The Big Chill: Lawrence Kasdan

Oh, William Hurt and Lawrence Kasdan...how much longer must you two plague me? Body Heat (1981) was great, but I think we all know that's because it was just an update on Double Indemnity (1944).  But after that...whenever you two are involved in the same film I feel an incredible sense of dread. The Big Chill is the kind of film that William Hurt does best, i.e. slow, plodding dramas about well-to-do white people. They include films like Children of a Lesser God (1986), The Accidental Tourist (1988), and Smoke (1995). I just don't find Hurt a very compelling actor. Recordings of his voice should be sold as sleeping aids. But anyway, in The Big Chill Hurt is one of a group of college friends who re-unite after 15 years to mourn the death of one of their own. After the funeral, they congregate in his old South Carolina house and proceed to catch up on each other.  This, of course, involves several scenes of the women drinking wine and the men jogging together in a line. There are some good performances like Jeff Goldblum as Michael, a somewhat neurotic journalist, and Meg Tilly as Chloe, the eccentric and odd girlfriend of the recently deceased friend.  But the film takes the predictable path of establishing that each of them is unsatisfied with their lives.  But, conveniently, these problems can apparently be fixed when they inevitably pair off with each other. There are some dancing and shenanigans with a local cop that take place.  But the vast majority of the film plays like a session of group therapy for this gathering of unhappy thirtysomethings. The only real thing of note in The Big Chill is the exceptional soundtrack of classic rock and soul.  Otherwise, The Big Chill seems like an unnecessary time waster.  Although this film did make me release how much I enjoy Kevin Kline.  Whatever happened to him, anyway?

6/10