1. Yes, it seems clearly implied that his plan was to stab the kidnappers out in the desert. However, the rest is ambiguous but my interpretation is that he lost his nerve when the moment came and actually just accepted the ride home then invited him in because those are polite and normal responses. It's easy to imagine a movie character going out to commit heroic vigilante murders, but in reality it would be very difficult to follow through with that and I think that's what we see happen.
2. It's the same class, just a different day. They were doing an exercise where they reenacted the entire "scene" (still not understanding that he wasn't acting in that moment) but with all the actors shuffled around. Darren was there because he apparently went back to the class and he was taking the role of one of the people sitting off to the side.
3. Yeah, I think it's just to give her a happy ending. They also seem to hit it off, pretty hard to tell from like two minutes of first day banter but I'd like to think the implication is that her horrible dating streak is at an end and she can finally settle into a normal relationship.
4. There's probably a metaphor in there that I missed, but taken at face value it's just a friend noticing that his friend seems to really be struggling with something lately and wanting to take him somewhere beautiful to share a similarly beautiful story and maybe bond over it a bit more. He just wants his friend to be happy and going on a walk on a sunny day in a field of flowers is the most "this shit makes people happy" imagery you can cram into a single task.
5. Almost everyone in the movie (at least all of the main characters, but many of the side characters too) is trying to be someone they aren't. In most cases it's literal since over half of them are actors, so they're literally pretending to be other people as a job, but we also see it in things like Trent's character briefly acting like the grim vigilante we're used to dealing with movie villains (who are themselves acting like hardened criminals when they're actually bumbling idiots just making a terrible mistake). Nobody seems to be perfectly happy with where they are in life and thus want to be Anyone Else But Me because surely those other lives will be better (and notably they aren't, all of them are better off being themselves by the end).
If you were here I would clap for you the way Darren’s class clapped for his final performance. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, they’ve helped me make sense of things.
I think the big thing is that you shouldn't pressure yourself to be "smart" if that means having no questions about a movie. Films are art, and sometimes they require extra attention or repeat viewings. In fact, good movies don't have a single "meaning" that you can fully understand.
All of these things were left ambiguous so that you'd have more material to dig into, to reflect on, and to come to your own conclusions.
For me, this is a film about delusion, imagining how different you could be if only... you had enough money or got hired for that gig or could stand up for yourself or could meet someone who respects you or... something. And yet, despite the longing for who they want to be, most of them cycle back to who they've been.
Thanks for the reply. I know I’m not as patient as I should be with interpretation and introspection of art, but I was struggling more than usual with the ending of this film. I think my problem was that I wasn’t pulling away *any* meaning since I felt like I didn’t even know what was going on. I just felt like I was missing something. These comments are helping though.
My interpretation:
1. I think Trent was going back out to investigate the kidnappers. I think the blurriness was symbolic of Cherdley's character losing focus/control of the plot.
2. It's Darren's actions and selfishness reflected back at him. In the first scenes we see Darren using real life as a place to practice acting, and getting judged/scolded for it. This scene basically is the reverse, he's in a serious situation but isn't being heard or helped. I think it pokes a bit of fun at how these actors (Darren included) don't really take other people into consideration in their "craft", they just see raw emotion and instantly are trying to emulate it.
3. I agree with you.
4. I didn't really understand this scene either.
5. I thought it might have been Darren's denial of his past actions when confronted with Amelia's film. Like the film was about "Anyone else but me" when he is the main character.
1. Mark was going to the eye doctor but got lost in the desert due to his poor eyesight. The blurring at the end was to give us a glimpse of the world through his eyes.
2. Darren and all the people in the acting class that we see earlier in the film have long-lost twins they don't know about. At the end, we find that all these twins are also taking an acting class that covers the exact same material. This touches on the universal cinematic theme of "whoa, isn't that weird?"
3. That was a dream.
4. I thought this was pretty obvious but the flowers are an allusion to the book "Flowers for Algernon." The name Algernon sound similar to "Al Jarreau," the Grammy Award-winning singer of the theme song to the TV show "Moonlighting," which introduced the world to actor Bruce Willis. Willis has had a long career, but everyone agrees that he is best known for his role of "Voice of Mikey" from "Look Who's Talking Too." In that film, Mikey struggles with potty training and overcomes his fear of Mr. Toilet Man (voiced by Mel Brooks). This is a parallel to the way the character of Darren was struggling with expressing (i.e., excreting) his emotions in a manner that is healthy and acceptable to society and must overcome his fear of rejection (i.e., Mr. Toilet Man \[voiced by Mel Brooks\]). It also may be Joel's subtle message to Hollywood that he wants to do a soft reboot of the extended "Look Who's Talking-iverse."
