I think people might be missing the main theme of this film

I agree, but also, realize, at first they had thought it was a heart attack, not a murder.

Too, the theme is about skin in the game, once the murderer had to account for his act, he backed out of his perfect, theoretical position -- no longer able to play god and get away with it, without looking like a selfish, hypocritical creep.

Too, the theme that he was a sexist cuckhold, perfectly happy defending women from bad men, but when it was another man, an innocent caught up in the web, he was willing to walk away and let that guy get punished.

In her words, she realized that she was not as "cutting edge" as she thought herself to be.

I actually thought it was Abe who was being a hypocrite. Here he is bragging about what a "moral" man he is, while he's sleeping with a married woman and having an affair with a student against school policy (in the process destroying a marriage and breaking a young man's heart).

Abe wasn't a moral man. He was a self-absorbed, hypocritical dick.

Really liked the movie, BTW.

You have a good point there, balbin. While Abe had reasons for what he did, Jill's consternation hinged on the dogmatic programming that "murder is wrong". I'm not arguing that it isn't wrong, but I think the writer missed a big opportunity for Jill to have counter reasoning of her own, instead of a purely emotional response. She was an intelligent college student, after all, who excelled in her philosophy class. One thing right off she could have brought up was that due process exists for a good reason, and Abe was acting emotionally and with little information.

I was also disappointed with Abe's lack of effort. He had the spectrum of human sophistry at his beck, but didn't put up much of an argument before trying to toss her down an elevator shaft.

[deleted]

The hypocrisy theme, ok, but what?! it's coming from her?? are you crazy? Because she doesn't support a murderer she's a hypocrite? Their initial comments about the judge were playful, so was their informal celebration, that's obvious and there's a world of difference between words and an action of that kind.

The real hypocrite WAS Abe because he says he rid the world of a bad man, he says he acted instead of just wishing, he poses as a better, superior man, but when the table have turned, when an innocent man is arrested for the crime he committed, not only does he not mind if the man is wrongfully convicted but he's ready to kill an innocent person he liked! In the end, we see he's just a horribly selfish man, too much a coward to admit to the crime he committed and to uphold the standards he set, a coward who thinks only of his own preservation. If he killed the judge, we can be certain now it had nothing to do with helping a complete stranger, it was all a pretence, the intellectual facade behind which he hid all his personal demons, for which only a naive young woman, or one older and desperate, could fall. Perhaps the film is more about selfishness than hypocrisy.

__________________________
www.1up-games.com Last seen:

For brevity's sake, I'll just say I disagree with your main point. A character mentions at one point that "most philosophy is verbal masturbation".
Sure, everyone is a hypocrite, but chance and luck determine who lives and dies. That's the "main theme".

balbin,
Yes, the movie is more than just a movie about a selfish man who commits a crime , etc....
I think that your idea that the movie is also about hypocrisy is on the mark.
The thing that I like about Woody's movies is that he normally has several themes that run throughout his films.
Also, because of these variable themes, I think that's why many people like to watch Woody's films more than once.
~~
~~~
~~~~~