Fridge Brilliance
- Also overlaps with Fridge Sadness; throughout the film, one bone of contention Neal has with Del is Del's rather strong bodily odor. The ending of the movie, wherein it's revealed that Del has been homeless for eight years, suddenly gives this an added dimension — how long has it been since Del has been able to shower regularly or afford deodorant?
- Adding to this, Del's incredibly slobbish behavior is because, since his wife is dead, he doesn't have anyone to get clean for.
- Adding more still, the reveal makes it clear that Del wasn't intending to be disgusting or inconsiderate to Neil by washing his clothes in the hotel bathroom - it's likely that he doesn't have anywhere else to wash his clothes BESIDES such places and has been doing so for so long that he'd completely forgotten the issues and implications of doing such things with company that he hasn't had in ages.
- Neal is a jerk to other people while dealing with adversity. Del is still cheerful and personable under the same circumstances... and people go out of their way to help Del, whereas NOBODY goes out of their way to help Neal due to his attitude.
Fridge Logic
- Why couldn't the car rental agent look up Neal's rental in her computer? Even without the rental agreement, it should still be in their system records.
- After having to endure a long, swearing rant against her for something that she wasn't responsible for, she's clearly far less inclined to check further into the system, and just goes straight by the book - "got no paperwork, got no luck".
- How did Neal manage to access an ACTIVE RUNWAY on foot at St. Louis Airport?
- 'Twas a simpler time before a particular event in the early 2000s...
