The Big Chill (1983)
July 20th, 2007
This nostalgic ensemble piece, written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan (Grand Canyon), is the story of a group of college friends from the 60s who gather for a friend’s funeral in the early 80s.
But wait, it’s 2007 - almost 25 years on! These thirty-something young professionals and stoners would be fifty-somethings now. Most of the actors are very well-known, among them Tom Berenger, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Jeff Goldblum, Glenn Close, and Meg Tilly. They are very young here, and mostly confused, too - except for Kevin Kline, who is never confused.
Looking at the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, it looks like this movie has slipped in the estimation of critics in the intervening years. (It gets a rating of 70%.) What, after all, did the characters learn in the 20 years since college? They don’t know what to do with their sixties values - sell them out? One character has a chain of shoe stores called “Running Dogs.” Clever! Or cling uselessly to them, in pointless acts of defiance against hapless traffic cops? And most of the characters are into drugs of some kind, including cocaine, pot, and quaaludes. Was that the lesson of the sixties - sell out, stay stoned, be a clueless jerk?
But I liked watching it a lot. Everyone in the ensemble is symbolic of something, from the shallow TV actor to the monk-like Vietnam vet. I love characters who carry a load of symbolic meaning, but that doesn’t get in the way of also enjoying it as a bittersweet character study. It holds out the familiar values of friendship, kindness, and hope, and those are values that most of us like to have affirmed every now and then.
If you haven’t seen it in 25 years or so, as I hadn’t, I recommend you give it a look. It stands up well. And it has one of the great soundtracks of all time.
Maybe there will be a sequel. About time!
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