>And I think Baumbach chose to go that route with the final
>third because he had to, I wouldn't say punish, but he had to
>make sure Stiller's character learned his lesson about
>worshipping false hipster idols, especially at his age.

... that the whole thing builds to a "punish the young manipulator" ending, just to have the world shrug and go "who cares?" It's underwhelming from a narrative perspective, but from someone who digs the unexpected, I was really tickled by that turn of events.