The film also touches on an inherent problem with the Friends of the Barnes' keep-it-in-Merion movement - namely, that after years of the Barnes' being a jewel-box museum with a severely restrictive admissions policy, its doors were opened in an effort to raise much-needed cash. Tour buses and cars started rolling up and down the street, and the neighbors were not pleased. In some ways, the NIMBY-ism of Merion residents served as a catalyst to decamp the Barnes.
As for Rendell's on-camera comments, Argott says: "It's not a conspiracy theory when somebody says this is how this whole thing came to be. . . . It's so matter of fact, the way that Rendell states it, the way that it's played, that it almost doesn't seem shocking. 'Well, this is what happened: A guy came into my office and said we should get at them and try to get this thing downtown . . .'