5. It doesn't have any real meaning. Joel was just trying to get a copyright claim in on the title before Brazzers launches its upcoming series/site "Anyone Else Butt Me." Being the savvy businessman that he is, he'll sell the rights to the name and be able to fund the rest of this year's films and possibly buy his way into some charity galas where he'll schmooze Hollywood execs and give them his "Look Who's Talking-iverse" elevator pitch.
Now I know how Joel is able to finance big budget films like this one, which I think totalled a little over four thousand bucks... basically making weekly videos, so he claims every movie title out there and then selling rights to his titles to porn studios.
I admired Joel before this comment. Now I idolize him.
Others have answered this question pretty well so I just wanted to say that this was my first of Joel’s feature length films and I really enjoyed it. I had to do something for roughly 5 hours right at the 25 minutes left mark so was in suspense for the finale for the whole time! I also found the end a bit confusing but just kindof came to my own conclusions are thinking about it for a bit. Sometime this week I’ll probably watch another, any recommendations?
I haven’t watched them all yet but so far the one I enjoyed most was the first one I saw: Things Could Always Be Worse. It probably had the least amount of plot, budget and planning… but I just love watching Joel and Trent together.
Tell Me You Love Me will probably be considered a modern indie classic in 10 years, and is likely his greatest film (haven't watched them all yet). It's about a Joel playing a fictionalized version of himself and he dates multiple women in NYC, interspersed with some real life tragic things happening in Joel's life. It's really hard to explain what makes it so good but there's a big twist in the middle, and the ending is one of the most devastating endings in a low-key movie. It hurts your soul and makes you drastically want a girlfriend.
I also want to throw out I Am Going To Be Famous, also Joel playing a fictionalized version of himself, living in New York City, trying to do anything to become famous. It's probably his funniest film (that I've seen so far). There are some really cool Nathan Fielder-esque moments especially when he tries to organize a flash dance thing.
Will also throw out Drowning in Potential with Joel and Dax Flame which was the first feature length film with him. It's been a while so I forgot a lot of it, but he filmed it when he got to LA, and it has to do with two actors trying to get into the business. I just remember really liking it.
His january movie, the Caleb one, is pretty low-key but is about Caleb, an absolute fuck-up of a young man, living homeless in Massachusetts in the winter because he was kicked out of his mother's house, and his attempts to survive. He interacts with Kevin, played by Trent, a grad student who has a plan with his life, and (Steve?) someone whose brain is completely fried, and you get a sense that Caleb has to decide which path to go. It's a beautiful tale of friendship and empathy for the completely incompetent. It's a comedy but it definitely made me tear up the last half hour.
Choose whichever seems most appealing to you!
Regarding #5...
It's really interesting to me to read everyone's interpretation of the title, since they all seem different.
For me, the title is completely about Darren, how during the entire film, he never really accepts any responsibility himself.
Even in the ending, then his ex girlfriend has to invent a highly fictionalized version of Darren who will accept responsibility, since the real Darren won't.
For me, this unwavering dedication to blaming everyone else for his problems is what really makes the movie for me into a truly stellar movie.
Blake Rosier's performance as Darren in the movie totally reminds me of why I love Michael Douglas's performance in Falling Down.
I think the only question I can answer is about the tile, the rest confused me as well. Pretty sure the title is just referring to the protagonist really wanting to be someone other than himself, as he does through his real world acting throughout the movie. That's all I got.
The title I took to mean, not just the lead, but everyone... everyone wanted to be anyone else but themselves. mild spoilers i guess but: the actors literally want to play as other people. the girl kidnapped obv would rather someone else be kidnapped. the kidnappers wish they were someone else and not struggling with money/debt/crimes. i think it fits for most everyone in the movie if you think about it (maybe not 100% but pretty close).
