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The Big Chill poster

The Big Chill

year 1983decade 80sdirector Lawrence Kasdangenre Comedygenre Drama

105 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Tom Berenger Sam Weber
Glenn Close Sarah Cooper
Jeff Goldblum Michael Gold
William Hurt Nick Carlton
Kevin Kline Harold Cooper
Mary Kay Place Meg Jones
Meg Tilly Chloe
JoBeth Williams Karen Bowens
Don Galloway Richard Bowens
James Gillis Minister
Ken Place Peter, the cop
Jon Kasdan Harold and Sarah’s son
Ira Stiltner Running Dog driver
Jacob Kasdan Autograph seeker
Muriel Moore Alex’s mother
Meg Kasdan Airline hostess

The Big Chill | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennessey format Birthday Episode
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

Most Rewatchable Scene

The opening twenty minutes

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:36Read transcript
  • The dialogue-light opening uses clothes, seating, gestures, music, and the funeral to introduce the characters and Alex’s death.
  • Kasdan’s decision to withhold Costner’s deleted Alex flashback is defended, while releasing it after forty years is also suggested. Filming it first may have helped the cast understand Alex.
  • The wake moves from Harold’s broken eulogy into the Rolling Stones and lets the camera track each friend’s reaction.
  • Richard’s 3 a.m. sandwich speech accepts compromised priorities and says nobody promised life would be fun.
  • The J.T. Lancer screening, dinner, cleanup, and pot-smoking stretch is nominated; teasing Lancer feels like authentic friend-group behavior.
  • The Michigan football game shows the group instantly returning to shared habits.
  • Nick’s accusation that they knew each other only briefly collides with Sam’s insistence that their old love still matters.
  • Nick’s hug of Sam at the ending is praised.
  • The abrupt breakfast ending is debated as intentional incompleteness after the deleted flashback was removed.
  • The opening twenty minutes receive the final selection.

What’s Aged the Best?

J.T. Lancer; Kline’s comic timing; marriage and parenting exchanges; Nick’s Porsche; funeral and happiness quotes; soundtrack; getaway-weekend arc; serious comedy; Nick’s injury and Alex parallels; Santini house; watching TV; male ensemble

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:48Read transcript
  • J.T. Lancer is praised as a fully convincing spoof of early-1980s television.
  • Kevin Kline’s dry timing is called elite, and the hosts argue he could have pursued a Tom Hanks-scale career.
  • Richard and Karen’s marriage exchanges and Sarah’s changed voice with her children feel recognizable.
  • Nick’s worn Porsche and its diagonal funeral parking are appreciated.
  • The funeral-party quote and the question about how happy people act are praised.
  • The awkward-to-euphoric-to-fighting-to-departure arc of a friend getaway is called perfectly observed.
  • The film is placed among 1980s serious comedies that combine humor with existential stakes.
  • Nick’s Vietnam injury is conveyed without turning the movie into an issue statement.
  • Nick functions as Alex’s ghost, embodying what Alex believed and questioning how well the others knew him.
  • The use of the Great Santini house is praised.
  • Nick and Sam simply watching television together is appreciated.
  • The four male leads, plus the unseen Costner, are praised as an unusually charismatic group.
  • The soundtrack is already treated as an Aged Best answer when the prompt asks for answers “other than the soundtrack.”

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

Alex’s wrist dissolving into farmland; object triads; purposeful camera movement; spatial clarity; travel-item inserts

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:07:35Read transcript
  • The stitched-wrist-to-field dissolve is praised because the lines visually match.
  • John Bailey’s Ozu triads of objects communicate character through inserts.
  • Editor Carol Littleton and cinematographer Bailey’s marriage is linked to their close collaboration.
  • The camera’s subtle movement keeps seven-person conversations spatially clear.
  • Insert shots of what people pack are connected to Kasdan’s later Accidental Tourist.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Karen returning to Richard—disputed

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:14Read transcript
  • Karen’s cheerful plan to visit the J.T. Lancer set after the affair feels abrupt to one host.
  • Sarah’s confession about losing Alex after their affair is offered as a warning that keeps Karen from leaving Richard.
  • The choice is defended as a temporary adventure rather than a decision to destroy her existing life.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Close’s haircut; the hipper Elaine’s club; Secaucus 7 comparisons; Hometown; late-night cold cuts; Richard’s solitary habits; Meg’s smoking

