Who all was in on the big con against Roy? Obviously Frank and Angela, and I assume the Dr., but what about Frechette? (the guy with the gray beard played by Bruce McGill). I'm having a hard time piecing everything together, and I can't figure out if he was in on it or not. It seems plausible that he could have been a con within a con, but I'm probably forgetting some details.

Also, how did Roy come to that particular shrink? Obviously the con had to be planned out well ahead of the point that Roy visits the Dr, but I can't recall how Roy came to that particular psychiatrist. Was it a suggestion from Frank? (That would make sense). I really can't remember what circumstances brought him there. I guess I'll have to watch it again.

Cage is built up as an anal man in all regard, somewhat powerless to his affliction, but nonetheless, he comes across as being quite thorough. Money in the safety box, money and a gun in the dog, paranoid looking out the window, through job preparation, doesn't leave much to chance. But then we're lead to believe that this man with "no personal relationships" is going to somehow connect with his shrink. If that fails, there is no movie, and there in begins a spiraling chain of coincidence and stupid action that is the plot. Now I"m willing to suspend disbelief, but when it runs simply so counter to the characters at the expense of advancing the story, I can't get into . So the story is further built that some how the therapist or Rockwell characters KNOW he won't call his wife. If he just calls, he knows he has no child, end of movie, end of everything. But lets suspend disbelief for all this, where it simply completely unravels is the custody proceedings. I've never been a divorced parent, but I find it quite hard to believe that such action would be initiated without the alleged mother being called. Just senseless to me. And add to the fact, unless I looked away for a shot, the dog with the gun is in the same room as Rockwell and the D-Day at the end, but she exits elsewhere to retrieve the gun. If my film geography is correct, it should have been right in front of Rockwell. Now, D-Day and Rockwell were there in advance, they could have swapped the gun or swapped the bullets with blanks, just a shoddy loose end. I could add a few more, but these were just a few issues I had, that will keep this from being a true classic. The panic attack stuff was overdone in my book, as a panic attack sufferer. And I also found the much maligned "One Year Later" to be profoundly glib. I can't buy that Cage wouldn't have sought revenge, or at least would have taken longer to both get together with the Sheila Kelley Character AND knock her up.

And add to the fact, unless I looked away for a shot, the dog with the gun is in the same room as Rockwell and the D-Day at the end, but she exits elsewhere to retrieve the gun. If my film geography is correct, it should have been right in front of Rockwell. Now, D-Day and Rockwell were there in advance, they could have swapped the gun or swapped the bullets with blanks, just a shoddy loose end.

She doesn't exit the room - it's a large room, and the dog is closer to the patio doors. She just goes off camera for a bit, as it closes in on Cage, then comes back and shoots. And it seems obvious to me that Rockwell and D-Day DID swich the gun.

He's been having doubts about his career choice since ever, so when he gets conned, he takes it as a sign that he has to get out. He holds no grudges - he feels that he's to blame.
Now, the scene with him and the "daughter" - a bit too sappy. Self-blame or not, he wouldn't have been too happy with her.
But they've "taught each other so much in their precious few moments together..." Cage honestly missed his chance to have a family and a child, and doesn't want to miss his second one.

the blocking of the gun scene was just the final straw to a large progression of issues, I didn't mean that the was the lone reason I wasn't going to see this as a classic

the custody stuff is discussed when Cage booted her, but meets her after school and they sit in the bleachers. He says he hasn't contacted her mother yet regarding this, which is just too big a hole for me to get past. Just because, he almost certainly would have, and that is the thread that unravels the movie if he does. Now I"m willing to go along for the ride, and I've even recommended the movie just today, to friends I know who wouldn't be as nitpicky as me and dig the twists. But how could he get to the point of going to court regarding custody without talking to Heather? I doesn't and never will make a lick of sense to me. And how can you initate custody for a girl that doesn't exist? I believe he says he's going to court, wouldn't this show up in the records that there's no girl?

Perhaps Cage's character felt he had to talk it over with the daughter first, to see if it would be alright, if she even wanted to have a life with him. He may have been avoiding contact with the ex and getting the courts involved until he was sure he was making the right decision.

Everyone but Roy - Frank orchestrated it, brought in the doctor, the girl, Franchette, even the "police" at the end. That's a lot of ways to split a measly million dollars. A mil may sound like a lot until you split it 6 ways. Of course, it sounds like Frank screwed everyone else out of their cut. So he must've gotten more than that. Anyway, after "figuring out" the film, I was really less interested in it. You know what really would have surprised me? If it *wasn't* a con - if all of those little clues and furtive glances between Frank and the daughter were there and everything was at face value. THAT would've been a coup. The ending as is - just predictable and lifeless. Bleh.

Perhaps i was too interested in the relationship building between Cage and his daughter to think that something maybe amiss.

• The actual con is totally different in the book. I think the one in the film was a little better, but maybe that's because I saw it first.
• There's no "One Year Later" in the book, either. Once the con is over, we just see Roy back in his favorite diner (where he and "Frankie" would frequent daily).
• There were a few more cons that were explained in the book too, ones that Frankie and Roy had done prior to ever meeting Angela.
• My memory is a bit fuzzy but from what I remember, Angela was never really a part of the final con, at least not in Roy's eyes. She was there for the long-con, but not for the con that Roy and Frankie were trying to pull.

He went to the bank with Angela the first time and he added her name to the safe deposit box. It was so spontaneous and out of place that you knew something was up. There was just no compelling reason for him to do that, other than to set himself up to get screwed later.