Review: The Big Chill

***

I don't often bother to summarize the plot in my reviews; I'm not that kind to my poor readers. And I usually manage to spoil it in some ways for those who haven't seen it. (Although normally not as much as in my History of Violence review below). Anyways, today I am being kind.

The Big Chill is about a group of close friends who attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor some 10-15 years ago. One of their members has committed suicide for reasons that remain unclear at the end of the film (corpse admirably played by Kevin Costner). The ensemble cast works exceedingly well as a sort of family, due largely to the many weeks the cast spent in close quarters before shooting began. On a DVD featurette this was referred to as a "brilliant decision" on the part of director Lawrence Kasdan - to me it seems rather obvious.

Moving past this small disagreement, the movie is quite well done. Detailed directing; a skillful script full of emotional, thought-provoking, real moments; competent actors, none of whom stands out (in this case a good thing); and some interesting inter-connected drama among the group. I especially liked the decision to not reveal the motive behind Alex's suicide. The 1960s inspired soundtrack works at some times better than others (notably good: You Can't Always Get What You Want, The Weight. Notably bad: When a Man Loves a Woman, Natural Woman). But overall the music adds to the picture, not distracts from it.

But let's get to the bottom line, shall we. The ending. I can't imagine a more cliched way to wrap everything up: Nick continues to follow Alex's path, Meg gets a baby from the only appropriate source, Karen & Sam hook up with unseen ramifications. All of these events could have been predicted within the first 5 minutes. Moreover, there isn't a whole lot of resolution. In a movie about losing your way as you enter the real world, you expect there to be some kind of ... finding of the way at the end. I think this could have been done swiftly without being too suffocating. To not walk a certain path is much more realistic for most of these characters, but they seemed to have left just to meet again at the next funeral (most likely Nick's).

I guess it's a bit of a conundrum really. Lives aren't often never fixed, and certainly not in a weekend. The film is ultimately interesting and quite feel-good but has a cliched feel and lacks that extra mile of real substance.