Review: A gauzy, tear-filled reunion for ‘Friends’ actors

Actress Lisa Kudrow noted the show’s creators, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, have said they worked hard to give every character a satisfying ending when the NBC sitcom went off the air in 2004. She hasn’t considered revisiting Phoebe.

“I don’t want anyone’s happy ending to be unraveled,” she said.

Instead, the characters remain frozen in time, forever as they appear on reruns available on, yes, HBO Max.

The streamed reunion was delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of the actors reportedly received $2.5 million to appear in the special, according to Variety. Viewers were told it was only the second time that Kudrow, LeBlanc, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer had been in a room together since filming the series finale.

It has an enormously effective opening. A door opens at an empty Warner Brothers soundstage where the old “Friends” set was in place. Schwimmer walks in alone, shaking his head at what he sees.

He’s followed, one at a time, by Kudrow, Aniston, LeBlanc, Cox and, finally, Perry. Tissue is produced for Aniston and Cox’s tears, and it wouldn’t be the last time.

“Does Courteney still have her lines written on the table?” LeBlanc said, revealing a co-star’s secret.

Thus begins nearly two hours of reminiscences, helped along by generous clips and appearances by some of the people who had been on the show. Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice, still has that grating laugh and explains how Perry inspired it.