JUNE 18, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A9
Friends: The one where they get back together
Review
By TJ REID
For the Keizertimes
As far as TV pitches go, “six friends
live in New York City and do friend
things” is not exactly what many peo-
ple would call inspired or exciting, yet
somehow the world ended up getting 10
seasons of just that with the now-classic
sitcom Friends.
Even after all those years many found
it hard to say goodbye in 2004 when the
show finally ended, and I can’t remember
a time since then when people weren’t
clamoring for some kind of reunion or
continuation.
Seventeen years (and a pandemic’s
worth of free time) later, HBO Max gives
us Friends: The Reunion (also known
as The One Where They Get Back
Together), a heartwarming movie-length
stroll down memory lane that is full of
variety, surprises, As a fan of the show, it
would have satisfied me to simply watch
the cast reminisce about the old days on
the old sets in the old soundstage for two
hours, but the folks at HBO wisely deter-
mined that such an approach would be
boring to most people and infused the
reunion with an array of formats. There
are indeed some free-wheeling, unstruc-
tured conversations amongst former
castmates (again, this is a unscripted
celebration, not a special “where are they
now” episode that features the charac-
ters themselves), but the special also
has a more structured interview por-
tion hosted by James Cordon, several
welcome pre-recorded interviews with
the three primary creators, a trivia com-
petition amongst the primary cast that
brings to mind a particularly memorable
The cast of
the hit sitcom
Friends recent-
ly reunited for
an HBO Max
special.
episode and reminded me that the peo-
ple who make the show rarely know it
as well as the fans, and many other seg-
ments that keep the proceedings from
getting stale. There are also plenty of
surprises to be had, from cameos (both
welcome and superfluous) to a couple of
juicy backscene tidbits that are only now
being shared. The highlight for me had
to have been a particularly soulful ren-
dition of the classic that is “Smelly Cat,”
starring Lisa Kudrow and … well, it’s a
surprise.
If The Reunion has any problems,
it’s that it occasionally dips into self-ag-
grandizement territory, which I suppose
is normal for this type of thing. Some of
the cameos also didn’t make much sense
and seemed to boil down to “find out
which famous people like Friends and
see if they want to record a talking head
or wear Ross’s Sputnik costume from that
one Halloween episode for a wheelbar-
row full of cash” (looking at you, Bieber).
I also felt a tiny bit uncomfortable watch-
ing these real-life friends share a tear or
two as they caught up, as if I was involved
in some kind of mildly exploitative emo-
tional voyeurism. But I guess that’s a
me problem, yeah? Chalk it down to my
dislike of “reality” television in general,
I guess.
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But these minor annoyances can’t
put a damper on the pure fanservice
that is Friends: The Reunion. It is a cel-
ebration of all things Friends, and the
trip down memory lane is one well worth
making if you’re a fan.
Friends: The Reunion is now available
on HBO Max.
By STEVE BREEN
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