i thought maybe it was just a Hollwoodism thing where they hired an older cast to player younger roles, but no... in true life these actors were like 30 to 33yrs. Heck, Meg Tilly was only 23.
Am i just immature?
Were people back then more mature?
Should i stop comparing myself to others?
I know what you mean. It didn't help my midlife crisis to see people younger than me act like they were through a good chunk of their lives.
I think part of it is back then people got started with their lives earlier. College was 4 years tops; not as many people went to grad school. Getting married at 20/21 was seen as just fine. Glenn Close and Kevin Kline could easily have been already married for 15 years.
And I do think there's truth to sayings like "40 is the new 30." Part of it might be Peter Pan-ism, but we are in general living longer and leading healthier lives. What would be the point if that just meant we age just as quick and spend extra years at the end in the nursing home?
thats a good way to look at it... i do feel like i'm spreading myself out for extended longevity.... i generally have allowed myself to remain young without a timetable, but i do from time to time observe what others are doing at my age.
JRR Tolkien, for instance.... he didn't publish The Hobbit until he was in his 50's... So one could say that his lasting contribution to mankind didn't happen until far well into his life.
Yeah, and millions of people will buy the latest book from George R. R. Martin, who's in his mid-60s.
Our society has this weird idea that it is "cooler" to accomplish something while young. But doing something fantastic at any age should make a person proud.
I know what you mean. I'm currently at the age these characters were in the movie and it just doesn't seem right.
sharePeople matured WAY differently back then than they do now. Especially men. It seems most guys personalities stop developing around 23-25 today, myself included. I'm almost 46, I first saw this movie when it came out when I was around 13. But even today I watch this movie and these people seem older than me now.
When I was 13 my father was 48. Us kids played Atari and Colecovision back then. My old man didn't know what Atari was, All he knew was that it cost him a couple hundred bucks at Christmas(a lot of money back then). Today, grown men(myself included) have no problem playing Xbox or Playstation all weekend and watching the same cartoons and college humor Tv shows as our adolescent kids.
Today, it's not uncommon for adults to collect toys, action figures, die cast cars. Or be trendy with new tattoos, keep long hair and listen to extreme music like hip hop or thrash. Add to that the the Trekies, and all the people that show up at Comic-con. We (men in general)have become a generation of man-children.
Guys back then? Got out of school, got married, had kids and left childhood behind.
That's my take on it. I'm sure a lot of people will disagree.
Nope, I completely agree.
shareI agree too. I was almost 10 when this movie came out and even now at age 41 these characters still seem older than I am! I am a female but I still don't feel as mature as the people in this movie.
shareGot out of school, got married, had kids and left childhood behind.
Though I hate to be called a baby boomer, I'm one of the early ones. And I haven't had my midlife crisis yet. I may wait till I'm fully retired and then just buy a Tesla or something like that.
I was married at 21 but didn't feel like an adult till I hit 60.
One unclear bum can ruin your whole day.
From someone lot older than 39...actually I share Jobeth William's birthday just one year younger.
Some of you are stressing about your ages and comparing yourselves to characters in BC. Wait til you get my age and remember your GRANDPARENTS when they were your current ages. And they had it rougher than we did. Remember the Great Depression? It was in all the papers. Some of us get greatly depressed if our cell phones go dead.
I'm a little late seeing your post but I'm at the end of the baby boom and was about 20 years younger than most of the cast.
I agree, by 30 most people already were married with kids, likely soon after college.
I on the other hand didn't get married until 37 and had my first child at 40. A little late for my cohort but I've got one friend that had his first child at 47....
Everything is delayed now, maybe because of the economic situation, I don't know anyone under 30 who thinks they can afford to buy a house, so kids, settling down etc happen later.
I re-watched this recently and thought these guys acted like my parents (and I'm 48!). As for kids, I am glad to have had two kids in our mid-20's, but my best friend had a daughter around 40 and he's doing quite well (we actually saw the film together in it's initial run).
The other thing is weight. I remember working in an office in '88 and anyone ten pounds overweight was "fat". Now it's normal. Even my boss back then was rail thin, close to 50, a hard drinking, very serious man. Then you've got me, who usually finds humor in just about anything, knows enough pop culture to get by a conversation and is really only serious when it's called for.
