Given the opportunity to participate in a life or death reality game show, one man discovers there's a lot to live for.
When a man is offered a million dollars to play a game in which hunters try to kill him, he thinks he has found the perfect loophole: they can only attack when he's alone. His only problem is that none of his friends or family believe the game is real.—themoviedb
Self Reliance starts out with Tommy arriving at a house to meet someone, but too afraid to knock. We later learn this is the home of his ex girlfriend of more than two decades for whom he has deeply buried and unanswered feelings for. This turmoil leads to him "meeting" with celeb Andy Samberg, who enlists him into a dark web reality show where he is forced to be no more than a few feet from another human being for 30 straight days or he'll be assassinated, jump-starting forced interactions with others that Tommy desperately needs deep down, and if he wins - he is awarded $1 Million.
The film continues, forcing him to literally and figuratively cling to others, adding characters that reflect parts of his family, his own personality, and pop culture references from his childhood all while implanting artifacts in an almost "Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" manner, creating breaks from reality which cause him to lose his job, the roof over his head, and to question everything. While the 30 day clock on the "reality show" mirrors what a lock-down rehab patient may experience, Tommy is closely questioned by those around him. He befriends a homeless, beat down, toothless manifestation of what he'll become should he continue on the same path which he quickly begins to take after (a sort of "ghost of Christmas Future" type).
Tommy meets someone claiming to also be a part of the reality show, forcing a love interest as they literally cannot live without one another. It doesn't take long, however, for her legitimacy in participating in the game to be questioned. Her care-free mistakes in being alone (and leaving Tommy alone) and early on admissions that she is interested in damaged partners with whom she loses interest are clear signals. Later she goes on to admit that she was simply bored, not long after the duo come into contact with another impostor.
The movie ends with his close family and friends around him after an intervention, with his broken teeth healed and the "million Dollars" he is promised for completing the 30 day reality show being paid as 4,000 Danish Krone per month, equivalent to just under $600 USD/mo. - hinting that he has completed rehab and secured a part-time job (or perhaps some government assistance), re-earning his family's trust and starting his re-assimilation into society.