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:35Read transcript
  • Glenn Close’s short haircut is called the clearest dated style.
  • Return of the Secaucus 7 comparisons still hang over the movie as an easy criticism.
  • The short-lived television adaptation Hometown is mentioned with surprise; a participant says they have not seen it.
  • Treating insomnia with a huge cold-cut sandwich and Richard sitting alone downstairs now read strangely.
  • Meg smokes everywhere, even while folding clean laundry, while wondering why she cannot keep a man.
  • “I’m opening a club like Elaine’s, but hipper” is offered as a separate Aged Worst answer.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Reunion sequel instead of Grand Canyon; Kasdan’s greatest-ever screenwriting run

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:23:18Read transcript
  • A college-reunion sequel is preferred to Grand Canyon because the ensemble still has story left.
  • The imagined sequel has Meg’s grown son return for his piece of Running Dog shoes and become a Pacific Heights-style threat.
  • Kasdan’s Empire Strikes Back, Raiders, Body Heat, Continental Divide, Return of the Jedi, and Big Chill run is called the greatest opening screenwriting stretch.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

The preacher; Costner’s eligibility disputed; the cop suggested

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:56Read transcript
  • Costner is proposed because the hosts spent twenty minutes talking about him despite never seeing his face.
  • The hosts question whether the visible wrists are even Costner and whether an unseen face can qualify.
  • The preacher is favored if Costner is ineligible, and the cop is another alternative.

Apex Mountain

Kasdan; Tilly’s Big Chill–Psycho II year; Mary Kay Place; JoBeth Williams’s Poltergeist–Big Chill period (qualified); the sperm-donor arrangement; “hog is broken” jokingly

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 01:33:27Read transcript
  • Glenn Close and Kevin Kline are rejected as being at their apex.
  • Meg Tilly is debated between this film and Masquerade before the shared Big Chill–Psycho II year is endorsed.
  • Mary Kay Place is placed at her apex here.
  • Berenger is placed at Platoon and Hurt at Broadcast News.
  • JoBeth Williams receives a yes qualified as the period spanning Poltergeist and The Big Chill.
  • The Santini house is placed at its Great Santini peak.
  • The Porsche remains unresolved for lack of comparative research.
  • The arrangement of sleeping with one’s wife’s ovulating friend is jokingly endorsed.
  • Saying “hog is broken” receives a joking apex nomination.
  • Kasdan receives the final apex for writing and directing the movie immediately after his Star Wars work.
  • Backyard football is considered against Wedding Crashers without a resolution.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

All five options; Nick-in-Vietnam prestige series; all-Black version

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:44:20Read transcript
  • The hosts say sequel, prequel, prestige television, and all-Black remake all work.
  • A Nick-in-Vietnam series and an all-Black version are imagined, with The Wood mentioned as a related attempt.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

Nick’s Porsche; Village Voice shirt; Running Dog sneakers; records; coffee maker; Richard’s sandwich

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:54:37Read transcript
  • The Porsche is the first memorabilia choice, followed by the warning that it probably does not run.
  • The Village Voice shirt, game-worn Running Dog shoes, record collection, and coffee maker are alternatives; Richard’s sandwich is also desired.
  • The video camera is discussed as period texture rather than the winning object.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Everyone sells out; a cold world can make you cold

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:55:32Read transcript
  • Everyone sells out is proposed as the movie’s lesson.
  • Meg’s concern that the cold world may be making her cold is offered as a smaller life truth.

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:57:39Read transcript
  • Kasdan is the immediate choice because the movie is personal and generational.
  • The directly addressed first-time viewer calls it an immediate top-five movie among Rewatchables episodes about films he had not seen.
  • The film’s realism, friendship, and people-in-rooms storytelling are praised as scarce in 2023.
  • Michael’s late-sleeping outsider role and Berenger’s charisma receive final appreciation.
  • The birthday-movie choice is judged successful and placed alongside prior birthday episodes.
  • A present-day reunion soundtrack of college-era dance music is jokingly compared unfavorably with Motown, whose appeal is defended as more than nostalgia.
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Lawrence Kasdan
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Lawrence Kasdan