The Big Chill

Name: The Big Chill
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: September 28, 1983
Duration: 105 min
Rating: 61
Cast: Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Kline, Tom Berenger, William Hurt

1983

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Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critics

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Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Ratings

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7.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Ratings

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The Big Chill

Movie Details & Credits

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: September 28, 1983

Starring: Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Kline, Tom Berenger, William Hurt

Summary: Good friends reunite for the funeral of a college pal. During the weekend that follows, they compare their 60's ideas with the harsh reality of their lives in the 80's, and discover that in a cold world, you need your friends to keep you warm. [Sony Pictures]

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 105 min

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Awards & Rankings

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Critic Reviews

The New York Times - Vincent Canby

The Big Chill represents the best of mainstream American film making. It's a reminder that the same people who turn out our megabuck fantasies are often capable of working even more effectively on the small, intimate scale of The Big Chill. Read full review

Empire - Staff (Not Credited)

An entertaining look at the 80s embourgeoisement of 60s student activists steers skillfully between social satire and sentiment. Read full review

Time - Richard Corliss

Indeed, the entire film is a kind of sock-hop benefit for Approaching Middle Age. This maturing generation never played Taps with such glamour or good humor. Play the music and let the big chill—the knowledge that "we're all alone out there, and we're going out there tomorrow"—melt away in the warmth of the feel-good movie of '83. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine - Staff (Not Credited)

In the final analysis, the film doesn't amount to much, except to provide a good opportunity for the fine ensemble cast to show off their talents. Read full review

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert

The Big Chill is a splendid technical exercise. It has all the right moves. It knows all the right words. Its characters have all the right clothes, expressions, fears, lusts and ambitions. But there's no payoff and it doesn't lead anywhere. I thought at first that was a weakness of the movie. There also is the possibility that it's the movie's message. Read full review

Austin Chronicle - Marjorie Baumgarten

Each member of the well-chosen cast not only creates a distinct character with unique and memorable resonances but also meshes these separate personalities to form as satisfying an example of ensemble acting as we are likely to see for quite some time to come. Read full review

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) - Jay Scott

When The Big Chill is busy being funny, it's a great comedy, but when it goes for depth, it hits bottom an inch down. [30 Sep 1983, p.E1]

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User Reviews

DomoR.

Sep 23, 2007

It may have been a "fake" movie but it really distills a certain trenchant mindset of those that lived through the 1960's and pretended they changed things. They didn't. They just did things out of their own curiosity and self interest.

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Spangle

Jul 28, 2017

The Big Chill dates itself considerably with a selection of 1960s and 1970s musical selections that would likely find a home on a nostalgic "classic rock hits" radio station nowadays. Yet, despite the film firmly planting its feet in the early 1980s and reliving the college experiences of aThe Big Chill dates itself considerably with a selection of 1960s and 1970s musical selections that would likely find a home on a nostalgic "classic rock hits" radio station nowadays. Yet, despite the film firmly planting its feet in the early 1980s and reliving the college experiences of a group of friends during the late 1960s/early 1970s, The Big Chill is a film that is hardly dated thematically. Musing on the profound sense of loss felt by this friend group after the suicide of one of the members of the group, the film is often casually funny, profound, and poignant. With the group looking at their lives as they are now in contrast to their dreams for the future and expectation of changing the world they had when younger, the film is quiet, contemplative, and entirely solemn experience that truly captures real human emotion and feeling throughout, a rare and impressive accomplishment.

With this group of friends coming together to mourn Alex's death, it becomes abundantly clear that none of them are happy in their current lives. Though Alex killed himself, he was oddly the only one trying to seek happiness. He failed, but refused to stay restricted by his skill-set. A gifted scientist, he instead worked as a social worker and on construction jobs, seeking ways to experience life in any way possible and refusing to just stay in his line. The refusal of his friend group of to explore has rendered them greatly unhappy. Sam Weber (Tom Berenger) is a famous actor, but hates the phonies in Hollywood and the fame that comes with his profession. Karen (JoBeth Williams) hates her normal, average life and the husband that gives it to her. Michael (Jeff Goldblum) views himself as a serious writer so he hates his People Magazine gig. Meg (Mary Kay Place) hates being a public defender and her status as a single woman. Nick (William Hurt) has impotence and possibly PTSD from Vietnam. Harold (Kevin Kline) and Sarah (Glenn Close) seem happy, but similarly feel unfulfilled as if something is missing in their otherwise "successful" lives. Of this group, nobody is happy.

Yet, their struggles are ones felt by anybody. Growing up, you envision the grandiose life awaiting you. Kids rush to drive, go to college, move out, get married, and have children, all as a means to find adulthood. These all serve as road signs that you are getting closer. At the end of this tunnel is the mythical comfort land of "success". How one defines "success" is up to them, but unfortunately, is always a moving target. No matter one's present situation, it is impossible to view it as the end of your tunnel. If the situation you are in is the very pinnacle of where you life will be, then that is an even more depressing point of view to take. As a result, few ever actually achieve "success", instead moving from life achievement marker to life achievement marker, seeking the end of the tunnel and becoming unhappy and unfulfilled when that opening is never found. From this unhappiness, boredom, and contentment, depression or adultery or regrets can begin to take hold. In essence: I did everything I was told to do and I did it well, so why is there not "more"? Unfortunately, life is a moving target. There is no set date or event that will define your life as being successful. Instead, it is the sum of all actions you took in your life that define you in the end and in the now with each moment adding up to the end product. Expecting your life to be final and totaled up in any moment prior to your death is a phenomenon experienced by many, but unfortunately not realistic.

It is for this thematic rumination that The Big Chill really becomes a timeless work from director Lawrence Kasdan. Quietly considering the idea that one's life is never really complete and that the feeling that something is missing is a natural one, The Big Chill is a film that benefits from never showing Alex. Originally casting Kevin Costner, but cutting out all of his scenes, the film's themes and ideas would feel cheapened by including Alex and his suicide. Plus, it would leave nothing to chance. Perhaps Alex was depressed, yes. Perhaps it was because he slipped away from the group. However, it is also just as likely that Alex was suffering from the feeling that something was missing, with his various career paths representing his attempts to fill that empty part of himself. With everybody coming together to mourn Alex, it is a nice touch to leave Alex out of the film and let the living try and figure out how they can avoid becoming Alex, as all of them demonstrate the same level of dissatisfaction and emptiness that Alex felt in his post-graduate life.

However, the film is held back by some odd plot elements. Desperate for a child, Meg laments how Harold is married only for Sarah to loan out her husband to Meg for the night to make a baby. Huh? There just has to be a better way to approach this issue for Meg that does not demand having your husband impregnate her.… Expand

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