Yes, because writers never ever intend multiple meanings for lines in a movie. And never the last line.

I’ll defend this movie. I saw it when I was unemployed and horribly depressed. I felt like a failure on the verge of becoming an irredeemable asshole. I think if I had continued down that road, I might have become a lot like Greenberg: a guy with a lot of potential who got some bad breaks, failed, eventually gave up, and spent the rest of his life taking it out on everyone else.

Is that a good person to become? No. I’m glad I did not become that person, and it doesn’t really make me happy to watch Ben Stiller pretend to be that person either. On the other hand, that fear is there. Greenberg is a relatable character because, as shitty as he is, it seems like not a huge stretch to believe I could end up like that after enough miserable failure.

At the same time, Greenberg maintains a small speck of the decent person he probably once was. It comes through a few times in the movie, briefly, and then more forcefully [spoiler] in the final voicemail he leaves Greta Gerwig. Her response, “This is you” is meant to signal her recognition of the good part of him, the part that is possibly still worth trying to get to know.

That said, I agree that it is pretty unrealistic that anyone as seemingly awesome as her character would put up with enough of Greenberg’s shit to get to the point where you might recognize the small redemptive part of his soul. And even if she DID get that far, it’s debatable whether even that part of him is worth the effort.

But ultimately, the movie is a reminder to people going through hard times and letting those hard times turn them into piles of shit, that there might still be something worth loving at the bottom of that pile of shit. I think that is a useful reminder, even if it comes through a pretty flawed set-up.

At least we know exactly what we’re going to get in both movies, thanks to those titles! My vote is for Crazy, Stupid Love, because at least that one leaves a LITTLE more to the imagination.

Snyder = Quark = YES