'Nobody said this was going to be fun...at least nobody said it me.'

In one sense, Richard is clearly meant to be the square, the stick-in-the-mud, the guy who represents the attitude of the Boomers' parents that they were reacting against in college and through the Summer of Love. Plus it certainly is rather impolite Richard to opine on why Alex killed himself, especially among Alex's friends, when he didn't know Alex at all.

That being said, Richard's speech at the kitchen table is valuable, and makes a good point. The Boomer generation has been, I think, fairly criticized for overreacting to their parents, for taking things too far, for focusing too much on themselves and their own wants and desires. Richard's speech is a gentle reminder that attitude, taken too far, can't and doesn't work in the real world, that we all have unavoidable obligations and we just have to find ways to make peace with that. College (if you were doing it right) was a blast, but it can't last.

I thought Richard's kitchen scene was really an underrated part of the film. He expressed how life is for a lot of people; we'd all like to do things we want to do but sometimes you have put them aside and take responsibility for work, family, etc. And he was right in that Alex maybe couldn't deal with that reality.

Alas, he wasn't one of the group and thus was an outsider; and in a way exposed a bit of snobbery by the group (the way Nick sort of brushed him off when introduced by Karen, Nick and Sam appearing offended by Richard's comments in the kitchen).

It's possible they were afraid of Richard because he represented the old "establishment" values that went against their 60's philosophy; it's also possible his words hit home with them and they realized that he was right and that thought disturbed them.

Yet Richard just by that scene showed that in fact he was something of a thinker; when asked why he was up so late, he mentioned how he enjoyed it because it provided him with the peace and quiet that was rare in his married-job-kids-wife world.

It's always bothered me that he seemed to be portrayed as a bit of an antagonist, but perhaps it wasn't meant to be that way.

I hadn't watched this in years. But now I have to agree with you. Richard was a very smart character and his monologue in the kitchen was the best part of the movie as I rewatched it. And Least annoying character too, for sure lol.

That is such a powerful line and I think about it often.

I think the movie sets out a few characters to represent generations. The main characters are boomers. Their lives didn't seem to follow a predetermined path as even they can't understand how such 'revolutionaries' could go on to make so much money ( Sam and Harold) or Nick who dislikes authority, takes drugs and still hasn't really grown up from the sixties.

As others have pointed out, Chloe is a Gen Xer who doesn't seem to have their sentimentality and deep friendship bonds.

Richard IMO is the from the Silent Generation or a baby boomer that followed a corporate path removed from the radical sixties lifestyle. As a grounded executive who works for a living, he knows life requires dedicated, hard work and it not 'being easy'. He also is part of the corporate patriarchy where there are ' aholes' at work to bow down too but you try and minimize that.

Alex giving up , he finds incomprehensible because when you have a family and a mortgage it simply isnt an option and he later concedes he cant speak for him.

movie: here's a character who is clearly more miserable and dead inside than any of the others

people: "I love him!"

I got the impression he didn't like anyone, including his children, his wife, and himself.