The Big Chill

Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Cast: Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, William Hurt, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Berenger, Mary Kay Place, JoBeth Williams

The 60's were heady times, indeed, and they spawned a whole generation of idealists who were set out to change the world -- at least until they had to face all of its cold, hard realities. Then things changed and they did, too.

The Big Chill follows the gathering of a group of these inspired college idealist as they gather together nearly 15 years after graduation for the funeral of one of their own. The movie chronicles how these characters have changed and been changed by the world they entered and with the exception of the one or two in their group, their youthful inspiration has mostly evaporated into commercialism or cynicism.

A successful athletic shoe manufacturer (Kline) and and his physician wife (Close) play den mothers to the group who crash at their stately North Carolina home for the weekend. The group is made up a TV actor (Berenger), a writer for People magazine (Goldblum), a lawyer (Place) a housewife and mother (Williams) with the odd-man out (Hurt). The weekend is their existential journey as they wrestle with their lost idealism, their life choices and the question of why their friend decided to leave the world behind.

Despite the loaded content, Kasden and (Barbara) Benedek's script balances the potential sullenness with a light and fun tone, in fact to such a degree at times it's hard to take the characters completely seriously. Despite moments where the characters stray into some ares of thin development, they still remain mostly authentic. My only complaint is that with the exception of Hurt's character (and maybe Williams) all of them have moved into highly successful (and lucrative) fields of work. I would have though at least one of them would have ended up in a menial job.

The cast is good throughout and Kasdan infuses the movie with the music of the character's past and it enlivens the film with an energy that a traditional score might not have.

Many critics have compared the movie with John Sayles, "Return of the Secaucus Seven" and say that The Big Chill is the commercialized, Hollywood version and I must say that I can't disagree. But I can't say that makes the movie any less enjoyable. It's less real that Sayles movie, but what about movies are real anyway. If you're a part of the GenX generation and you want a little escapism with your drama, The Big Chill is a prescription for you.