Movie Review – The Big Chill

The Big Chill (1983)
Written & Directed by Lawrence Kasdan

This may be one of the most misunderstood Hollywood films of the late 20th century. I’d never seen The Big Chill before I watched it for this review. However, I had heard about it from time to time. It was often framed as a shallow examination of the Baby Boomer generation. It’s a film concerned with that cohort of Americans, but I don’t think it’s superficial. The characters are certainly living their lives on the surface, but the film tells us many things about them, especially their flawed worldviews. The voice of reason in the film is the youngest character, who pretty much explains the picture’s theme when she says, “I don’t like talking about my past as much as you guys do.”

A group of friends finally find the time to reunite when their mutual Alex commits suicide. They gather for the funeral in South Carolina and afterward spend the weekend at one of the group’s homes, reminiscing, rekindling old love affairs, and examining the state of their lives versus what they thought they would have been doing by now. There’s Sam (Tom Berenger), a David Hasselhoff-like tv action star. Meg (Mary Kay Place) started as a public defender but now works as an estate attorney. Michael (Jeff Goldblum) works for People magazine, writing empty fluff pieces. Nick (William Hurt) was a radio psychologist whose career spiraled out of control, leaving him a pill-popping addict. Karen (JoBeth Williams) is unhappily married to a conservative ad executive. They all congregate at the home of Sarah (Glenn Close) and Harold (Kevin Kline), who got married after college. Along with the reunited schoolmates is Chloe (Meg Tilly), Alex’s younger girlfriend, who feels adrift. 

Boomers seemed uncomfortable with this movie, with critics framing it as “going nowhere” and feeling aimless. I found myself loving the film for those very elements. Kasdan is attempting to mourn his own generation. When the movie came out, Ronald Reagan was finishing his first term, clearly headed for a second. The ambitions of youthful rebellion that surged so strongly in America in the late 1960s and 1970s had fizzled out. Many of those college activists had been subsumed by the economic forces into becoming yuppies (young urban professionals). We see that in a character like Meg, who wanted to use her legal prowess to help the less fortunate, but that didn’t pay well, so she transitioned to a more lucrative form of law. 

Kasdan wants to show how a single reunion weekend isn’t fixing these people’s lives. They will do what most people would, reflecting on the “good old days” and grumbling about the state of their lives in the present. The Big Chill is not an escapist film. The soundtrack contains top 40 hits from the character’s pasts, but that nostalgia can’t seep in too deep. The songs are a frustrating reminder of what was and won’t be again as the story unfolds. As much as they loved the way things were in their early 20s, they are pushing 40 and need to live in this moment and make the most of what their lives are now. The film doesn’t let us know if they will, and it seems most will fail in this regard. It’s way too easy to slip back into the comfortable routine than risk discomfort by trying to improve. 

The unseen Alex is a crucial figure in understanding what is happening. Throughout the film, we get mentions of who he was and what he was doing with his life. During the eulogy, we learn that Alex came from a privileged background but shrugged off the degree he was pursuing to work odd jobs here and there. It never seemed like the deceased found his place in the world, which is what led to his suicide. The living ruminate on how they were politically aware as students, working towards important causes. It became easier for them to abandon that than it did for Alex. He understood these were his core beliefs, not the flavor of the times, and because he watched his generation abandon them for the most part, that left him genuinely despondent. 

If you dislike many of these characters, I don’t think that’s accidental. Kasdan never makes anyone an irredeemable villain, but he doesn’t try to paint them as saints. The Big Chill was an attempt to implore Kasdan’s peers to spend time evaluating what they had done with their lives. You can tell he’s thought a lot about his early aspirations versus where he was circa 1983. Kasdan made his name as a writer on George Lucas-produced films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi. The Big Chill was not what audiences might have expected from him, but Kasdan needed to make this picture. He had lived in a cooperative in Ann Arbor in the late 1960s and drew a lot from his personal experiences in a Midwestern college.

The problem with The Big Chill is that it doesn’t unpack the Why of the situation. I guess that works because these characters are ultimately shallow and seem incapable or unwilling to unpack the circumstances of their lives. While they feel discomfort with the societal shift that took them with it, they also don’t possess the vocabulary to discuss how it happened. We in the audience can see it; it’s capitalism. As the public sector and concepts of collective responsibility dried up (they were already in short supply, to begin with), these people have become alienated from each other and their own selves. They exist to accrue things and distract themselves from the ennui. They leave this weekend, ultimately learning little if nothing. If you feel something hollow when the credits roll, I argue you feel as the director intended.