The 'Ponyboi' Movie Ending, Explained

Cosmopolitan

6 days ago

Ponyboi is both a daughter of The Sopranos and Call Me By Your Name, falling somewhere between Sean Baker's 2015 indie Tangerine and Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 Drive. On the surface, this debut feature from director Esteban Arango and writer‑star River Gallo is a canonical Jersey story of sex‑work, stolen cash, and Tommy‑gun‑era goon. The titular Ponyboi is an intersex hustler working truck stops and a dingy laundromat back room for his sneaky link and pimp Vinny – Dylan O'Brien, doing Jersey Shore character work. Ponyboi works with Vinny's pregnant girlfriend Angel (Victoria Pedretti) while also hooking up with Vinny on the side, so things are immediately not well for our boi.
Ponyboi's morning routine begins with ritualistic shaving to confirm with societal expectations as an intersex person, and ends with the news that his estranged father is dying.
Vinny arranges a drug deal at the laundromat, which brings two ominous mob enforcers—one sporting vintage bookie-style spats – into play. Things go almost instantly south as their buyer, aptly named Lucky, overdoses during the transaction. Ponyboi grabs the mob money and bolts toward whatever counts as freedom south of the Pulaski Skyway.
On the run, Ponyboi meets Bruce, played by the endlessly watchable Murray Bartlett. He's a Mustang‑driving cowboy who appears like a queer fever dream in a ten‑gallon hat. At this point, we're being spoon fed flashbacks revealing Ponyboi's broken relationship with his father. One worth mentioning here is him placing a cowboy hat on young Ponyboi's head, grooming him to be a 'big, strong man.'
Ponyboi and Bruce talk about Bruce Springsteen, sing a duet of 'I'm on Fire,' and play in the laundromat. With the haze of daddy issues in the air, the dynamic between Bruce and Ponyboi triggers the 'is he even real?' response.
Openly intersex, Latinx, Jersey‑born, Gallo flexes every intersecting outsider muscle in Ponyboi's swagger and softness. Ponyboi tenderizes itself by slipping in and out of genres; and the performance is so alive, you stop clocking 'representation' checkboxes and just fall for this messy, resourceful kid who wants, wildly, to be loved.
After Ponyboi bolts with the cash that belonged to the Lucky, he becomes a moving target for two predators at once — Vinny, furious that his side‑hustle has collapsed, and Two‑Tone, Lucky's vengeful brother.
In addition to the physical chase, Ponyboi finds himself a digital chase, screening calls from his dying father looking for a deathbed conversation. When he finally picks up, the conversation is halting, raw, and inconclusive. Ponyboi can't bring himself to forgive the man who ordered surgeries meant to 'fix' him as an intersex person.
Ponyboi seeks refuge in a low‑lit cabaret run by his old friend Charlie (Indya Moore). Charlie's tough‑love monologue about self‑definition forces Ponyboi to admit he isn't just running from thugs — he's running from every label that's ever been stapled to his body.
Vinny returns in a super violent and hard to watch confrontation, fueled by professional desperation and personal betrayal.
After narrowly escaping Vinny, Ponyboi is met again by Bruce, and the two share fries over a dreamlike date in the neon of a diner with doo-wop in the background. Bruce offers a lift to Vegas — an invitation to leave New Jersey, the mob, and every bad memory behind. Outside the diner Bruce gives Ponyboi the keys instead of driving the car himself, which feels like a literal passing of the baton. Bruce quotes the film's thesis line: 'You can have whatever you want—you just have to think you deserve it,' and steps out of the narrative.
Ponyboi slides behind the wheel of the vintage Mustang and for the first time in the movie, he's the literal driver, not the passenger. He heads for the Jersey turnpike and the film abruptly ends, causing quite the stir with audiences. But by leaving the mob threat and family reconciliation open‑ended, Ponyboi insists that the first victory is self‑permission. Everything else can only happen once he believes he deserves to steer.
Ponyboi is now playing in theaters.
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