Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: At one point, Hunter tells his son that Limp Bizkit was cool while playing one of their songs. It serves no purpose other than for the director to self-indulge in his past glory.
A lot of the stuff Moose does to Hunter is more laugh-inducing rather than creepy, like when he kisses his forehead or fumbles taking a selfie with him while he's sleeping.
The scene where Moose has a falling out with Leah and has a tantrum at her, calling her "mean", blocking her on social media, and kicking her out his apartment is supposed to be seen as a dramatic and intense moment in the film, but really, the scene just comes off as plain silly and laughable.
Narm Charm: In its own bizarre way, Moose choking Todd. The "threat" he makes to him is as laughable as the rest of the movie, but it's strangely satisfying to watch him stand up to his bully. It's enough to impress a plot-irrelevant character who wasn't even there to see it.
Moose: I wish Freddy Krueger would come, and chop off your head, and it would roll in the street, and a truck would squish it, and the blood would splatter everywhere, and everyone would watch it!
Despite the movie's unintentionally comedic execution, the scene where Hunter tortures Moose by blowing off his fingers and stabbing out his eye is genuinely disturbing and unsettling.
Those real-time drawings that intercut each act look innocent enough, but the one which shows Moose strangling Todd is pretty unnerving. It starts out with Moose wrapping his hands around Todd's neck and neglecting to draw Todd's body until the rest of the picture was complete, making it look like Moose had ripped his head off.
Nightmare Retardant: Moose is supposed to be an unsettling example of how far fans can take their fanaticism, and the music and the direction is obviously trying to push that narrative. However, rather than portraying him as this crazed and psychotic stalker he is advertised as, the film instead portrays Moose as a buffoonish and child-like simpleton similar to Borat, with many borderline-comedic scenes involving Moose dressed up as an English-bobby while acting goofy, asking for a strawberry milkshake at a cocktail bar, and running around holding deer-antlers over his head while saying "Here's Moosey"! before badly playing the piano while singing badly in Hunter's home. All of that, combined with his looks (especially that ridiculous looking mullet), John Travolta's performance and even his name make it impossible to take the character seriously.
Questionable Casting: John Travolta as a mentally challenged stalker? Just whose idea was that exactly? Extra jarring is that Devon Sawa plays a successful high-profile actor, yet in real life he's not as recognizable as Travolta, who plays a nobody. Then again, Sawa already played a stalker in Eminem's Stan, who, though not mentally challenged, was unstable.
So Bad, It's Good: Despite the film suffering from being bad when it comes to screenplay and direction, it's still enjoyable for John Travolta's over-the-top performance, and has gotten a cult following for that alone.
Looking past the over-the-top performance he gives, John Travolta really looks like he's genuinely trying to portray a creepy fanatic who is supposedly on the autism spectrum. To try and underscore this, Travolta has been campaigning for him to get an Oscar nomination for his performance. Ironically, he wound up winning the Razzie for Worst Actor for his performance in this film as well as the movie Trading Paint.
Additionally, the other actors in the film do a pretty good job at portraying their characters, in spite of how awful the movie is.
Uncertain Audience: The movie can't seem to decide if it wants to be a comedy or a serious horror-thriller. It's clearly intended to be the latter. However, there are a lot of scenes involving Moose that would not feel out of place in a comedy film. Such scenes include Moose dressing up as an English policeman making a fool of himself, and overall just behaving like a buffoon with the mind of a child throughout the whole movie as opposed to being this menacing and unstable fanatic he is advertised as, thus ruining the tone of the movie.
Though we are intended to view Hunter as the victim of the unstable Moose, the film also presents him as needlessly hostile and aggressive Jerkass with severe anger issues, even before Moose's breakdown. In fact, there are moments where Hunter comes off as even more unstable than Moose. Then again, considering how the film was written, it's actually difficult to tell if we're even supposed to root for Hunter or not, since the movie doesn't always portray him as being in the right.
While still desperate and pathetic, Moose's first attempt to get Hunter's autograph in the alley is ultimately harmless compared to his later actions, though Hunter is still rude and dismissive towards him and even threatens physical violence against Moose with very little provocation, while actually giving Moose his autograph would have taken far less effort note Though to be fair, in Hunter's defense, Moose was intruding in a private moment where Hunter was having a personal conversation with his angry ex-wife, and Moose was bugging him for an autograph instead of being patient, which understandably really rubbed Hunter the wrong way.
When Moose encounters Hunter at his private residence, Hunter rightfully tells Moose that he can't just come to an actor's private residence looking for them, and to be fair, Hunter does have a point there, since what Moose is doing is wrong. However Hunter loses sympathy when he decides to aggressively write his name on Moose's T-shirt as way of giving him an "autograph", which was just unnecessary and spiteful.
Despite Hunter ordering Moose to never visit to his home again, Moose decides to return there anyway, and while Hunter is understandably pissed at Moose for going against his wishes, the way Hunter handles the situation is downright unnecessary and cruel, in which Hunter aggressively grabs Moose, screams in his face, verbally abuses him and threatens to shove a shotgun up his ass, resulting in Moose bursting into tears. It makes Hunter come across as an outright bully and an asshole, rather than someone trying to protect his home, especially since at no point does Moose present any threat to Hunter, yet Hunter treats Moose as though he has somehow threatened his life.
In the climax, Hunter tricks Moose into letting down his guard and attacks him, shooting off his fingers and throwing him down the stairs. Rather than simply escape or call the police when Moose is incapacitated, Hunter proceeds to further maim and beat the now defenseless Moose, including tearing out one of his eyes, with his expressions and body language even implying that Hunter is enjoying seeing Moose in such pain, it really does make the audience question who's really the crazy one, because at least Moose doesn't like hurting people. That being said, the movie doesn't entirely condone Hunter brutally hurting Moose, since Hunter is visibly horrified by what he's done to Moose shortly after attacking him and is even nice enough to wrap Moose's hand in a bandage. It's also implied that Hunter's guilt and remorse for hurting Moose is the reason he allows himself to be arrested near the end when the police arrive, to atone for what he did.
WTH, Costuming Department?: The way Moose dresses isn't particularly threatening at all. In fact, he looks downright silly. Someone apparently thought it was a good idea to give the character a ridiculous haircut that resembles a hybrid between a bowl-cut and a mullet. He also wears a colorful Hawaiian buttoned t-shirt with a child's backpack, khaki shorts and sneakers. He looks more like an overgrown 10 year-old than a disturbed stalker. Keep in mind, we're supposed to find Moose scary and creepy. Given John Travolta's insistence that the character is autistic, his wardrobe fits the stereotype to borderline minstrel levels.
