# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/21 "2015-02-23T17:36:42Z")
For a different take on this theme, there’s \*\*\*Da, \*\*\* based on Hugh Leonard’s play. It’s about an Irish writer who left home years ago, and has returned after his father’s funeral. But he carries on his old squabbles with his parents’ ghosts, not with his actual parents. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/22 "2015-02-23T17:49:04Z")
[The Celebration](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154420/), the Danish “Dogma” flick. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/23 "2015-02-23T18:03:05Z")
_The Lion in Winter_. Family gets together for Christmas, old feuds pop up, triggering new feuds, holiday guests bring their own drama, parents are estranged because dad’s sleeping around, one of the kids is closeted. Standard holiday reunion family drama. Only, they all have broadswords, and dad is the King of England. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/24 "2015-02-23T18:02:43Z")
_The Lion in Winter_. Family gets together for Christmas, old feuds pop up, triggering new feuds, holiday guests bring their own drama, parents are estranged because dad’s sleeping around, one of the kids is closested. Standard holiday reunion family drama. Only, they all have broadswords, and dad is the King of England. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/25 "2015-02-23T19:35:07Z")
[Five Easy Pieces](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065724/combined) Arguably the film that made Jack Nicholson a star. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/26 "2015-02-23T19:48:53Z")
The long cut of Cinema Paradiso (stick to the shorter version). ---
**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 23, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/27 "2015-02-23T21:31:15Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > 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 LOL at including Stephen King’s It. I don’t know why that feels out of place. A major subgenre is ‘some tragedy happened and now we all need to get together again’. St Elmos Fire The Big Chill This is where I leave you ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/28 "2015-02-23T21:51:56Z")
Oedipus Rex ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/29 "2015-02-23T21:52:45Z")
My college roommates and I were obsessed with [Beautiful Girls](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115639/) back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Nauplius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nauplius/32/51_2.png) [@Nauplius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nauplius)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/30 "2015-02-23T22:33:04Z")
It happens multiple times throughout [Legends of the Fall](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110322/) ---
**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, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/31 "2015-02-23T22:36:16Z")
[Cries and Whispers](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069467/) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/32 "2015-02-24T00:34:42Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I got out and was successful, what am I doing back here?! > Just Friends > Sweet Home Alabama > Four Christmases [Hope Floats](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119313/?ref_=nv_sr_1) > [@](#): > > 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 [That Championship Season](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084784/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) [The Best of Times](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090713/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_32) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/33 "2015-02-24T01:47:57Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > LOL at including Stephen King’s It. I don’t know why that feels out of place. Actually, I feel like most Stephen King books are some variation of “childhood band of misfits reunite in their home town as adults to fight an ancient evil”. That could be an entire genre, of which I will add The World’s End > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > A major subgenre is ‘some tragedy happened and now we all need to get together again’. That’s a good one. Kind of an offshoot of “quarter-life crisis films”. Adding.. Tommy Boy Veronica Mars (film) ---
**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 24, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/34 "2015-02-24T13:30:33Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Actually, I feel like most Stephen King books are some variation of “childhood band of misfits reunite in their home town as adults to fight an ancient evil”. So, Scooby Doo gets a gritty reboot? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/35 "2015-02-28T02:42:58Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > So, Scooby Doo gets a gritty reboot? Yes, if instead of pulling off the scary monster mask to reveal the mean old amusement park owner, it’s an even scarier and meaner monster from the pits of hell that somehow ties in with The Dark Tower books. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/36 "2015-02-28T02:55:46Z")
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I don’t recall if it was stated how long it had been since they had seen each other, but the family (IIRC) was at least staying the weekend so it probably didn’t happen that often. And, as the OP requested, old dramas came up and the whole party went to shit. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/37 "2015-02-28T05:13:17Z")
I just watched The House at the End of Time and I think it would fit in here. From IMDB “Dulce is a mother who has encounters with apparitions in her old house, where it unleashes a terrible prophecy. Thirty years later, turned into an old woman, she returns home to unravel the mystery and tragedy that has tantalized her.” It was very very good by the way. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369/38 "2015-02-28T12:31:19Z")
The Karate Kid 2. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-people-return-home-and-old-dramas-come-up/713369.md?page=1)