The Big Chill isn't the cinematic masterpiece some would lead you to believe; what it is (mostly) is a somewhat superficial look into the lives of some ex-college chums. It's set in the early 80's, but pines for an earlier decade—the Sixties. The director, Lawrence Kasdan, along with most of the cast are baby-boomers who came of age in that period.
The principals—all Sixties activists, I take it—have been reunited to mourn the loss of their former leader, Alex, a suicide who slit his wrists. (Kevin Costner was famously cast in this role, but all his scenes were cut; Kasdan made up for it, somewhat, when he gave him a juicy part in his subsequent film Silverado—although that picture was fairly forgettable.)
The Big Chill features an all-star cast; it's a real ensemble piece and Kasdan tends to pair up folks as they hash out their feelings for one another (and, more importantly, their feelings about themselves: lots of talk of "selling out" in the cold-hearted 80s).
As the movie opens, the group has heard the bad news (Marvin Gaye's I Heard it Through the Grapevine plays, the first of many Motown and classic rock hits we'll hear). In a somewhat showy title sequence, Kasdan intercuts close-up shots of the deceased as he's being made up (buttoning of a shirt, tying of a tie, buckling of a belt, smudge wiped from shoe, etc.) with clips of his distraught friends.
Alex was staying with Harold and Sarah Cooper (Kevin Kline and Glen Close) and the group congregates at their lush, rain-soaked summer home for the weekend (the movie was shot in and around Beaufort, South Carolina). "Where are we going to put everybody?" Sarah wonders but it's a big place—the two have a number of kids—and Harold reassures her there's room.
Harold and Sarah are fairly well to do. He owns a chain of jogging shoe stores and she's a doctor. The rest of the circle (with the exception of Nick, played by William Hurt) have high-paying jobs as well. Michael (Jeff Goldblum) writes for People magazine; Sam (Tom Berenger) is a popular TV star (think Magnum, P.I.); Meg (Mary Kay Place) is a corporate lawyer; and Karen (JoBeth Williams) married well: her older, more conservative husband Richard (Don Galloway) is in advertising.
Nick, on the other hand, is floundering after having spent some time as a radio call-in psychologist. He's currently dealing drugs and everyone imbibes (if you're adverse to seeing drug usage in a movie you may want to avoid this one).
They're all graduates of the University of Michigan (Kasdan, too) and you can just about tell what they all majored in—it's practically tattooed on their foreheads. Alex was perhaps the brightest, a brilliant physics student, and his death (the "big chill" of the title) can be seen in a larger, symbolic sense, as the death of idealism.
This is not to say that the prevailing mood of The Big Chill is a sad one. On the contrary, things lighten up considerably once we get past the funeral with only occasional lapses into mournfulness (Glen Close, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role here, sits naked on the bathroom floor crying in one brief moment).
One senses this shift in tone fairly early on—the funeral closes with one of Alex's favorite songs ("You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones). Lots of smiles over that cheeky selection. Likewise, the dialogue that soon follows is pretty cute as well. Take this conversation between Meg and Nick as they drive out to the graveyard:
Meg: "I feel terrible."
Nick: "Yeah."
Meg: "Last time I spoke with Alex we had a fight—I yelled at him."
Nick: "That's probably why he killed himself."
The movie's full of clever dialogue like that and The Big Chill is very amiable (you want to like it) but I don't think Kasdan quite pulls it off—although I am recommending it.
The problem has to do with the movie's theme (or lack thereof). Kasdan never really addresses what the group was all about—what sort of things they believe (or believed) in. A few references are casually thrown out ( to "Huey and Bobby", for example, co-founders of the Black Panther party) and there's some vague talk of "our commitment" and guilty feelings abound, but what that commitment was all about remains unclear.
The movie does better in a series of nicely filmed vignettes—where Kasdan gets a lot of mileage out of the soundtrack. There's a memorable after-dinner clean up sequence where everyone dances around the kitchen to the Temptations' Ain't to Proud to Beg for example.
I also liked the fluid camera work by John Bailey; the film, to it's credit, zips right along (it doesn't stall). And I like the acting as well. In addition to the seven core friends, a very limber Meg Tilly is memorable playing Alex's younger girlfriend Chloe. Kasdan co-wrote the screenplay with Barbara Benedek and there's an even and fair-minded split along gender lines (four male leads, four female leads). No one really gets slighted here: personalities are firmly established.
Kasdan has a background in advertising and The Big Chill is at its worst, I'm afraid, when it tries to quickly come up with a message or some deeper meaning. On the phone to his People magazine boss, Michael tries to sell us on what this weekend represents: "Suicide. Despair. Where did our hope go? Lost hope. That's it. Lost hope." Those who really love the movie might be sold, but I remain stubbornly unconvinced. Still, worth watching for the entertaining ensemble.
Seven members of a close-knit college group of friends are reunited fifteen years later after the eighth commits suicide. The funeral and reception le...More at Family Video
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