Contrary to what you might think, this film is not about a down-on-his-luck car salesmen but rather, it is a story about four women and their contemptible treatment of a man, in their attempt to elicit from him, a behaviour that is acceptable in their eyes.
At various stages of the narrative, these central women relentlessly attempt to manipulate the so called protagonist; Ben is rewarded, used, punished, vilified and then given one final call in to heel. The central question driving the story is not what precipitated his apparent intolerable behaviour (the film's red herring) but rather, it is whether or not Ben will submit to the feminist "reprogramming' or remain unrepentant to the last.
Tragically, it makes no difference whether Ben does what the women want him to do or not, he still gets punished regardless; for one women he does exactly what she wants him to do, and is impeccably punished for it. However, he receives no points for attempting to avoid the situation that cements his demise, being forced into it against his better judgement and will, by the very women who unleashes upon him his own private Armageddon; Ben is punished and blamed by the one that forced him into the situation, with no admittance of her own guilt at creating the underlying animosity between herself and her offspring, the real cause of the problem in the first place. This is a typical example of how Ben is repeatedly blamed for the women's own short-comings. Similarly, Ben is a horrible man simply because, like most men, he does not find wrinkly old women as sexually attractive as young young ones (note, however, he did admit older women could still nevertheless, 'get him off'). Again, while not explicitly treated in the film, one could assume anecdotally that while many old women, in seeking to boost their self-esteem, wish to be sexually ravished and desired by their partners, it is wholly unacceptable for men to bed young attractive women for exactly the same self-obsessed reason. Yet throughout Ben is a survivor of indomitable spirit, the utterly authentic existentialist.
Ben's punishment far outweighs his crimes - for brief moments of self gratification (without it seems any thought of malice to others) he is attacked at the two most fundamentally important dimensions of the male life; the ability to succeed vocationally/financially and the ability to nurture and sustain intimate family relationships, most importantly, with his offspring. The four aggressive women punish him with isolation, attempting to destroy him emotionally and materially, all of which, they feel completely justified in doing and commiserate with his crimes.
Clearly, this film serves to mirror the typical behaviour of women in family breakdown today, where the majority of women succeed in taking and breaking that which is most important to a man - I can only assume some of the makers of this film are victims, or know victims, of divorce (and if you're a woman that has not done this to a man, don't kid yourself into thinking that you would never do such a thing – the statistics clearly show, in family breakup, women overwhelming (85%+) get custody, house and money while blocking access to kids – so you either haven't yet had the opportunity to do it, or you are one of the wonderful minority who have not – I salute you!).
Similarly, for one act of indiscretion (let's say a one night stand that leads to pregnancy), men today are forced to pay money for the next 20 years for a child they don't even get to see, being actively marginalised as a father (while the women try to ease their conscience by telling themselves that they want their fathers to be more involved in their child's life, while simultaneously denying them custody or access, often as punishment for perceived transgressions). This leaves these men little hope of ever being able to find a suitable partner due to their lack of money and emotional ruin at being unfairly separated from their child (let alone how much the child suffers). A punished non-commiserate to their 'crimes'.
But of course, on another dimension, a class dimension, this is all fantasy since as female lovers (and probably male) to men of power know, rich and powerful men do not get punished as Ben does (e.g. Hugh Grant, Bill Clinton) but merrily continue their lives, to the envy of the beaten down non-alpha male herd, and consternation of the female kind.
Top movie – good-on-ya Ben! Men, don't give up - you can survive! Ladies, learn to accept men (admittedly, not always pleasant) for what they are, not what you want them to be. And try not to punish them too severely for their, and your, imperfections.
At various stages of the narrative, these central women relentlessly attempt to manipulate the so called protagonist; Ben is rewarded, used, punished, vilified and then given one final call in to heel. The central question driving the story is not what precipitated his apparent intolerable behaviour (the film's red herring) but rather, it is whether or not Ben will submit to the feminist "reprogramming' or remain unrepentant to the last.
Tragically, it makes no difference whether Ben does what the women want him to do or not, he still gets punished regardless; for one women he does exactly what she wants him to do, and is impeccably punished for it. However, he receives no points for attempting to avoid the situation that cements his demise, being forced into it against his better judgement and will, by the very women who unleashes upon him his own private Armageddon; Ben is punished and blamed by the one that forced him into the situation, with no admittance of her own guilt at creating the underlying animosity between herself and her offspring, the real cause of the problem in the first place. This is a typical example of how Ben is repeatedly blamed for the women's own short-comings. Similarly, Ben is a horrible man simply because, like most men, he does not find wrinkly old women as sexually attractive as young young ones (note, however, he did admit older women could still nevertheless, 'get him off'). Again, while not explicitly treated in the film, one could assume anecdotally that while many old women, in seeking to boost their self-esteem, wish to be sexually ravished and desired by their partners, it is wholly unacceptable for men to bed young attractive women for exactly the same self-obsessed reason. Yet throughout Ben is a survivor of indomitable spirit, the utterly authentic existentialist.
Ben's punishment far outweighs his crimes - for brief moments of self gratification (without it seems any thought of malice to others) he is attacked at the two most fundamentally important dimensions of the male life; the ability to succeed vocationally/financially and the ability to nurture and sustain intimate family relationships, most importantly, with his offspring. The four aggressive women punish him with isolation, attempting to destroy him emotionally and materially, all of which, they feel completely justified in doing and commiserate with his crimes.
Clearly, this film serves to mirror the typical behaviour of women in family breakdown today, where the majority of women succeed in taking and breaking that which is most important to a man - I can only assume some of the makers of this film are victims, or know victims, of divorce (and if you're a woman that has not done this to a man, don't kid yourself into thinking that you would never do such a thing – the statistics clearly show, in family breakup, women overwhelming (85%+) get custody, house and money while blocking access to kids – so you either haven't yet had the opportunity to do it, or you are one of the wonderful minority who have not – I salute you!).
Similarly, for one act of indiscretion (let's say a one night stand that leads to pregnancy), men today are forced to pay money for the next 20 years for a child they don't even get to see, being actively marginalised as a father (while the women try to ease their conscience by telling themselves that they want their fathers to be more involved in their child's life, while simultaneously denying them custody or access, often as punishment for perceived transgressions). This leaves these men little hope of ever being able to find a suitable partner due to their lack of money and emotional ruin at being unfairly separated from their child (let alone how much the child suffers). A punished non-commiserate to their 'crimes'.
But of course, on another dimension, a class dimension, this is all fantasy since as female lovers (and probably male) to men of power know, rich and powerful men do not get punished as Ben does (e.g. Hugh Grant, Bill Clinton) but merrily continue their lives, to the envy of the beaten down non-alpha male herd, and consternation of the female kind.
Top movie – good-on-ya Ben! Men, don't give up - you can survive! Ladies, learn to accept men (admittedly, not always pleasant) for what they are, not what you want them to be. And try not to punish them too severely for their, and your, imperfections.