1. Yes, it seems clearly implied that his plan was to stab the kidnappers out in the desert. However, the rest is ambiguous but my interpretation is that he lost his nerve when the moment came and actually just accepted the ride home then invited him in because those are polite and normal responses. It's easy to imagine a movie character going out to commit heroic vigilante murders, but in reality it would be very difficult to follow through with that and I think that's what we see happen. 2. It's the same class, just a different day. They were doing an exercise where they reenacted the entire "scene" (still not understanding that he wasn't acting in that moment) but with all the actors shuffled around. Darren was there because he apparently went back to the class and he was taking the role of one of the people sitting off to the side. 3. Yeah, I think it's just to give her a happy ending. They also seem to hit it off, pretty hard to tell from like two minutes of first day banter but I'd like to think the implication is that her horrible dating streak is at an end and she can finally settle into a normal relationship. 4. There's probably a metaphor in there that I missed, but taken at face value it's just a friend noticing that his friend seems to really be struggling with something lately and wanting to take him somewhere beautiful to share a similarly beautiful story and maybe bond over it a bit more. He just wants his friend to be happy and going on a walk on a sunny day in a field of flowers is the most "this shit makes people happy" imagery you can cram into a single task. 5. Almost everyone in the movie (at least all of the main characters, but many of the side characters too) is trying to be someone they aren't. In most cases it's literal since over half of them are actors, so they're literally pretending to be other people as a job, but we also see it in things like Trent's character briefly acting like the grim vigilante we're used to dealing with movie villains (who are themselves acting like hardened criminals when they're actually bumbling idiots just making a terrible mistake). Nobody seems to be perfectly happy with where they are in life and thus want to be Anyone Else But Me because surely those other lives will be better (and notably they aren't, all of them are better off being themselves by the end).
If you were here I would clap for you the way Darren’s class clapped for his final performance. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, they’ve helped me make sense of things.
These are my thoughts exactly, said quite well
I think the big thing is that you shouldn't pressure yourself to be "smart" if that means having no questions about a movie. Films are art, and sometimes they require extra attention or repeat viewings. In fact, good movies don't have a single "meaning" that you can fully understand. All of these things were left ambiguous so that you'd have more material to dig into, to reflect on, and to come to your own conclusions. For me, this is a film about delusion, imagining how different you could be if only... you had enough money or got hired for that gig or could stand up for yourself or could meet someone who respects you or... something. And yet, despite the longing for who they want to be, most of them cycle back to who they've been.
Thanks for the reply. I know I’m not as patient as I should be with interpretation and introspection of art, but I was struggling more than usual with the ending of this film. I think my problem was that I wasn’t pulling away *any* meaning since I felt like I didn’t even know what was going on. I just felt like I was missing something. These comments are helping though.
My interpretation: 1. I think Trent was going back out to investigate the kidnappers. I think the blurriness was symbolic of Cherdley's character losing focus/control of the plot. 2. It's Darren's actions and selfishness reflected back at him. In the first scenes we see Darren using real life as a place to practice acting, and getting judged/scolded for it. This scene basically is the reverse, he's in a serious situation but isn't being heard or helped. I think it pokes a bit of fun at how these actors (Darren included) don't really take other people into consideration in their "craft", they just see raw emotion and instantly are trying to emulate it. 3. I agree with you. 4. I didn't really understand this scene either. 5. I thought it might have been Darren's denial of his past actions when confronted with Amelia's film. Like the film was about "Anyone else but me" when he is the main character.
Thought cherdley was drugged and Mark was waiting for it to kick in.
1. Mark was going to the eye doctor but got lost in the desert due to his poor eyesight. The blurring at the end was to give us a glimpse of the world through his eyes. 2. Darren and all the people in the acting class that we see earlier in the film have long-lost twins they don't know about. At the end, we find that all these twins are also taking an acting class that covers the exact same material. This touches on the universal cinematic theme of "whoa, isn't that weird?" 3. That was a dream. 4. I thought this was pretty obvious but the flowers are an allusion to the book "Flowers for Algernon." The name Algernon sound similar to "Al Jarreau," the Grammy Award-winning singer of the theme song to the TV show "Moonlighting," which introduced the world to actor Bruce Willis. Willis has had a long career, but everyone agrees that he is best known for his role of "Voice of Mikey" from "Look Who's Talking Too." In that film, Mikey struggles with potty training and overcomes his fear of Mr. Toilet Man (voiced by Mel Brooks). This is a parallel to the way the character of Darren was struggling with expressing (i.e., excreting) his emotions in a manner that is healthy and acceptable to society and must overcome his fear of rejection (i.e., Mr. Toilet Man \[voiced by Mel Brooks\]). It also may be Joel's subtle message to Hollywood that he wants to do a soft reboot of the extended "Look Who's Talking-iverse." 5. It doesn't have any real meaning. Joel was just trying to get a copyright claim in on the title before Brazzers launches its upcoming series/site "Anyone Else Butt Me." Being the savvy businessman that he is, he'll sell the rights to the name and be able to fund the rest of this year's films and possibly buy his way into some charity galas where he'll schmooze Hollywood execs and give them his "Look Who's Talking-iverse" elevator pitch.
