Warner Bros. // 1998 // 555 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Judge Elizabeth Skipper (Retired) // August 8th, 2003
Fine, judge all you want to, but...married a lesbian, left a man at the altar, fell in love with a gay ice dancer, threw a girl's wooden leg in the fire, live in a box!
Remember the show Beat the Geeks on Comedy Central? Remember how it used to have a guest geek (e.g., Simpsons geek, Star Wars geek, comic book geek) each week? Well I could have been the Friends geek, without question. As I write this, I think that they may have had such a geek. Well, no matter, I could have beaten him or her to a bloody pulp with my knowledge of all things Friends.
It's not just trivia knowledge either. Countless phrases and mannerisms have made their way from the show into my speech. And, as it turns out, I was unaware of the origin of many of them until I watched this fourth season and began to notice similarities. So that's where I got that from! Eerie.
* "The One With the Jellyfish"
Just so you know it's not
that common, it doesn't happen to every guy, and it is a big deal!
In
a continuation of Season Three's finale, Phoebe discovers her mom's friend is
actually her birth mom (Teri Garr, Close Encounters of the Third Kind,
Mr. Mom). Ross and Rachel reunite briefly after he unknowingly takes
responsibility for all their previous problems. Joey and Chandler come to
Monica's aid after she's stung by a jellyfish.
* "The One With the Cat"
What'd the insurance company
say?
Oh, they said you don't have insurance here, so stop calling
us.
Chandler and Joey are robbed when they try to sell the
entertainment center. Monica goes out with her high-school crush. Phoebe is
visited by her dead mother, a stray cat.
* "The One With the Cuffs"
You guys have any juice?
Just pickle.
Monica comes through in a pinch when she caters a party
for her mom. Chandler needs Rachel's help out of a precarious situation with her
boss. Joey is approached by an encyclopedia salesman.
* "The One With the Ballroom Dancing"
No, I want a flabby
gut and saggy man breasts.
Joey must practice ballroom dancing with
the building superintendent to save Monica and Rachel from eviction. Ross tries
to help Chandler cancel his gym membership but ends up a member himself. Phoebe
is fired when she gives in to her attraction to a massage client.
* "The One With Joey's New Girlfriend"
At least I made 10
bucks in my relationship.
Ross thinks he has a date, but it turns out
he's the babysitter. Rachel, in response to Ross's date, starts dating a college
student who steals from her. Chandler hits on Kathy, who turns out to be Joey's
new girlfriend. Phoebe's cold improves her singing, so she tries to take it back
when Monica falls ill.
* "The One With the Dirty Girl"
I can cook, and you can
take care of the money.
Okay, it'll be like I have a wife in the
'50s!
Ross dates a hot colleague (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, X-Men,
Femme Fatale), but her apartment is disgustingly dirty. Chandler's
birthday present to Kathy is too thoughtful, so he searches for a better one for
Joey to give her. Phoebe loans Monica money for her catering business, and they
decide to become partners. Rachel works on finishing a crossword puzzle
unaided.
* "The One Where Chandler Crosses the Line"
I would give
anything to not be appreciated in my own time.
Ross plays his
"sound" on his keyboard for the friends, which makes Phoebe doubt her
own talent. Chandler kisses Kathy and then must admit his betrayal to Joey.
Rachel begins dining out alone.
* "The One With Chandler in a Box"
It wouldn't be
Thanksgiving without a little emotional scarring.
Monica's new eye
doctor is her ex-boyfriend's son (Michael Vartan, Never Been Kissed,
Alias), who is so cute that she breaks taboo and invites him to
Thanksgiving dinner. Joey punishes Chandler by making him spend the day in a
box, thinking about what he's done. The friends learn their "secret
Santa" recipients.
* "The One Where They're Going to Party"
Hello, didn't
you read "Lord of the Rings" in high school?
No, I had sex in
high school.
Monica's gig as a substitute food critic leads to a job
offer, but she doesn't want to disappoint her new business partner, Phoebe. A
call from Ross and Chandler's friend, Gandalf the "party wizard,"
encourages the guys to party all night, but they find they're too old to do so
anymore. Rachel's boss promises her a promotion and then is killed before she
can file the paperwork.
* "The One With the Girl from Poughkeepsie"
Really? I
didn't think girls ever just wanted a fling.
Well, believe me. It's been a
long time since I've been flung.
Ross breaks up with a woman because
she lives too far away. Chandler sets Rachel up on a blind date. Monica hires
Joey in order to fire him and intimidate her employees. Phoebe writes a holiday
song for the friends.
* "The One With Phoebe's Uterus"
I'm going to be giving
them the greatest gift you can possibly give.
You're going to carry their
baby and give them a Sony PlayStation?
Phoebe's brother (Giovanni
Ribisi, The Other Sister, Boiler Room) and his new wife (Debra Jo
Rupp, That '70s Show) ask her to be their surrogate mother, so Phoebe
turns to her birth mom for advice. Joey works as a tour guide at Ross's museum.
Chandler's first time with Kathy is less than stellar, so Monica and Rachel
provide a few pointers.
* "The One With the Embryos"
According to Chandler, what
phenomenon scares the bejeezus out of him?
Michael Flatley, Lord of the
Dance.
That is correct.
The Irish jig guy?
His legs flail
about as if independent from his body.
Monica and Rachel bet their
apartment that they know Chandler and Joey better, so Ross devises a game to
settle the question. Phoebe has Frank and Alice's embryos implanted in her
uterus.
* "The One With Rachel's Crush"
Honey, this is not your
fault. Just because you guys had a fight does not justify her sleeping with
someone.
