I didn't like this movie for that reason. So the lives of the '60s college radicals didn't turn out like they thought. Well, big deal. Life's like that, and you deal with it. No sense wasting time crying about it, which is what the characters seem to do a lot of. And why do they do that? Glen Close's character is a trained doctor. Well, go out and start a practice or work in a hospital helping people. Jeff Goldblum's character is a writer. Good, well, go with that and make something of yourself if you're unhappy writing for People magazine. Kevin Kline's "Harold" is obviously a successful businessman. He could use that to do good works if he's such an idealist. "Meg" is a successful attorney. Well, work for the Public Defender's office.
Truth is that characters don't really know what they want to be when they grow up, and that seems to be the theme the picture tries to revolve around. That can only go so far. And the "climax" is silly. Why would a wife ask her husband to impregnate their mutual friend who is desperate to have a child? Geez, she's a grown woman, perfectly capable of establishing a relationship and building a life with someone.
The only likeable character is Jobeth Williams' husband ("Richard"), who, perhaps because he has had no contact with the others, seems to have them figured out. He speaks the truth about life ("Nobody said it would be fun. At least, nobody said it to me.") and then is promptly written out of the story. If only the others would have learned from that instead of wallowing in self-pity and whining.
But, that said, it isn't a bad picture, if you can derive the correct message from it.
Truth is that characters don't really know what they want to be when they grow up, and that seems to be the theme the picture tries to revolve around. That can only go so far. And the "climax" is silly. Why would a wife ask her husband to impregnate their mutual friend who is desperate to have a child? Geez, she's a grown woman, perfectly capable of establishing a relationship and building a life with someone.
The only likeable character is Jobeth Williams' husband ("Richard"), who, perhaps because he has had no contact with the others, seems to have them figured out. He speaks the truth about life ("Nobody said it would be fun. At least, nobody said it to me.") and then is promptly written out of the story. If only the others would have learned from that instead of wallowing in self-pity and whining.
But, that said, it isn't a bad picture, if you can derive the correct message from it.