Happy ending?

I agree it is ambiguous. He will go back on the road but he has also learned something about himself. You get the impression he is more open to a committed relationship and might settle down at some point if he finds the right person. "Hey, everybody needs a copilot." When he says that to the hesitant groom obviously there is a subtext there that would apply to himself.

I think the ending is deliberately vague. We're left to wonder if he's going to make a change in his life, or go back to the same old thing.

I would read it as a hopeful ending. Like OP's have remarked, its an open ending, but I think the most important thing about this ending is the change in mindset:

- At the start, he thought it was cool flying around living the anonymous, carefree, (un-backpacked) lifestyle.

- But by the end of the film, he's finally realised how sh*t a lifestyle it really is. people are having family gatherings at night and he's growing old alone up in the air...So although its a sad ending, i think its a hopeful ending. He will now be in that mindset where he's looking to meet someone and settle down which puts him in a far better place than he was at the start of the film..


(in a way, if he hadnt met the evil witch, it wouldn't have changed his mindset. She showed him what he was missing..then took it all away like it was a glimpse)TRAGIC!.

It's HIS ending; he's back to exactly where he was when the movie started.

His philosophy, his seminars all involved no attachments. For the one moment in his life he wandered outside of that and was terribly burned. This simply and wholly reinforced his original mindset; the company reverted to having him on the road allowing him to completely return to who he had been...and to who he would always be....

For a romantic, it's as empty a life as one could imagine.

Sad Ending.

When the audience is first introduced to Ryan he has an empty bagpack. No human connections. No Friends. 1 studio apt. Always traveling. At that point the main goal in his life is to reach 10 million miles.

Somewhere in between that time he meets Alex. He falls for her, regains ties with his family. When he talks his brother law into marrying his little sister, he not only convinces his (future) brother in law that marriage isn't *beep* and life's better with company, he also ends up convincing himself.

Fast forward to the end, he literally walks off stage during his big Empty Bagpack presentation, metaphorically throwing his own philosophy away. He skips giving his Hertz card, as a symbol of leaving the members reward life behind, and tries to start a life with Alex.


But he finds out shes married, she has a bag pack, and isn't the vagina version of himself after all. He realizes he's alone, and the bag pack speech that he was almost gloating about, becomes an unwanted harsh reality.

To top it off, he unexpectedly reaches his goal of 10 million miles. Unhappy, with no ties, no connections, he's back in the air. No longer can he promote, and share his "empty bagpack". He realizes that he wants it filled. He doesn't even have a goal to strive towards, he's already hit his 10 million miles. His life more or less continues, but with now the realization that he is, regrettably..alone.

I thought it was an amazing film,

good story telling, had a real american feel to it, kind of like Fargo 1996,

I agree it's meant to be ambiguous, but not quite like you think. If the ending showed Ryan depressed and crying about his empty life or have him killed in a car accident then it would have been a bad ending or at least tragic since that would imply "you're too late".

Ryan (and I wager most of the audience) was surprised Alex was a cheating immoral wife. The fact is even people in marriages may suddenly find themselves single. The divorce rate is over 50% so it's no safety net for depression - not to mention those who stay in unhappy marriages making themselves and/or their spouse depressed. And who would want to be Alex's husband being played as the fool for years? I would take Ryan's position over Alex's husband any day. Anyone could suddenly find themselves lonely and betrayed like Ryan and need to start planning where to go next, as implied with Ryan in the airport at the end. Ryan is intelligent, rich with a steady job, can do whatever he wants, spend money however he wants and on top of that he looks like George Clooney ... thus he will have no problem finding a girlfriend, fiance, wife, having kids, starting a new job, starting new hobbies and/or new philosophies if he now wants any of those. At the end in the airport, Ryan doesn't focus on his old philosophy or the past disaster, Alex, who is broken... rather we see Ryan can go down any number of paths at that point in his life (aka take any number of flights).