I have no doubt Joel would support your interpretations. That was Insaneo Style.
Now I know how Joel is able to finance big budget films like this one, which I think totalled a little over four thousand bucks... basically making weekly videos, so he claims every movie title out there and then selling rights to his titles to porn studios. I admired Joel before this comment. Now I idolize him.
Others have answered this question pretty well so I just wanted to say that this was my first of Joel’s feature length films and I really enjoyed it. I had to do something for roughly 5 hours right at the 25 minutes left mark so was in suspense for the finale for the whole time! I also found the end a bit confusing but just kindof came to my own conclusions are thinking about it for a bit. Sometime this week I’ll probably watch another, any recommendations?
I haven’t watched them all yet but so far the one I enjoyed most was the first one I saw: Things Could Always Be Worse. It probably had the least amount of plot, budget and planning… but I just love watching Joel and Trent together.
Tell Me You Love Me will probably be considered a modern indie classic in 10 years, and is likely his greatest film (haven't watched them all yet). It's about a Joel playing a fictionalized version of himself and he dates multiple women in NYC, interspersed with some real life tragic things happening in Joel's life. It's really hard to explain what makes it so good but there's a big twist in the middle, and the ending is one of the most devastating endings in a low-key movie. It hurts your soul and makes you drastically want a girlfriend. I also want to throw out I Am Going To Be Famous, also Joel playing a fictionalized version of himself, living in New York City, trying to do anything to become famous. It's probably his funniest film (that I've seen so far). There are some really cool Nathan Fielder-esque moments especially when he tries to organize a flash dance thing. Will also throw out Drowning in Potential with Joel and Dax Flame which was the first feature length film with him. It's been a while so I forgot a lot of it, but he filmed it when he got to LA, and it has to do with two actors trying to get into the business. I just remember really liking it. His january movie, the Caleb one, is pretty low-key but is about Caleb, an absolute fuck-up of a young man, living homeless in Massachusetts in the winter because he was kicked out of his mother's house, and his attempts to survive. He interacts with Kevin, played by Trent, a grad student who has a plan with his life, and (Steve?) someone whose brain is completely fried, and you get a sense that Caleb has to decide which path to go. It's a beautiful tale of friendship and empathy for the completely incompetent. It's a comedy but it definitely made me tear up the last half hour. Choose whichever seems most appealing to you!
Thanks a lot for the breakdown!
Regarding #5... It's really interesting to me to read everyone's interpretation of the title, since they all seem different. For me, the title is completely about Darren, how during the entire film, he never really accepts any responsibility himself. Even in the ending, then his ex girlfriend has to invent a highly fictionalized version of Darren who will accept responsibility, since the real Darren won't. For me, this unwavering dedication to blaming everyone else for his problems is what really makes the movie for me into a truly stellar movie. Blake Rosier's performance as Darren in the movie totally reminds me of why I love Michael Douglas's performance in Falling Down.
I think the only question I can answer is about the tile, the rest confused me as well. Pretty sure the title is just referring to the protagonist really wanting to be someone other than himself, as he does through his real world acting throughout the movie. That's all I got.
The title I took to mean, not just the lead, but everyone... everyone wanted to be anyone else but themselves. mild spoilers i guess but: the actors literally want to play as other people. the girl kidnapped obv would rather someone else be kidnapped. the kidnappers wish they were someone else and not struggling with money/debt/crimes. i think it fits for most everyone in the movie if you think about it (maybe not 100% but pretty close).
I like that interpretation as well