I recently rewatched it, kind of facing my fear of being sad and depressed and
oh my god what a different perspective I have now!
The shock factor is completely gone, the gory and meant to be traumatic parts aren’t that bad like I’m always waiting for the part that is triggering and it just doesn't come.
And the main characters I can basically only laugh at, the story is a cautionary tale of degeneracy and all the adults point out other choices the whole time. I completely didn’t notice the first time I saw it as a pre-teen. I just saw freedom, desperation that nobody helped and shock at the resolution. I completely missed that it starts as an anonymous homeless person dying their last breath in a subway station, and ending with it. Seeing that and how I actively avoid that specific scenario and so could these main characters, its more of a comedy at “watch this dumbass burn every bridge with the worst decisions” an expected and purely Machiavellian outcome, as its so common in the cities I live in, and everyone compassionate realizes they cant help people that cant help themselves. The story moreso shows humanizing to the dead anonymous homeless off in the corner, but not really empathy as it might be interpreted, just caution of how not to make those choices. the adults point out other choices the whole time, the writers put that in there.