The Big Chill (1983)

Directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Starring Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, William Hurt, Tom Berenger, Mary Kay Place, Jeff Goldblum, Jo Beth Williams, Meg Tilly, Don Galloway. [R]

A group of thirty-something friends from high school gather for a weekend stay following the funeral of a member of their old gang who killed himself; they get reacquainted, pair off for conversations and hook-ups, and ponder what led them to their current lives and what drove their friend to commit suicide. A character-driven drama steering into shallow waters where events occur and decisions are made by the adrift artifice of unnatural contrivance. Well-acted by a sturdy ensemble of up-and-comers, but the relationships among them often feel unnatural, and although the glibness of Kasdan and Barbara Benedek’s screenplay elicits a handful of choice statements and one-liners (“That’s probably why he killed himself…”), they feel writerly and artificial—it swings far closer to pop psychology than seasoned wisdom. The questions are “big,” the answers are non-existent, and an air of irresolution hangs over the whole affair; which is not to say that a story needs a concrete purpose and payoff, but a film as superficial as this one benefits from the security of structure and moral. It’s entirely possible the subliminal intent was to show that these adults are just as rudderless and empty as they were as foolish youths, but the pervading sense that the filmmakers want us to like, value, and identify with these characters glosses over that brittle reality. The songs that fill the soundtrack (and sold the film) are mostly excellent, and they provide contours that save the inherent flatness of certain scenes, but their choosing sometimes lacks imagination and personal touch (how many close-knit pals only feel nostalgic for well-trod hit records?). Kevin Costner filmed flashback scenes as the friend who died, but they were cut from the film; it’s still him being dressed for the funeral, however (face unseen). Loosely adapted into a short-lived television series called “Hometown.”

50/100