YMMV / Searching

• Alternate Character Interpretation: The Big Bad Duumvirate Robert and Vick are heavily subject to this.
  • When Vick refers to her son as being "special" and "different", does she mean he's mentally handicapped, or is it just Vick's attempts to justify her son's behavior? Is Vick victim-blaming Margot when she does that? Word of God in the film's Reddit discussion thread implies the latter, clarifying that the reason Robert is so meek is less due to him possibly being neurodivergent and more due to his mother constantly coddling and covering for him his entire life.
  • Is Vick an enabler of her son's crimes, or is she a Mama Bear trying to look after him after he does them?
  • Due to his small appearance, Robert is subject to many of them, too. Is Vick telling the truth when she claims that he wanted to come forward, or is she simply trying to get him off as lightly as possible? It's also heavily implied that despite Vick's insistences that Robert just wanted to "talk" to Margot, he may have met her at the lake with sinister intentions already.
• Award Snub: Despite the critical praise for the film's script and John Cho's lead performance, it was not nominated for Best Original Screenplay or Best Actor at the Academy Awards.
• Awesome Music: "New User", courtesy of Torin Borrowdale, is a beautiful melody that plays at the start of the film during the montage of the Kims' family life. It also has Margot's very uplifting leitmotif that comes up again in several other songs.
• Friendly Fandoms: With Crazy Rich Asians and To All the Boys I've Loved Before, the other two "Asian August" movies^note Films with Asian-American leads that came out in August 2018.
• He Really Can Act: John Cho proves that he can be just as dramatic as he is funny.
• Memetic Mutation: Harold Goes to Cyberspace. ^Explanation Due to John Cho being involved, several Harold and Kumar fans often joke the film as a solo Harold movie.
• Realism-Induced Horror:
  • Your child going missing, learning they have a hidden side to themselves you never knew and worrying your and their relationship may be unsalvageable even if you get them back. David's experiences during the film encompass a number of fears real parents go through with their own children.
  • While not necessarily sympathetic, the Big Bad's plans are motivated by a form of this as well: discovering your child has committed a serious crime, and the possibility of seeing them sent to jail for a long stretch.