Rating: 
Summary: A great movie about the intricacies of friendships
Review: A movie that I come back to time and again. It probes into how friends interact and cope over the sudden loss of a dear friend. There is intelligent dialogue and humor mixed in with seriousness about death and disillusionment over dreams not carried to fruition. A thought provoking movie that truly touches the heart and mind.
Rating: 
Summary: Keep the worst, sell out the best
Review: Here we find yet another glorification of the 1960's as if they were the height of western civilization.Instead, however, we find that these characters have held on to the worst indulgences of that era (casual sex, drugs) while selling out the idealism that made the era so promising. In other words, keep the stuff that makes you "feel good" while dumping the activism that just might threaten your upward mobility and materialistic lifestyle. Such a movie might have been compelling had it condemned such a philosophy. This one glorifies it. Onward yuppie soldiers.
Rating:
Summary: Yuppie scum sell out
Review: This movie, more or less, was the one that launched the boomer controlled media's obsession with the 60's and glorified that generation's selling out - moving from social activist, to self centred yuppie scum. Although sporting a good cast, this is one reprehensible movie.
Rating:
Summary: Why Quiet Movies Make Big Noise
Review: Rarely can movies today affect a viewer effectively as this film can. No fancy cameras, no splashy effects, no unneccessary noises. Just a bunch of actors who can take your breath away with a simple glance. It is, in the end, the key to reaching out past the screen: open your hearts to us, and we'll gladly return the favour. Naked and uninhibited, these characters make no assumptions that their self-righteous college crusades were either the right ones or the only ones. Now part of the civilized world, they must come to grips with the simplest of issues: there is no other alternative to the lives we have created, and therefore, we must smile, hug and remember how important friends really are in this cold, cold world we have built around ourselves.
Rating:
Summary: I'm not even from the 60's
Review: This movie made me want to pursue acting. I was born in 1967, but fortunately have older brothers and a sister who did. What a great soundtrack, good acting, powerful and appropriate. I certainly hope I can get together with friends like them, in different circumstances of course.
Rating: 
Summary: Brings back the memories of old college friends
Review: This is a movie for anyone who has returned to a college reunion or a funeral and went to college in the 60's. The ideals of the 60's have been replaced with jobs, mortgages, broken relationships and children. The reality is most are living a life of yuppie affluence and out grubbing for money. Their parents were right, study hard, get a good job, marry someone with a future. I don't recall the movie depicting anyone who went to college and really didn't make it afterwards.
Rating: 
Summary: This is not worth buying. Hardly worth renting.
Review: Let's start with the DVD: Picture quality was suprisingly good, considering the age of this film. The transfer of the video looks pretty darn good. I was a bit at a loss when I couldn't find an audio options setting from the DVD menu.. but then 10 minutes into the movie, figured out why -- the audio portion of this DVD is crap. It sounded like they piped all the audio into the center channel, and just forgot about the left and right. The dialog was way too soft in some places, too loud in others, but the music was consistently way, way, wayyy too loud, even for "artistic" effect. The features on this movie include some scenes that were cut (thank god, otherwise this movie would have *really* sucked), and I think there was a commentary of some sort, but by the time I got to this point, I was so disgusted with it, that I couldn't stand to go any further. Now, as for the movie itself. The Amazon.com reviewer calls this a "big budget" version of "The Return...". Hell, if this is big budget, I'd hate to see his idea of low budget. Where'd they spend the money? It certainly wasn't on the script. Nor the acting lessons. Nor the sets. Nor the wardrobe. The movie reminded me of a big long Seinfeld episode, except that it wasn't funny, it wasn't about anything, and nothing happened. At least you can refer to Seinfeld episodes by what happened, like, "the one where he was dating a girl who's name rhymed with a female body part." So there's a lot of big name actors in this movie.. So here's my evaluation of their performances: Tom Beringer: High point of the movie. He played his part well. Glenn Close: gack. This is the most damned ugly I've EVER seen her look. But, for some reason, someone decided that a totally useless nude shot of her crying in the shower would add something to the movie. Yeah, it added me wanting to go run to the toilet and vomit. Jeff Goldblum: They tried to pass off his character as what we today would call a "player." Yeah... riiight. I don't know how this guy landed so many large parts, but he plays the same role as he has done in every movie from "Earth Girls are Easy" to "Independence Day" -- being a whining, spineless, lanky retard you just want to slap around a bit. William Hurt: almost good, except for the script flaw: I have never, ever, ever, seen anyone get screaming mad while stoned. Kevin Kline: First, I'm a huge Kevin Kline fan. Second, he was terrible in this movie. They're supposed to be in the Carolinas somewhere near the coast, so I guess that's what that painful-to-listen-to, Australian-French-Tara Plantation accent was that he was doing. And why is it that his character was the only one with a southern accent? Not even the minister at the funeral (who would be indiginous to the area) had an accent. I could go on and on, but I fear I'm reaching my maximum of 1000 words. If you've seen this movie before and like it, it might be worth it to buy the DVD to get the better video quality. If you haven't, but still want to see it after this review, RENT IT. Trust me, you'll thank me.
Rating:
Summary: This is the film that lent it's name to a generation.
Review: THE BIG CHILL is one of those films (like AMERICAN GRAFITTI) that people of a certain age will watch and experience a sense of generational identification. The film is an enjoyable (if somewhat surface) treatment of a generation's coming to terms with the compromise and loss of its youthful ideals. The real treats of the movie are the performances of its ensemble cast and the soundtrack, which is filled with great Motown (and other) hits of the era. This DVD is the best video version yet of this film. The colors are warm and autumnal and the soundtrack is crisp (it practically begs to be pumped up during the songs). This is a special edition which contains deleted scenes (which, unfortunately, do not include the scenes with Kevin Costner) as well as a 55-minute documentary on the making of the film. This features current interviews with the cast and crew reflecting on their experiences making the film and what it has come to mean to them. For those who have a wide-screen TV, this film is enhanced for the 16:9 screen ratio. All in all, this is a first-rate presentation of a fine film.
Rating:
Summary: Can be used to induce vomiting
Review: An absolutely unappealing cast of characters is bogged down by a script full of bitterness with nothing to turn to but each other. These people are so vile and their trite remarks are so unfunny that one cannot wish them any other fate than that which their friend in the casket met.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent screenplay with a comparable soundtrack
Review: Couldn't wait to get this DVD for my collection. I loved this movie the first time I saw it, and this new release only improves on a classic movie. I truly enjoyed the added DVD extras which take the viewer behind the scenes of some great actor/actresses in their early years. It gave my surround sound equipment an excitingly new outlook.
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