This would also account for the huge popularity of animated movies these days. As a baby boomer, I have never enjoyed an animated movie since I became an adult.
shareThis would also account for the huge popularity of animated movies these days. As a baby boomer, I have never enjoyed an animated movie since I became an adult.
shareWe (men in general)have become a generation of man-children
I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.
Thanks. Always good to see another Kinks fan.
Not American, but have lived here long enough to almost call myself one, shy of citizenship. As for Europe, it's becoming closer to the USA everyday. I think one day the entire world will be like this, as in the blobby people in hover chairs in Wall-E.
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.
That is completely accurate. Thirtysomethings of the previous generations were just "older."
shareGood take. Adults basically stay kids longer now. For better or worse.
Personally, I only made it about 2/3 of this film before rapidly skipping to the end and turning off through boredom, but I definitely had similar thoughts the the OP from what I did watch.
You nailed it. I watched this last night and said the same thing to myself. I'm 40, and I feel like these characters are older than me. I think the Baby Boomers really were the last generation that believed in at least acting grown up. Generation X and younger, it's more about what you accomplish, who your friends are, how you dress, how you look. The way you act doesn't matter as much. An immature demeanor isn't frowned upon by today's adults like it was in the 1980s.
shareI was older than these people when I first saw the movie (well, I still am), and they all seemed like old farts to me, too. I think it's more a case of the lack of realism in these characters. Most the guys I know still act like goofy teenagers. Maybe girls grow up, but a lot of guys never do. They just have different toys.
One might say I've entered my second childhood, but I'm not sure when I left my first.
I've got a high school 50th reunion coming up, and the committee started a website. We've been corresponding, and I'm finding quite a few of us who didn't take life seriously.
Maybe there were people like the characters in this movie, but I certainly never hung with them.
One unclear bum can ruin your whole day.
Well, with all due respect, it doesn't surprise me that someone named "AngryStarlessRedneck" never grew up, and has friends that still act like goofy teenagers. lol.
shareThis spring (2015), I attended the 35th reunion of an Explorer Scout troop, for which I was one of the adult leaders (showing my 61 yo age). People I hadn't seen since they were teenagers, now empty-nester parents, some grandparents. They were dignified and tenative, then warmed up. They seemed more mature than I am. The Big Chill captured that vibe.
The movie is about former close friends who did NOT keep in touch, processing one of the biggest shocks in their lives. Significant accomplishments by some, suggesting powerful personal drive and discipline. Ordinary people making ordinary efforts do not become big television stars, store chain founders, doctors, and lawyers. These weren't the "safe" dorm kids in college, some were the leaders.
Nick and Michael as the overgrown kids, and 23 year old Chloe as the nervous witness to all the gravitas. If this was about eight people like "the kids", it would be a slapstick comedy. But this movie was Kasdan's emotional autobiography. The 15th anniversary documentary shows Kasdan as an adult parent, just like the people his movie portrays.
The interesting part is extrapolating forwards, past the midlife struggles these characters are having. Michael will be a celebrity-chasing paparazzi until he dies. Sam will become a respected Hollywood elder statesman like William Shatner. Harold, retiring early from business, will focus on his kids (like Meg Tilly did in real life), and begin a foundation and pursue a social goal with his wealth, perhaps with the active help of his reacquainted friends. Karen will remain a responsible mother and homemaker, and Sarah (the most mature of them all) will remain a great doctor. Chloe and Nick will grow up.
This movie is not about "average" boomers; don't expect to see yourself in it. But I know young adults who are that serious and energetic, and they don't spend much time watching 30 year old movies. Welcome to the cheap seats, people.
They all look in their 40s, except Tilly.
I think they were just mourning the loss of their youth, not that their whole lives were over. Heck that one gal hadn't even has a kid yet. They were Baby Boomers who called their fathers "old man" and went to college thinking they were the most enlightened people to walk to earth (what else is new?). Now they are reaching the age when they start to look like their parents did, and they realize that they are just another spoke in the big wheel of life.
I think people were more mature back then. Not just mentally, but physically they probably aged faster thirty years ago. More smoking and less healthy eating contributed to lower life expectancies.
shareI'm 39 as well and I feel I look and act much younger than these characters (of course, I'm sure many would say I look the same age as they do LOL).
I agree with a lot of points made here that people were more mature then. We didn't have social media back then where we reduce everything to a LOL or a Tweet or a quick Instagram moment.
The styling too was different back then. Tom Berenger was only in his early 30s but he looked much older (and his hair and mustache really aged him).