YMMV / Ingrid Goes West

• Actor Shipping: Fans have really taken to shipping Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen due to their close, flirty interactions while promoting the movie.
• Anvilicious:
  • The movie is not subtle on the negative effects social media can have on people. Taylor's personality revolves around her Instagram persona in order to make her appear more interesting, hiding just how empty she really is outside it.
  • Likewise, building friendships around lies is not an actual friendship and stalking is wrong, regardless of reasons. Ingrid's use of social media allowed her to integrate herself into every facet of Taylor's life with the intention of being her best friend in order to cope with her loneliness, lying about about who she was from the very beginning & going through insane lengths to build & maintain that 'friendship'. Taylor is naturally appalled when she finds out the truth & ends her association with Ingrid.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Ingrid has some sort of mental illness that compels her to act the way she does; the most popular fan theory is that it's borderline personality disorder.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: O'Shea Jackson Jr.'s portrayal as Dan Pinto was loved by critics and moviegoers alike, with some critics claiming he stole every scene he was in.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Ingrid ultimately learns nothing from the whole ordeal, and since she finally got the positive attention she wanted following her suicide attempt, it's extremely likely that her risk-taking behavior will only get worse.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the film, Nicky frequently calls Ingrid "Olga". In 2021, it was reported that Aubrey Plaza (Ingrid) would star in and produce a television pilot called Olga Dies Dreaming.
  • Elizabeth Olsen was well-known before this movie for her role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Wanda Maximoff. Pom Klementieff, who has a small role as one of Taylor's friends, would join her in it as Mantis later that year in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Wyatt Russell later still when he was cast as John Walker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Aubrey Plaza herself is set to play a fellow witch in Agatha: Coven of Chaos, so cue jokes about Ingrid once again trying to copy Taylor.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Ingrid is a borderline Stalker with a Crush who does a lot of questionable things throughout the movie, but it's not hard to feel at least a little bad for her. She lost her mom, whom it's implied she was very close with, is evidently struggling with some sort of mental illness, and deep down, she just wants to be loved.
  • Taylor is a shallow, vapid Bad Influencer and totally in denial of her brother's horrible behaviour and personality. But she's also subject to the horrible experience of being stalked by a Loony Fan, has her dog kidnapped by said fan to engineer a meeting with her, and it's implied she's just as miserable as Ingrid, though much more mentally stable. Not to mention she ends up learning that someone she thought was her friend is not only stalking her, but lied about virtually every aspect of herself just to get close to her. Anyone who's been stalked in real life will cringe in sympathy.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Nicky is suspicious of Ingrid for a good reason, while Ingrid herself is a stalker obsessed with Taylor. However, Nicky is much less sympathetic than Ingrid, and such an asshole that it's hard to imagine anybody sympathizing with him. Granted, as soon as he find Ingrid's phone and realizes she is stalking his sister, he first tries to make some money off of the situation, blackmailing Ingrid, instead of immediatelly warning his sister that she is possibly in danger, which does make him even more of an asshole.
• The Woobie:
  • Dan, whose Batman obsession developed as a coping mechanism following the deaths of his parents at a young age, and who is repeatedly put through hell as Ingrid steals and later trashed his truck, causing him to miss his table reading, and lands him in the hospital after dragging him into her botched attempt to scare Nicky into leaving her alone.
  • Ezra, as his shallow marriage to the vapid Taylor has left him a deeply unhappy man bitter at his inability to get any work as an artist and with an implied drinking problem.