Line #4 Headscratchers/AngerManagement


1	* Dave's reaction to... well, everything, was ridiculously weak, but that was the point. What bugs me was that he never ran screaming for the police. Every person this troper knows would have either tackled the therapist, tied him up, and dropped him off at the police station, or run to hide in the nearest phone booth to call 911 as soon as he pushed the car off the overpass into the street, if not far earlier. I understand why he didn't want to be sent to jail, but if his therapist was imprisoned (especially considering the twelve lawsuits his lawyer mentioned), he might have at least gotten a better (or at least sane) therapist.
2	** You do realize the whole point of the movie was that Dave was a complete push-over, right? The whole movie was building up to him learning to stand up for himself.
3	*** That's what bugs me so much about it, though. They've just finished teaching him to stand up for himself... [[BrokenAesop so he's willing to]] put up with a girl so ridiculously controlling psychotic that [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale she deliberately set him up for two weeks of emotional torture to make him more like what she wanted]]? That's pretty much the exact opposite reaction to what they could have even been aiming for. They're horrible, horrible people, and if he actually now knew how to stand up for himself, they'd be in JAIL.
4	* My biggest question is about how 'all of it' was a setup. How much of it was a setup? Was his three year annoying boss a setup and was it okay that he went into his boss' office and destroyed property? What about the bully who turned into a Buddhist monk, was he in on it and okay with getting beaten up?
5	** Sadly, that probably wouldn't have worked, since the entire scam depended on subverting the judicial system in the first place. He probably would've ended up in front of the same judge and sentenced to more "therapy". Yes, even if he was the plaintiff-- it's a "comedy" movie, so it doesn't have to make sense.
6	* At the end, when it turns out that his girlfriend had been in on it the entire time. ''What''!? They take a decent, if unassuming guy, put him through two weeks of hell, and turn him into an attempted murderer, ''and he still wants to marry her!?'' The writers imply that they got their just punishment at the picnic, but seriously. Harshest example I've ever seen of a KarmaHoudini.
7	** It only gets worse when she admits that she thought he was insufficient as he was, but necessitated change.
8	* So, wait... what if Dave had snapped in, really, ANY OTHER WAY besides the way he did. Like if he went completely nuts and did something legitimately illegal, instead of all fake and staged with the fake judge. Or what if he'd done something rash with depression, and given up or done something worse?
9	** That's what I'm wondering. What if the security guard wasn't the transvestite from the cab? What if he got tackled before he could speak? What if he didn't get to the game? What if he didn't think to run onto the field and couldn't find his girlfriend?
10	** The implication was that Buddy was somehow manipulating the sequence of events so meticulously that Dave would do ''exactly'' what Buddy wanted him to do without even realizing it. But now that I think about it, that's possibly even MORE ridiculous.
11	** GambitRoulette.
12	* So...has that judge been fired yet? She intentionally handed down a false ruling. And Buddy staged a violent altercation ''on an airplane''. In ''2003''. Does the entire Department of Homeland Security owe him a favor or something?
13	** Wasn't she a fake judge? And wasn't that black security guy who tazed him NOT part of Buddy's plan?
14	*** Don't remember about the judge, but the air marshal was incidental. It would have still been played off as a violent crime by everyone involved even if Dave hadn't been tazed.
15	* Speaking of the air marshal: if someone tazed you for throwing a ''very'' mild tantrum, why would ''you'' go on trial? Why didn't Dave become an instant folk hero for pressing charges against the marshal for police brutality? Is his place in the scheme of things really ''that'' unfair?
16	** I seem to remember some "minor" issue involving New York and commercial aircraft happening less than two years before this film hit theaters. Might have had something to do with how little tolerance pretty much everybody had for anyone causing problems aboard one.
17	* Been awhile since I seen the movie, but was the $3500 dollars he was forced to pay the flight attendant ever mentioned again?
18	** Nope.

Context Headscratchers / AngerManagement