Questions *spoilers*

i totally agree, when i was younger this film was so dark that i just couldn't watch it, there were no heroes coming to rescue these ppl from themselves, the only part i felt almost happy was when susan walked out on jj. But now, i see the film as a masterpeice. The plot, the acting, and the very sensation you get from watching these ppl rip eachothers lives to pieces it something i dont get from any other film.

1. Steve was in the hospital because jjs "ppl" did what jj had intended to do, which was "i want that boy torn apart", so whatever they did to him must not have been pretty.

2.i think when sidney broke up steve and susan he felt he was on the way to top and didn't need to be his press agent anymore.

3. Susan knew that whatever jj needed done, sidney would be the one to do it. So she knew that if jj had arranged for steve to have the crap beaten out of him, sidney would be the one to pull it off. so she invited sidney to jjs appartment so that if she jumped, sidney would be blame for letting her do it, thereby getting revenge on sidney that she couldn't get on jj. I dont think she intended sidney to be able to stop her, but when he did and jj saw, she knew sidney was in deep crap. i think thats why she let jj beat him up a bit, but then she stopped him cuz now she was acting just like jj.

4. JJ believed sidney the whole time about susan trying to kill herself, but he was trying to keep the blame off himself, and shift it to sidney. he let the "you need help" line out to try to stop her from leaving him. hes been telling her that she needs him and all this time it was him who needed her.

5.Yes, susan did break up with steve because she was afriad of what jj would do to him. But even if jj did here that they had broken up, he still would of had steve beaten up.

hope i helped.

"Death by tray it shall be!"

Thanks.

Also what did Sidney mean by the line "Watch me run a 50 yard dash with my legs cut off"?

And what did JJ mean by "My right hand hasn't seen my left hand in thirty years."? Did he mean that he doesn't like to spend his own money or something?

Hm, about that call that got Sidney to JJ's place, I don't think it was Susie who made it. Firstly, the waiter says that it was JJ, so he must have heard a man's voice. Besides first there was a call, and only when Sidney didn't answer the caller left a message. While Susie could have told *the waiter* to tell Sidney that a *man* had called him, she couldn't have changed her voice into JJ's if Sidney had actually answered the phone the first time. Secondly, how would Susie know to find Sidney at "21", especially in the state of mind she was?

No, I think it was actually JJ who made the arrangement. He knew that Susie would find out about Steve having been beaten up and all, an he knew that he'd be the first suspect, so he needed a scapegoat. And of course, Sidney was perfect for the job. I think that JJ wanted Susie to think that he (Sidney) framed Steve so that he could have Susie all for himself. JJ knew that Susie would be in a desperate condition, and that Sidney would try to comfort her one way or another, so there was the chance to catch them in the position he actually caught them.

But I'm not very happy about this explanation either, Susie was too summarily clad, and that plan would have involved too many assumptions and too much chance. It's still a possibility that Susie called Sidney in order to commit suicide in his presence and destroy both her brother, and Sidney with that, but that also involves too much scheming on her part (plus the issues from the first paragraph).
But then again, JJ couldn't risk Sidney ratting on him in the face of Susie (that JJ himself had arranged the rap on Dallas). Nah, for JJ everything would have been smoother without the incident at his house.
But then again and again, if the caller was Susie indeed and JJ was not aware of anything, he still *knew* that Sidney could not possibly have ruined all his newly acquired success by hitting on JJ's sister at his own house, furthermore he *must* have believed it far more likely for Sidney to have tried to stop Susie from killing herself than for Sidney to have tried to jump her.
However (fourth change of thought or so), if he found Sidney with Susie without having himself arranged for it, it must have meant that Susie wanted Sidney to go down for the rap, which was all very convenient for JJ; or, it may have made JJ so mad that it clouded every reasonable thought in his mind.

...As a matter of fact, regardless of who arranged for the final confrontation, everybody acted strangely and a tad incoherently. Which is why I found particularly that final scene a bit muddy, a bit of a let down compared to the rest of the movie.

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