow Lance off all the time and became obsessed with his fame and how it relates her, she was one of the people who least [[spoiler:glorified Kyle's death and seemed to genuinely care if Lance was okay. And on top of that, at the end of the movie, she learns that her boyfriend has been lying to her for weeks and sort of used his son's death to sleep with her]]. Even if she is stuck up, she seems at least much less fake than the rest of the school (though again [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation this is only if she wasn't cheating on Lance]]).
** Kyle. The movie simply makes him out to be a little shithead, but he was still a teenager who could have potentially grown out of his asocial behaviors, had he been given the help he clearly needed instead of being left to his own devices by his father. But then again, the film's title is meant in full irony.
----