I believe this, also, was the actual point of the movie.
And you never know who’s going to go psycho and start dressing up like a giant rodent. That’s why I leave no child behind – might as well pop the whiny little snot.
Spoilers ahead. Sorry, but I really have to set the stage for my reaction.
In the movie Crazyheart, Jeff Bridges’s character is a drunk country singer trying to make a comeback when he meets beautiful reporter Maggie Gyllenhall. They begin an affair, during which Jeff bonds with Maggie’s beautiful little boy. One day, while at an aquarium with Maggie and the boy, Jeff decides to give Maggie a break and take the boy with him. Being a drunk, Jeff takes the boy into a bar, and the boy runs off. A few hours of frantic searching later, the boy is found, and Maggie is understandably furious.
This incident causes Jeff to turn his world around. He enters rehab, stops smoking, and hopes to become the man she deserves. He comes to her house, shows her he is a changed man, and…
the bitch turns him down. She can’t accept he’s a changed man, and basically shuts the door in his face.
A few months later, she meets up with Jeff again. His career is on the rise again, and she wants to interview him for an article. He looks down and sees a beautiful engagement ring on her finger. She seems happy, and he’s happy for her. Credits.
Director’s intended message: Jeff got his life back on track, and his relationship with Maggie had to go away because that was the “old him.” He’s a new man now.
My message: Maggie threw away a man who treated her well and loved her son because she couldn’t forgive his letting the boy run away.
Jesus, I ran away from my parents frequently. I probably scared them to death. But whichever parent was watching me was never in fear of being disowned by the other because of it. What a bitch that Maggie Gyllenhall character is.
Wow. This turned out far too long. That movie still angers me.
I’ve mentioned this one before and gotten a lot of arguments over this.
Clerks II: I don’t think it was meant to be a happy ending. Kevin Smith has said that he puts a lot of his own life into his movies. And he did the opposite of what Dante did - Smith left New Jersey, became a huge success, and married Jennifer Schwalbach. Which was the opportunity that Dante had but gave up on. He was comfortable and all that but still he settled for what he had instead of reaching for something more and at the end of the movie it was clear he was going to spend the rest of his life working in a convenience store.
From talking to friends it seems I was only one who thought that the main characters in Lost in Translation were not meant to be sympathetic. I thought it was a painful movie to watch but it did a good job of showing how annoying jaded rich people can’t be happy with what they have and enjoy life.
Message: Rich, famous people are either superficial and stupid or can’t enjoy what they have because they are emotionally retarded.
Shallow Hal. The idea was that his shallowness was undermined by seeing the fat ugly girl for “who she really is”. Except to illustrate this, the filmmakers chose to show the fat ugly girl as a slim and attractive Gwyneth Paltrow. Which completely undermines the point by making the audience complicit in the body fascism. The message I took away is: someone’s inner self is much better if they’re a hottie not a fattie.
Similarly, if you’re a six-fingered man and hire someone to make a special sword for you…
The Book of Genesis: It’s okay to cheat your brother out of his inheritance if God likes you better.
Pulp Fiction: Violence looks really, really cool.
I absolutely adore this. 
That reminds me…
The Invention of Lying: Ricky Gervais is enamored by Jennifer Garner, but she wants to bone Rob Lowe, because Gervais is short and fat, and Rob Lowe is Rob Lowe. Eventually, Gervais wins her over with his kindness and charm, and I think we were supposed to take away some True Beauty Comes From Within message, but I took away that being shallow is okay if you’re a short, fat dude, but if you’re an attractive, willowy woman, you’re supposed to like people who what’s inside. Why did Gervais keep pursuing her when she admitted to him she didn’t like him because he wasn’t physically attractive? He should have been done with the shallow bitch, but he liked her anyway because she was pretty.
The Little Mermaid - If you want to catch a man, shut the f^*$ up and just be pretty.
Prepare for one more argument.
Yes, Smith left New Jersey and became a big-time movie director. But first he became a big-time movie director while living in New Jersey. Second, for all his love of moviemaking, he loves his wife and daughter ten times more. That’s how he knows that he’s a geek done good. That’s what Dante gets at the end of Clerks II. He gets the (better) girl and has a kid on the way. He’s happy. Just like Smith is.
He’ll be interested in you for maybe two or three whole days!
At which point a talkative girl with something to say will catch him! 
I’m not going to derail a thread by having this argument again.
I’m not too sure if this wasn’t the intended message, but Grease ended with Sandy deciding to dress up as a vapid slut in order to get her man.
But then you get sent to Bruges, and really, who wants to end up in that hell hole?
To be fair, her man also dressed nerdy to get with her.
Quoth Kobal2, in regards The Dark Knight:
That’s close to what I took from it, only I saw it as less absolute. More like, there’s petty, selfish evil in all of us, even good upstanding citizens, and there’s also good, strong moral fiber to be found anywhere, even among hardened criminals. The convicts might not have actually been better than the “good folks”, but there really isn’t all that much difference between them, either.
Aaaah! The sarcasm! It burns! Ze goggles do nothing!
Speaking of the Dark Knight ferry scene…weren’t there kids on that civilian boat? Who I’m pretty sure didn’t get a vote in what happened to them? I’m guessing “it’s okay to sacrifice the lives of complete innocents for the sake of your own moral purity” wasn’t what they were trying to put across. Though it seems eerily appropriate for the story. :eek:
If I recall, Danny (I think that was his name) did change for Sandy too, (having a sweater tied around his neck) but quickly went back to his old self once Sandy became slutified.
I’m more than a little horrified that I remember this since I haven’t seen it since it played in the theater.