Now it is out in the world, it’s apparent that the much-heralded Friends reunion is really a number of shows in one. It is a clip show, it’s an interview show, it is a star talking heads show. And, like you would expect from a format that this muddled, some of it worked better than others. For each and every moment that was really touching, there was still another where it felt as though everybody was simply letting the clock run out. Possibly the best way to approach this is to split the reunion down to its constituent components, from most to least successful. Beware: here be spoilers.
The Schwimmer/Aniston crush
In what at times felt as a punishingly long recap of things everybody already knew, the revelation — apparently unearthed here for the very first time — that David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston battled with painful yet unconsummated crushes on each other felt just like actual news. Their bashful reminiscences, accompanied by behind-the-scenes footage of them flirting like actual mad with one another, were sweet. The Ross/Rachel storyline was completed to passing on Friends, and inspired a wealth of imitators, so it’s lovely to know that it was suspended in something approximating reality.
The creator talking heads
It is weird, given that Friends was such a worldwide phenomenon, that attention was paid into the cast, rather than the people who made it. Parts of the reunion redressed the balance, together with David Crane and Marta Kauffman emerging in little talking head segments to describe how the series came together, in addition to the challenges of casting and producing it. If you’re interested in tv, this was the most valuable section. If you are not, and just wanted to watch people you recognise from TV yelling at one another, then probably less so.
The cast reunion, backstage
The backstage footage of the Friends cast wandering about their recreated places, sharing personal little in-jokes, was likely the reunion that most people wanted to view. Not only did it show us the energetic that the cast shared with Schwimmer as the leader, LeBlanc as the low-energy joker and Aniston as the quick-to-cry heart — but it felt just like eavesdropping on a group of acquaintances. True, it got somewhat sappy towards the end; I am not sure anyone needed the climactic weep-reel soundtracked by what can only be described as Friends Gone In Memoriam. However, it felt insightful.
Remember that episode of Friends where Ross quizzed the friends about every other? This was a present-day recreation of that, with Schwimmer gamely acting as host at a section that primarily existed to provide Tom Selleck a cameo and Thomas Lennon whatever two levels under a cameo is.
Table read
In which the cast of Friends sat around a desk and read three scenes from Friends collectively so faithfully it made you wish you were only viewing an episode of Friends. This section would have worked better when it was only an episode of Friends.
The bloopers
There was a little in the reunion where the cast of Friends watched some bloopers from Friends. I’m 90% convinced that all the real bloopers have been around DVD extras and YouTube for several decades now and, though it was fun to see the cast ultimately Gogglebox themselves, there was little of value here.
The Friends reunion was a piece of amusement created in 2021, so that it goes without saying that James Corden was likely to shoehorn himself in there one manner or another. Little did we know, but that he was likely to be so prominent. Though he had been outnumbered six to one, Corden still managed to out-talk everyone else on stage without really saying anything. This was less an interview and more an protracted platitude competition, with one question –“Who had the loudest laugh?” — causing me to groan in actual agony.
The guests
Lots to unpack here, and all of it dismal. Did you know that Kit Harington sees himself like a Monica? Did you know that David Beckham also sees himself as a Monica? Did you know that the actor who played Mr Heckles was going to cameo, but not before suffering the indignation of realising the whole primary cast of Friends had abandoned the name of his personality? Did you need to view Elliott Gould — Elliott Gould, for crying out loud! — relegated to a seat in the crowd? Did you need to see Gunther look on Zoom, at a Central Perk hat, saying nothing of attention at all? Did you need to see the members of BTS state”We adore Friends” in unison? Or several members of the public wildly overstate their pleasure of Friends? Or Malala being described by her very best friend as”100% Joey with a sign of Phoebe”, while concurrently giving away the impression that she doesn’t actually like Friends really much? Obviously you didn’t, but here it was anyway. But did you wait for over 90 minutes to see Paul Rudd turn up, then realise that he was not going to appear, and then wonder what in the world happened between him and the cast of Friends? Yes. Never mind.
The fashion show
Justin Bieber dressed up as a huge potato. Justin Bieber, that doesn’t have a link to Friends, concrete or otherwise, took up time on a Friends reunion show by dressing up as a big potato, talking up and down for a little and pulling a funny face. This was not only bad. This was the death of amusement.
