The producer says this movie is for people who were too young for The Big Chill. Definitely the plot setup is a near copy: 20 odd years after their heyday, a bunch of 36 year olds gather for one last bash. I didn't really like The Big Chill for the same reasons why I hated this movie until the final act. The story seems like a predictable Love Boat hookup fest, with the only suspense being when is it going to happen already and can I stay awake that long. And the other Big Chillian reason I hated it was all the pointless padding with music montages. The minute you hear the first bars of that overplayed radio hit, you know you're in for a bunch of random clips of people dancing, cleaning, eating, air-guitaring and generally acting like fools in ways that have nothing to do with the plot. (In defense of The Big Chill, it was probably the first movie to exploit the music montage so shamelessly. so I guess... points for innovation?)

Ok but here's where The Lather Effect turns into a win if you're paying attention. In the last act right at the moment we expect all the groan worthy hookups to finally happen, we get one of the best twists in romance history (which I totally didn't expect and won't spoil), along with a cascade of other brilliant twists like the drug dealer brother's subplot, and the mystery man in jail, etc. And if you see what all these great twists are saying, the message is no, Gen X did NOT get a "Big Chill" ending even though that's what we all wanted, in the movie as well as life. And I think that turnaround perfectly sums up Gen XY(Z? or maybe Z is already too cynical to want a Big Chill ending).

Anyway wow. Yeah. Didn't see that coming but loved it.

Also I can't believe this flew right over my head because I would've been more invested if I'd recognized half the cast... "Zoey" is Ione Sky (Diane in Say Anything (1989)), "Will" is Tate Donovan (Kevin from Space Camp (1986)), "Val" is Connie Britton (Nikki in "Spin City" (1996)) and "Mickey" is Eric freakin Stotlz (Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Mask (1985), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), Say Anything (1989), and Singles (1992)). They really went out of their way to grab the gen X teen stars and show how they actually turned out. Not to mention the slick cameo by RZA, the drug dealer's client, which is hilarious when you finally realize what 'product' he was buying 😂