What HBO Go was hoping the whole world was waiting for finally dropped earlier this week. More cultural phenomenon and event than actual content, was the wait and money forked out to the stars truly worth it? Or was it just a glitzed-up, but still wooden version of the Zoom reunions we’ve been seeing since the pandemic struck?
Friends The Reunion (HBO Go) - All through out this pandemic, several Zoom reunions have been organized and celebrated as clickbait shots of nostalgia. Lord of the Rings, The Goonies, The Nanny, the list actually goes on and on; and as I would suspect no real talent fees were involved, it was merely a matter of making their appearance and reminiscing - the reading of an old script often SOP. To their credit, when Father of the Bride got into the act, they actually read new material, making this execution a whole load more interesting. Too often, after that instance of seeing them all together, these reunions would degenerate into boring, wooden affairs. With a bucketful of budget and production values, the Friends reunion goes beyond the Zoom format and attempts to add more glitz and texture to the proceedings, but it still doesn’t beat having them come up with a new Limited Series, or a film.
And I know several true fans opted to turn their TV’s off after twenty minutes or so, saying it made them sad to see the cast age as they have. Lisa Kudrow actually looked the best for wear among the cast members; while a number of them looked like they were Best Friends of Botox, The Reunion. And while I have no objection to what they may have been up to or indulged in since the last episode aired in 2004, it was evident that keeping trim wasn’t a priority for at least one male cast member.
This one is really for the fans and yes, there are millions of them, but it doesn’t cover up the fact that one doesn’t really know what to do, once you’ve got them altogether. So many minutes are spent stretching - like the thoughtless fashion show, or host James Corden gushing more than Niagara Falls. There are moments that do make it worthwhile for the fans, ‘kilig’ moments and all; but for a first time viewer, it’s really a case of ‘go back to the streaming reruns of the Friends seasons’, and understand what the fuss was all about. Do we really need to watch them reading a script, when the actual episode is a click away?
The camaraderie, timing, and comedy do stand up; but I had to notice that in this day and age, if the series were cast today, you’d have had to include some racial and gender diversification. Seeing the cast together does bring home the fact that the show is a relic of a past ‘unwoke’ era....