I agree, tbh. I'm surprised so many people on this board call Steven a jerk, selfish, or even that he took advantage of Chip.
I thought Steven was TOO nice. He kept being friendly towards Chip, saying things like "you're a good guy, but...", letting Chip in his house, and continuing conversations with Chip. He should have ended it right there and just called the police the moment Chip broke into his house. Chip was dangerous (as we later find out, when he bashed Owen Wilson's character then kidnapped Robin).
Chip was a psychopath. Regardless of whether or not he had a bad childhood, that doesn't give him an excuse to stalk, harass and manipulate people. He broke into Steven's house, gave him stolen goods, got him fired, got him arrested, bashed Owen Wilson's character, kidnapped Robin, etc. What part of that sounds like a fun or sane guy?
I think the end of the movie has clouded peoples' opinion on Chip. For some bizarre reason, Steven and Robin were all-smiles and even asked Chip was his real name was. Screw that, the psycho put both your lives in danger! They should have been running to the court-house to get a Restraining Order ASAP!
Hell, the very last scene even hints that Chip is going to do it all over again. He has learned nothing. He is the same psychopath with no boundaries that he was at the beginning of the film.
Not that I didn't enjoy the film. I did. But I'm surprised so many people seem to see Steven as the bad guy, and Chip as the hero. Very bizarre, imo.
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TheLordofTheHarvest
12 years ago
Steven was in his ways a total prick. It was all about him, and if things don't go his way he would whine about it. At the beginning he was moping around and acting like he was a victim because they broke up. He continues to do that through the movie. And Chip even helped to get him started again, and he never properly thanked him for it.
Steven had a major fit when he found out about the whore, despite initiating the process when he started talking to her. While I would be upset if I was in his situation, I would have not passed all of the blame to Chip, it was 50/50. Or better yet, he should have left her alone and just partied all night.
Chip saved his ass again by talking to Robin, and he doesn't even thank him or sound happy that she is wanting to be back with him. He then isolates his oldest friend because of the whole Robin thing, the dude had a serious lack of people skills. While Chip was a looney tune, he was at least committed to making things better for his friends. He was all around a nicer guy than Steven was, and did not deserve to have Steven as a buddy, even if he was insane.
I like Broderick, he's a favorite of mine, but he really managed to make Steven out to be worse than he was probably intended. It would have been interesting to see how another actor would have handled the role, would Steven been a much better character all around or would he have stayed as miserable as he ended up being? That would have been interesting to see.
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andromache3
10 years ago
Steven may have been a jerk at times but he wasn't dangerous or insane like Chip Douglas/Larry Tate was. He stalked, harassed and manipulated Steven; tried to drive a wedge between Steven's friends, Robin AND his family; got him fired from his job; set him up with a prostitute, whom Steven at first thought was Chip's "friend"; beat up Robin's date; brought him stolen equipment and set it up after breaking into Steven's apartment; set up a spy camera in Steven's apartment; had him thrown in jail; hit on Robin; left multiple messages on his machine and just wouldn't leave him alone. As others have said, if anything, Steven was too nice to him. This guy was a liar in every sense of the word; he had stalked and harassed other customers and was fired from the cable company but still pretended to work there. And why didn't he ever tell anyone his REAL name?
Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want.
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