gavin6942 Seven former college friends, along with a few new friends, gather for a weekend reunion at a summer house in New Hampshire to reminisce about the good old days, when they got arrested on the way to a protest in Washington, DC.The character of John DesJardins is like a mix between Kyle MacLachlan and Jeff Goldblum. Why could we not have more of him? I love the rebellious conversation surrounding the 1919 Boston Police Strike (and the film in generally, being a group of ex-revolutionaries). This is what can only be called post-1960s, where a group of rebels are still living their glory days in their minds but are confined to exercise themselves in legitimate ways. (I am still trying to find ways to harnass my teen angst twenty years later, so I can relate.) I also love the use of the word "douchebags", which did not get much play prior to the 1990s. I guess it has been around at least since 1963, but it is rare in popular culture. Then again, so are nude dudes, and we have plenty of that here.

bald_tony After watching the extras on The Big Chill DVD you know the idea for Big Chill was created in the late 1970's. 1983 is simply the release date of Big Chill, not that it was actually put together from concept through release in 1983. There are similarities, old college friends reuniting and reminiscing, but Big Chill seems a bit darker to me. Probably a combination of the characters being slightly older, coming together because of a suicide, and the conversations they have. RETURN however more than holds its own as a movie with good dialouge, genuine situations, and the low budget actually helps the feel of the film. Even as I get older than the characters in both movies, I am still reminded of the friendships, casual and lifelong, made during college, as there is something about each character in both that reminds me of someone from the good old days. RETURN may be a bit hard to come by, but look for it, it is worth the search.

alanlit96 Sayles' first film is, as one previously reviewer noted, the prototype independent film: small budget, previously unknown actors, an emphasis upon talk and ideas over action or even an event-oriented plot. The script varies from slow at times to very entertaining and incisive at others, but it always feels real. You don't necessarily feel you know the characters all that well when it's over, but you care about them nonetheless. It's all in all a very worthwhile film, in which you can see the director learning how to handle an ensemble cast, as he has done so effectively in recent years in Lone Star and Sunshine State. If you like this type of film at all, you will find it rewarding and quite worth your time.It is amazing, though, how so many of the reviews attempt to not merely acknowledge the similarities to The Big Chill, but to elevate one film and denigrate the other. They come from very different places in terms of budget, stars and polish, but are both very fine films. In one sense, TBC is deeper in that the characters in that film have varied from their previous ideals (or at least it seems that way), a fact that lends a melancholy beneath the slickness that really isn't there in S7. However, a lot of people reach the age of the characters in S7 (they are all only about 30, younger than the characters in Chill) without yet having to really put things in perspective. The leads in S7 have become teachers, a predictable outcome. One other character has taken a job as an aide to a senator. J.T. is pursuing (or putting off pursuing) a musical career. The fact that this film views the characters before some of the inevitable conflicts in their lives have ripened actually makes it more subtle, and allows for the viewer to wonder where they will be in 5-10 years. Will the leads become Kevin Kline and Glenn Close? Will one of the characters die young and precipitate the life-examining session that occurs in Chill? I think the two films dovetail nicely together. To exalt one at the expense of the other is unnecessary and needlessly cynical.

Inserts Return of the Secaucus 7 is one of the primary harbingers of the excellence which can be found in modern independent film making. It was thoroughly entertaining and original, and I feel that "The Big Chill" was a tepid remake of this original vision. Thank you John Sayles.