Brick Joke: The seat David was about to get was him between two fat passengers before he sat with Buddy. The end of the movie reveals that the air marshal ended up taking that seat, adding to his bad day.
Sandler is tasered by an air marshall after bugging a stewardess for headphones while she over reacts to every small thing he does.
Sandler jokes to Nicholson that his mother died earlier in the movie, and how does he get back at him? He makes Sandler (almost) cheat on his girlfriend, and then tells her that he did anyway.
Dysfunction Junction: Justified, as it eventually turns out that seemingly half the city is in on Buddy's Zany Scheme for Dave.
Everyone Went To School Together: Linda and Andrew went to the same college, Brown University together, and they may or may not have had sex.
Extreme Doormat: Dave. The whole point of the movie is to snap him out of it.
Felony Misdemeanor: Based on some offhand statements an impatient Dave makes at the beginning of the movie, the air marshal concludes that Dave is sexist, racist, and insensitive to the War On Terror.
Fiction Isn't Fair: If it wasn't for the Rule of Funny (as well as David's timidness), he could have sued almost every other character in the movie.
For the Evulz: Subverted. In between we're given the impression of Buddy as a rather nutty Cloudcuckoolander (which he is by the way) who appears to be torturing Dave just for the fun of his twisted little games, though in end, it turns out that Buddy's Zany Scheme really was just to help Dave overcome his implosive anger problems to get him to stand up for himself.
Girl on Girl Is Hot: Subverted, as Dave is more creeped out by the gorgeous bisexuals who are his fellow therapy group members than aroused by them.
Have a Gay Old Time: Buddy forces Dave to pull his car over on the side of the highway and sing the song "I Feel Pretty." Dave's intonation of "I feel pretty and witty and gay" indicates that he recognizes this trope, and he's feeling both emasculated and humiliated.
I'm Not Angry: David's shtick for most of the film and he hides the anger pretty well, up until he finally snaps at his Jerkass boss and co-worker.
Jack Nicholson: The Guardian`s review of the film described it as starring "Jack Nicholson playing a Jack Nicholson who's not as good a Jack Nicholson as the Jack Nicholson he played in About Schmidt or As Good As It Gets, but a better Jack Nicholson than the Jack Nicholson he played in Somethings Gotta Give.
Jerkass: Ironically, Sandler, who tends to play this character type, is here one of the few characters who does not fit that description.
Mistaken for Gay: Buddy thought that David was gay because he makes clothes for cats, despite how many times David had told him that he had a girlfriend. Of course, he knew all along.
Mistaken for Racist: "You people." To be fair, he was just having a bad day.
Mood Whiplash: Buddy experiences this more than once.
When he suddenly starts blubbering when he thinks his mother has died, and then quickly cheers up.
What the Hell, Hero?: As part of his "therapy," Buddy takes Dave to a Buddhist retreat to confront the bully who used to torment him in school, who has now shaved his head and renounced all violence. Although the former bully now bears no ill will against Dave, Buddy proceeds to goad him into getting angry all over again, prompting a scene where Dave beats the guy up and "wedgies" him. Buddy then pulls a water gun on all the other monks, and he and Dave barely escape the compound with their lives.
To be fair, when Dave confronts the bully about pulling his pants down in front of his childhood crush, the bully is completely unapologetic about it, and in fact mocks him even further, proving that even though he's a Buddhist monk now, he's still very much a dick.
Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Played straight with the flight attendant, but later subverted when he hits the cocktail waitress, by accident.
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