I don't understand why this film won so many awards. It's supposed to be a "comedy" but seeing these main characters live this hard scrabble, trailer trash lifestyle isn't really "funny" to me. Watching Mary Steenburgen's character leave her husband "Melvin" to move into some horrible motel room where she's slapped around in front of her young daughter, and then become a stripper in an equally horrible burlesque establishment, isn't something I want to spend the time or mental energy watching. It's bad enough to be stuck in one of these places when you're on a road trip and you need gas, and it's too late to find a decent place to sleep, it's disturbing to see this on film. Then the whole 70s free-sex concept, random sex with this milk man "Melvin"...the director makes the viewer wait through the entire film for the whole point of the title. While waiting for Howard Hughes to die, all these really depressing things are happening to this character "Melvin" and none of it makes sense in the grand scheme of things. This film is built like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" but it doesn't have the wonder of aliens from outer space to make it interesting. I just felt depressed after watching this entire film.