how old, specifically, are the characters in 'the big chill' meant to be ?

this is a strange little movie, one I'd avoided most of my life. its like the Breakfast Club for aging baby boomers, although it really lacks any kind of resolution or satisfying dramatic arc. I remember someone on some other thread asking if this was the only movie where the main character is never on-screen (I certainly can't think of any others)

can't decide which movie's dope-smoking-dance-sequence is more obnoxious

Coming to Criterion in July.

I remember Andrew Sarris writing a few months after its release, countering a well of backlash, something like "It has 8 characters that say clever and witty things, which is 7 more characters than say clever and witty things in Beverly Hills Cop."

btw I'd say, in answer to the first post, that they're supposed to be closer to 35. I presume they're supposed to have been in college in '68.

It has 8 characters that say clever and witty things

does it?

agreed re 35. caught it a couple of weeks ago and got the same impression. also iirc most of the actors were between 34-38 when it was filmed, according to wikipedia.

I'm a boomer and never much cared for this film. It has a couple of nice top 40 tunes on the soundtrack, but when you add up all the parts it doesn't amount to much. Sayles has made much better films than this one.

smdh. Big Chill is the remake of the Sayles film. Wasn't much better, though.

Criterion-nerds be all up in arms about this on their Facebook page typically. great choice IMO.

http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3250-the-big-chill-these-are-your-parents

that is some cheeseball shit

http://files2.coloribus.com/files/adsarchive/part_1076/10764755/file/canadian-club-whisky-your-dad-had-groupies-small-10109.jpg

good piece I found

I checked the Criterion DVD out of the library. Haven't seen the movie since the '90s. It still plays sitcom-glib in places (the characters pick on Tom Berenge's J.T. Lancer not realizing they're talking like a sitcom) and Kasdan's idea of sequencing is to cut abruptly so that the thing reduces to a bunch of vignettes, but the actors, Kevin Kline excepted (as usual when he plays it straight I'm not sure if he's taking the mickey out of his own work), are all fine: Goldblum, JoBeth Williams, Tilly, William Hurt especially.

*Berenger's

Karen: So, you and Alex were living here?
Chloe: We have a room downstairs. Well we did. I do. I'm the one who found him.
Karen: Oh God. It must have been awful.
Chloe: It was, it was a real mess.
Karen: So, what are you gonna do now?
Chloe: Oh, we cleaned it up.

this movie sucks!

lol ive been hearing about it forever and finally watched it

it is bad

the characters pick on Tom Berenge's J.T. Lancer not realizing they're talking like a sitcom

otm

http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3250-the-big-chill-these-are-your-parents

I scanned this essay. It was bad. Unreadably bad. Then I scrolled to the bottom and the byline read: Lena Dunham. And that's... the rest of the story.

i've still never seen The Return of the Secaucus 7.

Every thirty-something character from '80s filmed entertainment still looks to me like they're at least a decade older. Excessive smoking and bad perms will have that effect.