Originally Posted by monet View Post
Originally Posted by tableplay View Post
Yes, if you haven't seen it in awhile seeing a good movie again is solid entertainment (for me it has to be a very long time where I have forgotten a lot of it). The way the ending went down was he gets hit by a taxi trying to cross the street to talk with Paltrow in order to try and salvage their relationship since he notices she is with another guy (and Gary wanted to go to the meetup with her initially not knowing she was with a new guy). After getting hit by a taxi cab he is in a coma for the short remainder of the film. In his coma, he dreams that he only has a badly fractured leg and that he is back to writing and playing music in a successful music career and that his relationship with Paltrow (Dora) is totally restored and better than ever and that his best friend Pegg (Paul) is also back with his own woman and they are hanging out comfortably having a nice barbecue in great weather (in this dream, it also shows Danny Devito to have written a best selling book about Gary rather than reality which is Devito mostly spending time in his apartment dreaming when he is not at one of his eclectic gigs). We are initially led to believe that he is not in a coma because the barbecue dream sequence is shown before the actual state of affairs.
I just finished up revisiting this film.
I like the way they ended it but I could of lived with him dying.
It's clear that he made the decision to choose Real Life and his Real Life Relationship over his addiction to his Lucid Dream World.
What isn't exactly clear is if he came out of the coma right before the end scene.
I didn't run it back to see if he opened his eyes with Paltrow at his side as I was just enjoying the End Credit Music.
I like an abrupt ending like that.
And I kind of like leaving it open to interpretation.
I feel like he is going to wake up at that moment since that is exactly how he wakes up every time throughout the film.
Another interpretation could be that he lucked into Perpetual Dreaming which is what DeVito was trying to stumble upon or invent his entire life.
Either way the hypnotic music and visuals bring in a nice flood to the emotions and I really like the jolt you get from the taxi/accident scene.

An interesting note or feeling about this film is how it is directed.
The story and characters feel disconnected as if you are in a dream.
And when we experience the dream sequences they feel more alive or bright.
Very Clever Story Telling in my opinion.

DeVito/Mel Quote: Sometimes I wish that you could just hit the sack and never wake up.
If your favorite song never ended, or your best book never closed, if the emotions mustered from these things would just go on and on, who wouldn't want to stay asleep?
The guy who discovers that perpetual dream, he's my man.
Great insights Monet. I don't recall seeing him come out of the coma. If he did, it was implied somehow or it happened as some sort of epilogue after the ending credits (which I didn't wait for). But, as you described, he clearly wanted to restore his real world relationship and Paltrow definitely understood this since she saw him try and run across the busy street to salvage things.