The Big Chill - 1983

Perhaps it was the time in my life in which I saw "The Big Chill" which was when it first came out 26 years ago. I was about the same age as the characters in the movie, lived in the south until I was about 30 (uh-oh, much to my surprise I find I was almost 37), loved the characters & the actors, and on some level identified with their "reunion". Even though the love interest of the character of Karen (Jo Beth Williams) toward Sam (Tom Berenger) is not relevant to me, I did identify with the scene between her & her husband when they were leaving the funeral service & going to the reception. Her husband prattled on about how none of the people seem to be anything like he imagined from her years of talking about her friends ... the look she had on her face as she stared out the car window was priceless. That look told volumes about her relationship with her husband... that I could see myself doing!
And then there is the music!!!
Harold (Kevin Kline) is "perfect" as Meg (Mary Kay Place) stated "the perfect husband". And the character of Meg... a reformed "hippie", or at least liberal, who gave up working as a lawyer for indigent criminals ... "scum of the earth" (as she refers to them) and now is a high-powered lawyer who defends companies who only "rape the land" is spot-on in her performance.
This story covers the "drop-outs" who didn't finish their PHDs, the mild-mannered successful businessman, the egotistical reporter out for himself, etc., etc. It, to me, shows how people change as they grow older, but when confronted with their past ideologies remember what they started out to be in life.
This may not be a good explanation, but the movie spoke to me. I'll have to watch it again and see if it still does. I'll report back later.

PS - Now watch Glenn Close on the hit TV series "Damages". From the nurse/mother in "The World According to Garp", to Sarah (wife, mother, doctor) in "The Big Chill", to Patty Hewes (cut-throat lawyer) in "Damages" --- what an actress!