A group of seven former college friends gather for a week-end reunion at a South Carolina vacation home after the funeral of another of their college friends.
A struggling young writer finds his life and work dominated by his unfaithful wife and his radical feminist mother, whose best-selling manifesto turns her into a cultural icon.
Director:
George Roy Hill
Stars:
Robin Williams,
Mary Beth Hurt,
Glenn Close
Joey Boca (Kevin Kline) owns a pizza parlor, and is married to Rosalie (Tracey Ullman). He's also a serial womanizer. Rosalie goes to extremes when she finds he has been cheating.
A seminal Thirty-Something movie in which a group of old college friends who are now older and experienced come together for the funeral of Alex, who was at one time the brightest and the best of them at college and yet who never managed to find his way. The friends use the occasion to reacquaint themselves with each other, discuss where their lives have led and speculate on what happened to their idealism which had been abundant when they were younger.Written by
Mark Thompson <mrt@oasis.icl.co.uk>
The white church complex featured during the funeral sequence at the picture's start, and in some of the movie's deleted scenes, is the Sandhill Baptist Church, which is situated at 15480 Pocotaligo Road, west of Varnville, in South Carolina, USA. See more »
Goofs
In one scene, Jeff Goldblum is eating Dreyer's ice cream from the carton. Dreyer's is a brand that originated in Oakland, CA, but when their distribution went nationwide in the early 80s, they ran into trademark infringement trouble with Breyer's Ice Cream, because of the similarity in both the names and the script logotype used by both companies. An agreement was reached that Dreyer's would go to market East of the Mississippi River as "Edy's Ice Cream". So they could never have purchased Dreyer's Ice Cream in South Carolina. But they could in Hollywood, which is no doubt where that scene was filmed. See more »
Quotes
Chloe:
I haven't met that many happy people in my life. How do they act?
See more »
Alternate Versions
Other scenes cut/altered for the Network version:
Michael unpacking condoms was cut.
The shot of Sarah in the shower was an alternate angle, and it is also reframed.
The entire scene late at night on the first night with Sam, Nick, and Richard not being able to sleep was cut.
The scene with Sarah talking on the phone to her daughter, and remarking "I can't believe what I hear myself say!" was cut.
The scene with Sam and Karen in the grocery store was cut. Because of this, to save the continuity, the second scene of Meg and Sarah in the kitchen is shown in the place of the grocery store scene, instead of being between the outdoor scene with Harold and Michael and the scene with Chloe and Nick in the cabin.
Michael's line, "Outside is just one big toilet" is cut, as is him zipping up just before he says this.
Sam saying "Jesus" after everyone goes to the living room to watch JT Lancer is cut.
The last part of the sequence where everyone clears the table while dancing to "Aint to Proud to Beg", with Sam talking in the dining room, was cut.
Most of the jogging scene with Sam, Nick, and Harold is cut. It goes from the shot of the sunrise to the door closing on the van.
The Second half of the scene with Sam and Karen on the dock was cut-the scene ends with Karen saying "It's not like talking to you".
While arguing over the football play, Sam says "What the hell are you talking about!" rather than "What the fuck are you talking about!".
Harold tells the cop to "Beat the hell out of" Nick rather than "Beat the shit out of" him. Later in that same scene, Harold says "I don't need this, Nick" rather than "I don't need this shit".
At the dinner table, in the original, Sarah said "Jesus, even fortune cookies are getting cynical!". In the TV print, the word "Jesus" is muted.
Meg says "I feel stupid in ten different ways" rather than "I feel shitty in ten different ways".
The shot of Harold and Meg having sex on the bed was deleted, as was the shot of Sam and Karen making out on the ground outside.
Reunions of former college mates can be an enthusiastic, but also dramatic experience, mainly when you have shared with your now adult friends great ideals in a better and just world, and all those ideals have been abandoned in favour of professional careers and wealthy lives and, moreover, when the only mate who has faced the unfillable gap between the ideal and the real has just committed suicide and thus caused that same reunion.
Single sense of more or less pretended personal self-fulfilment, but hiding a dramatic sense of disillusionment, is rendered through noteworthy dialogues: intelligent, witty, ironical, sensitive and deep. Each protagonist will have to take off his/her mask, and show himself/herself for what he/she is now: the easy and devouring enthusiasm of those, not so distant, at least chronologically, but mentally and emotionally buried times cannot be acted for long. The only form of consolation, a very significant one, actually, is the possibility to share this sense of disillusionment, and the understanding that the only way out of personal dramas is communing with others.
Evidently, the actors, nowadays known as talented performers, but not so famous in 1983, are more than good. Not to mention the soundtrack, which contributes strongly to the emotional impact of the movie and makes one feel like rediscovering the great and out of time hits of the 60's, 70's. A cult and must see movie.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
Reunions of former college mates can be an enthusiastic, but also dramatic experience, mainly when you have shared with your now adult friends great ideals in a better and just world, and all those ideals have been abandoned in favour of professional careers and wealthy lives and, moreover, when the only mate who has faced the unfillable gap between the ideal and the real has just committed suicide and thus caused that same reunion.
Single sense of more or less pretended personal self-fulfilment, but hiding a dramatic sense of disillusionment, is rendered through noteworthy dialogues: intelligent, witty, ironical, sensitive and deep. Each protagonist will have to take off his/her mask, and show himself/herself for what he/she is now: the easy and devouring enthusiasm of those, not so distant, at least chronologically, but mentally and emotionally buried times cannot be acted for long. The only form of consolation, a very significant one, actually, is the possibility to share this sense of disillusionment, and the understanding that the only way out of personal dramas is communing with others.
Evidently, the actors, nowadays known as talented performers, but not so famous in 1983, are more than good. Not to mention the soundtrack, which contributes strongly to the emotional impact of the movie and makes one feel like rediscovering the great and out of time hits of the 60's, 70's. A cult and must see movie.