Screwed (2000) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The ransom note was hastily written and poorly worded, causing the Pittsburgh police to misread it. They interpreted the note as stating that Willard had been taken, rather than understanding that the dog Muffin was the target. This misunderstanding set off the entire chain of events that followed.

• ransom note
• police misunderstanding
• dog kidnapping
• Pittsburgh police

They needed to create evidence that Willard had been captured to sell the fake ransom video to the media. The plan involved leaving a dead body dressed as Willard at the ransom drop to make it appear he had been killed by his supposed captors, which would explain his absence and justify the demand for money.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Willard and Rusty discuss needing a body to make the scheme believable to the media.

• corpse
• fake kidnapping
• Grover Cleaver
• decoy body
• ransom video

Grover Cleaver, the morgue employee they hired, sourced the body of an old homeless dwarf. When police discovered the body, Willard tried to claim it was his captor, remarking that the man was "more ferocious when he was alive."

• Grover Cleaver
• morgue
• homeless dwarf
• dead body
• police investigation

Willard did obtain the money from the briefcase during the exchange, but two children ambushed him with a taser and shiv, stealing the case. Later, Willard learned from Grover that Chip Oswald had double-crossed everyone and seized the money for himself.

• ransom money
• Chip Oswald
• double cross
• briefcase
• children thieves

Grover was waiting for his cut of the million-dollar ransom and grew impatient when the money never came. He went on a rampage and abducted Mrs. Crock from her home, intending to hold her for ransom himself and get the money he believed he was owed.

Foreshadowing: The timeline shows Grover growing increasingly angry as the money failed to materialize.

• Grover Cleaver
• Mrs. Crock kidnapping
• ransom cut
• double cross

Willard discovered that his father had been Mrs. Crock's former manservant and lover. This revelation about his father's relationship with his employer added a shocking layer to the family's tangled history with the wealthy pie heiress.

• Willard father
• Mrs. Crock
• lover
• manservant
• family secret

As police closed in on Grover's hideout, Mrs. Crock needed to protect her public image as a kind, grandmotherly figure. She convinced authorities that Willard, Rusty, and Grover had actually come to rescue her, reframing the entire criminal enterprise as a heroic act.

• Mrs. Crock
• police
• rescuers
• image
• public perception

After the mother of one of his attackers returned the briefcase, Willard discovered it contained only newspaper and cabbage, the money had been replaced. This anticlimactic revelation underscores the farcical nature of their failed plans.

• briefcase
• newspaper
• cabbage
• empty
• attackers

When Willard led police to Chip's house where the ransom money was finally found, Chip pulled a gun on the group. In a panic, Rusty grabbed a nearby lava lamp and struck Chip with it, knocking him unconscious before anyone was harmed.

• Rusty
• Chip Oswald
• lava lamp
• knocked unconscious
• gun

Mrs. Crock rewarded Willard for helping recover the money and rescuing her from Grover. She paid for his tuition at the University of Southern California and bought him a new Armani suit, while also funding Rusty's new Chicken Hole restaurant on the beach.

• Mrs. Crock
• Willard
• USC
• college
• Armani suit
• reward
• Chicken Hole