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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
20
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews
May 26, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Throughout the reunion, there are some very genuine-seeming failures by certain performers to remember aspects of the shows that their co-stars recall quite clearly, and the collective, wobbly journey down Mortality Lane comes across as spontaneous and authentic. For all its weepiness, the show is an emotionally satisfying reminiscence.
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The TelegraphMay 26, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Some of the cast seemed happier than others to be there – LeBlanc was a supremely jolly, relaxed guest – and a suggestion of on-set romance between two of the cast had a whiff of insincerity about it. But when Perry sat back in the recliner in his old apartment and told LeBlanc: “Ah, Matty, good to see you,” he sounded as if he really meant it. And a global audience of Friends fans will share the sentiment.
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May 26, 2021
Season 1 Review:
The special felt effortless and crisp. Editing kept the 105 minute reunion going, although some segments could have been cut to make it snappier. ... Much like the chemistry between the cast helped smooth over bad jokes or the poor later seasons of the show, their chemistry as real-life friends makes the reunion an easy sell.
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May 26, 2021
Season 1 Review:
“Friends: The Reunion” isn’t trying to be revealing, at least not about anything that thorny or unpleasant. It’s here to entertain, and to remind fans why they love the show. Digging in to its shortcomings would have made for a more interesting special, but it also wouldn’t have reflected the show itself.
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May 26, 2021
Season 1 Review:
What works about HBO Max's Friends: The Reunion: The real-life pals hanging out, reminiscing about their run as the most famous TV friends on the planet. Unfortunately, the bloated, 104-minute (!) special sandwiches these flashes of reunion magic between a lot of silly, tiresome filler.
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RogerEbert.comMay 26, 2021
Season 1 Review:
It’s an event that’s most interesting when it’s the least forced, when these six actors who really grew up together in the public eye are allowed to wander the rebuilt sets of their apartments, asking each other what they remember from that formative chapter in their lives. Less effective are the superficial questions from host James Corden, or bits in which the cast table read memorable scenes from the history of the series (although, man, Kudrow still gives it her all.)
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Jul 20, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Perhaps it’s asking too much for Friends: The Reunion to delve deeper into the production, or reveal some lascivious secrets or difficulties, or grapple more with the show’s impact on pop culture. ... In that respect, Friends: The Reunion has plenty of pleasant fluff to entertain.
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May 27, 2021
Season 1 Review:
The special is most compelling when the cast is allowed to just revel in their surroundings, sitting together on the Central Perk set, or in Monica and Rachel’s still-mind-bogglingly mammoth West Village apartment, and reminisce like old friends. But we also lamentably get a series of inexplicable celebrity appearances.
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May 26, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Originally intended to help launch HBO Max, "Friends: The Reunion" finally hits the streaming service, in big, slightly bloated, unapologetically nostalgic form. A valentine to fans, the nearly two-hour special is inevitably hard-pressed to justify the hype, working best when it lets the cast casually reminisce, while getting carried away with cameos, some of which, well, couldn't be more random.
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May 26, 2021
Season 1 Review:
What’s clear beneath all the adulation, and the genuine bond shared by six young actors who grew up together on TV, is that “Friends” was very much a creature of its times. ... “Friends: The Reunion” is a fond look back for those who couldn’t get enough the first time.
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May 27, 2021
Season 1 Review:
You have to power through a whole lot of standard reunion rickrack – the present-day table reads of memorable scenes, the clapter-ginning cameos from the likes of Tom Selleck, Thomas Lennon and Cara Delevingne – to get to these interesting flashes, along with a couple of pieces of truly gasp-inducing, previously unrevealed dish.
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The TimesMay 27, 2021
May 27, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Its reunion special spends nearly two hours frantically arguing that the ubiquity is deserved. ... Friends offered a world devoid of the world. The show’s reunion has now continued the tradition. The special is fan service that also attempts to rationalize the fandom itself. It is trying its best to have it both ways—the enforced intimacy of the sitcom and the market imperative of the global franchise. It is a telethon guided by a tautology.
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May 27, 2021
Season 1 Review:
I didn’t learn anything interesting, and I wasn’t left with much to think about. The special is curiously empty, aside from some touching moments of camaraderie and affection between the cast members, and the potential discomfort of realizing we’re all getting older.
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The Daily BeastMay 26, 2021
Season 1 Review:
The opening act plays out amid such astonishment that this is all even happening, it’s almost as if a stunned Janice is constantly shrieking, “Oh. My. God.” And yet...it’s also a misguided, confusing mess: stale when it’s not overly sentimental and self-congratulatory, relying on distracting stunts in place of authentic fun.
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Jul 14, 2021
Season 1 Review:
The editing flits all over the place, and I suspect that’s because there’s so little substance to this endeavor. The age of streaming hasn’t been conducive to bonus material like the freewheeling commentary tracks that used to show up as DVD extras, but the nearly two hours assembled here doesn’t rise to the level of even that.
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