bigchill

Lesson learned: Don’t mistake a good film for a good soundtrack.

I grew up with an overplayed cassette of “The Big Chill” soundtrack in the tape deck of my parents’
home. They didn’t like the movie, so I heard, but they loved the soundtrack and yet every other
baby boomer I spoke to years later liked the movie. When I watched it as an adult, I hated it.

A group of friends who used to be best buddies in college are reunited over the death of their
friend, Alex, who committed suicide. William Hurt is a Porsche driving cocaine user, Glenn Close
and Kevin Kline are the friends who got married, Jeff Goldblum is the nerdy guy, and JoBeth
Williams and Tom Berenger round out this cast of loser characters.

They spend the weekend reminiscing about Alex, their dead friend and all of the good times they
had, but every conversation descends into an ideological fight as they pontificate over life and
destiny and love and a lot of other pretentious crap. This is an actors’ movie and a writers’ movie.
It does not reflect the real world experience, unless you’re one of those pathetic aging hippies.
That’s the other facet showcased in this film, the inherent dysfunction of the hippie mentality.

Williams cheats on her family with Berenger and there are no consequences. She doesn’t even
feel bad about it. Close basically pimps Kline, her husband, off to her friend so she can have a
baby. Never mind the fact that when that child is born, Kline will be the father, yet married to
another woman in a seriously messed up series of emotional events that is never touched on. It’s
treated with sentimentality and warm fuzzies.

During the course of the movie, they tape a lot of their conversations on a video recorder for no
good reason whatsoever and Goldblum runs around trying to get someone in the sack and fails.
Meanwhile, Alex’s old girlfriend starts getting it on with Hurt. This movie proves that hippie culture
doesn’t work. Why? Everyone in the film is confused, torn, angry and living a lie of a life they think
doesn’t have consequences, but it does. This is a film written and acted by hippies for hippies. It’s
stupid. Don’t they realize their lives are screwed up because of the social anarchy which they
allowed to guide their early years? Nope. In writer Lawrence Kasdan’s world, I guess “The Big
Chill” is reality. People sit around doing drugs while trying to sleep with one another. Real normal.

And don't tell me this is a generational thing. If people are acting stupid, they're acting stupid and
being born in a different year isn't going to change that fact. In addition, the famous soundtrack is
completely unmotivated. The songs are literally strung together in an endless, meaningless
stream, which lessens their impact and makes the whole thing a contrived, nostalgic mess.

I can’t believe this is from the writer of “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
The performances are decent and the plot moves in interesting ways, but only interesting in the
same way a guy slapping himself in the face is interesting. “The Big Chill” is a big disappointment.
The movie doesn't even have an ending! Credits just start rolling as randomly as the film was
unfolding. Thank God for small blessings.