# Movies where people return home and old dramas come up **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369 "2015-02-22T22:40:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/1 "2015-02-22T22:40:55Z")
For me these movies are hit or miss. ‘The big chill’ and ‘This is where I leave you’ weren’t too impressive to me. However I liked Silver Linings playbook a lot. What other movies have plot lines along this line? People (usually multiple people) move away and have their own lives, then some event forces them to all get together years/decades later and all the drama they had before comes back up. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/2 "2015-02-22T22:54:47Z")
**Margot at the Wedding** ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/3 "2015-02-22T23:14:44Z")
I guess ‘Rachel getting married’ would also fit. I don’t know if I ever saw that all the way through though. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/4 "2015-02-22T23:20:43Z")
**Dan in Real Life** ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/5 "2015-02-22T23:44:10Z")
Really just one person coming back and there’s not that much drama, but Beautiful Girls? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/6 "2015-02-23T00:22:35Z")
[The Family Stone](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356680/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) [Return of the Sacaucus Seven](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081420/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) [Jayne Mansfield’s Car](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1781840/?ref_=nv_sr_2) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/7 "2015-02-23T00:26:27Z")
_[The Judge](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1872194/?ref_=nv_sr_1)_ is a recent example. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/8 "2015-02-23T00:31:01Z")
[The Royal Tenenbaums](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265666/?ref_=kw_li_tt) [Something Wild](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091983/?ref_=nv_sr_4) ---
**Author:** ![troubledwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/9 "2015-02-23T00:38:44Z")
[The Myth of Fingerprints](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119746/) ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/10 "2015-02-23T00:57:02Z")
The Skeleton Twins ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/11 "2015-02-23T02:57:05Z")
[The Homecoming](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070188/) ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/12 "2015-02-23T03:03:54Z")
[Your Sister’s Sister](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742336/?ref_=nv_sr_1) [Girl Most Likely](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1698648/?ref_=nv_sr_1) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/13 "2015-02-23T03:34:54Z")
If you want a comedy in these lines, I liked [Eulogy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0349416/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_30). ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/14 "2015-02-23T03:46:25Z")
Two other recent examples are “Nebraska” and “August: Osage County”. ---
**Author:** ![CatastrophicFailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@CatastrophicFailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatastrophicFailure)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/15 "2015-02-23T03:53:41Z")
[You Can Count on Me](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can_Count_on_Me), with Mark Ruffalo playing a brother that returns home to see his sister, played by Laura Linney (they were orphaned as kids). ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/16 "2015-02-23T03:57:11Z")
[Sweet Home Alabama](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256415/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) I remember it being better than the 6.1 rating would reflect, but it has been a long time. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/17 "2015-02-23T03:59:12Z")
Really there are a ton of movies with these themes. I’d even go so far to say that they seem to fall into several subcategories: Quarter life crisis films (i.e. life beat me down and I’m back at home or maybe I’m just home from college): Garden State The Pallbearer The Lifeguard American Pie 2 So and so is getting married! American Wedding Reunion films (can also have quarter-life crisis elements): Gross Point Blank American Reunion Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion I got out and was successful, what am I doing back here?! Just Friends Sweet Home Alabama Four Christmases Let’s get the old gang back together for old times (and work through that shit that’s been festering for 20 years)! Grown Ups / Grown Ups 2 Hot Tub Time Machine Stephen King’s It ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/18 "2015-02-23T16:10:40Z")
Four Brothers Homicide: Life on the Street, the Movie Indian Summer ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/19 "2015-02-23T17:01:04Z")
“Late for Dinner” (one with VERY good reason for all the drama) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/20 "2015-02-23T17:18:51Z")
When Do We Eat? Much Ado About Nothing Star Wars [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369.md?page=2)