![]() ![]() Schwimmer does have some of the seriousness he brought to Ross's character, while Cox and Perry almost disappear into the background. LeBlanc is not dim-witted Joey but the wittiest and most irreverent. Kudrow, far from the ditsy Phoebe, seems like the most level-headed among them. The reunion special only hints, intriguingly, at how different their real personalities might be. There is a sitcom phenomenon in which actors play variations of themselves on shows like Roseanne and Seinfeld, but Friends did the reverse, taking unknown actors who then became attached, forever it seems, to their on-screen personalities. Of course, it made such stars of all of them that Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and even Aniston herself will always be Friends first in the public mind. She recalls a producer warning her against signing onto Friends: "That show is not going to make you a star". Today Jennifer Aniston is the most famous among them, and in the Corden segment is the most practiced at telling an anecdote. And from the first season, Friends brought them the kind of fame that can become a trap. They chose actors who at best had had small roles on previous sitcoms. In a taped segment, one of the Friends co-creators, David Crane, talks about casting and says, "We didn't want stars," but a true ensemble of equals. Beneath that fuzzy surface, it also suggests why the series worked and has endured, and unintentionally reveals how it stereotyped the actors, ultimately constraining their future careers. There is nothing especially new or spontaneous here, but the special captures the spirit of the show in all its warmth, energy and breeziness, with clips that remind us what amazing comic timing this cast had. Phoebe catches Monica and Chandler having sex and screams, "My eyes!" ![]() They also take part in a table read of some of their best scenes, replaying some familiar moments. Guest stars as different as David Beckham and Malala Yousafzai talk about what the series meant to them. In other scenes, the cast talks together on the recreated set or wanders through Monica and Rachel's apartment with its purple wall, Chandler and Joey's place with its reclining chairs and foosball table, and Central Perk coffee house where they all gathered. With his feel-good questions, including one about whether any of them ever hooked up during the series, he's just the right host for a celebratory show. ![]() It is framed by segments with James Corden interviewing the cast outdoors in front of the iconic fountain from the opening credits. (HBO Max, which commissioned the special, carries Friends and reportedly paid each cast member $2.5-$3 million (£1.7-£2.1 million) to show up for the reunion.) The special is not a new episode, but a look back from various angles. Recorded in April, this skilfully packaged reunion is designed to perpetuate that afterlife. Friends: The Reunion brings them together again to look back at the show that became a pop-culture phenomenon, dominating television from 1994 to 2004, with an afterlife that continues even now. The stars from Friends are all in their 50s now, but in many ways these six actors will always be twenty-somethings, paradoxically relics from a time when the phrase twenty-something was new, yet endlessly ready for rediscovery by new generations. ![]()
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