Well, if she thought they were on a break...
Rachel
considers quitting her job as a personal shopper until she meets her new
customer, Joshua. Chandler's jealousy of Kathy's costar contributes to their
breakup. Monica, who misses being the hostess, fixes up the new apartment.
* "The One With Joey's Dirty Day"
C'mon man, just take
off the sweats, okay? Just take them off and we'll have some fun.
Chandler achieves "Phase 2" of his breakup, so the girls take him to a
strip club. Joey returns from a fishing trip as "that thing you smell"
but doesn't have time to shower before his first day shooting with Charlton
Heston. Rachel, not wanting to break her first date with Joshua, convinces Ross
to take out her boss's niece, Emily.
* "The One With All the Rugby"
I'm watching this rugby
thing on ESPN. I don't know what the big deal is; I'm man enough to play this
sport.
Dude, you're not even man enough to order the channel that carries
the sport.
Chandler runs into ex-girlfriend Janice and then convinces
her he's moving to Yemen so she'll leave him alone. Monica obsesses over a
seemingly defunct light switch. Ross meets Emily's friends and soon finds
himself agreeing to join their rugby game.
* "The One With the Fake Party"
Could someone give me a
hand with this zipper?
Yeah.
Up!
Rachel throws a
last-minute bon voyage party for Emily just so she can invite Joshua. Phoebe
decides to eat meat for the baby. Ross realizes his feelings for Emily are
deeper than he thought.
* "The One With the Free Porn"
Okay, okay, but if she
doesn't call, it is definitely over. No wait, wait, unless eventually I call
her, just to see what's going on, and she says she'll call me back but then she
doesn't. Then, it's over.
Way to be strong, man.
Free porn
magically appears on Joey and Chandler's TV. Phoebe finds out she's carrying
triplets. Ross tells Emily he loves her.
* "The One With Rachel's New Dress"
You wore your nightie
to dinner?
Oh yeah. The best part, though, was when the waiter spilled
water down my back, I jumped up and my boob popped out.
Oh no!
It's
all right, I got nice boobs.
Frank and Alice ask Phoebe to name one of
the babies. Rachel's special night with Joshua is interrupted by his parents.
Emily shows Susan the sights when she visits London, leaving Ross and Carol
jealously paranoid.
* "The One With All the Haste"
Come on, man. You know I'd
do it for you, because you're my best friend.
All right, but you can't use
that again for a whole year.
Monica and Rachel do whatever it takes to
get their apartment back. Ross and Emily decide to get married.
* "The One With All the Wedding Dresses"
I think he broke
up with me.
Oh...why?
Apparently he scares easy.
Monica
picks up Emily's wedding dress and grows attached to it. Joey's snoring awakens
Chandler. Rachel doesn't handle Ross's news well and moves too fast with Joshua
in response.
* "The One With the Invitation"
See? He's her
lobster.
As Ross decides whether to invite Rachel and Rachel decides
whether to attend the wedding, each reminisces about their history together.
* "The One With the Worst Best Man Ever"
Which one of you
guys is Gunther Centralperk?
Ross questions his decision to make Joey
his best man when Joey loses the wedding ring. Rachel and Monica throw a baby
shower for Phoebe, but her hormones won't let her enjoy it.
* "The One With Ross's Wedding"
I, Ross, take thee,
Rachel...
The friends minus Phoebe and Rachel travel to London for
Ross's wedding. Monica and Chandler find a shocking way to cheer each other up.
Rachel heads for London when she realizes she's in love with Ross, who has an
unexpected reaction to her presence.
I admit it, I love Friends. I love the characters, the actors, the writing, all of it. But what I love most of all is the inside jokes, the references to past occurrences and revelations, and the fact that the writers assume we're all in the know. And I, as a loyal viewer since the first season and a syndication addict, am definitely in the know. From "we were on a break" to Monica's obsession with cleanliness to Chandler's gay father to Joey's "how you doing," I always get the joke, and, though I feel sorry for those who don't, I'm thrilled that the writers don't cater to them.
This fourth season was the first time the writers felt secure enough in their fan base to begin including these inside jokes regularly, and it coheres much more than any previous season. Thus, I consider season four the best of the first four years. That may just be personal preference, though, as it introduces two of my all-time favorite storylines: Monica and Rachel's loss of the apartment to Chandler and Joey (including Ross's trivia game) and Monica and Chandler's relationship. The season also includes Ross and Rachel's argument after he reveals he didn't finish reading her letter -- some of the funniest, and most quotable, minutes of television: "By the way, Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E means you are, Y-O-U-R means your!"
The extras for this set are, as they were for the three previous seasons, adequate but nowhere near extensive enough. The most important bonus feature is the inclusion of additional footage. But, although it's fun to try to pick out the bonus bits, many syndicated episodes have cut out footage from the original episodes, so it's often difficult to determine what's truly new; therefore, I would have appreciated some sort of indication of the bonus footage.
Also important are the commentary tracks for three episodes. But, again, they're nowhere near extensive enough: three episodes out of 23 in the season is too few. What commentary we do get is informative and interesting, but stilted because it's been pieced together. If you pay attention, you'll realize that the three commentators -- executive producer and co-creator Marta Kaufmann, executive producer and co-creator David Crane, and executive producer Kevin Bright -- did not record their commentaries together. They don't interrupt or feed off each other, and they repeat each other's stories. It's obvious their commentaries were recorded separately and the best lines were edited together to seem concurrent. While this method isn't hugely distracting, I think we would have ended up with better and more detailed information if the three had been together.
The rest of the extras are completely disposable. I don't know why they even bothered with the cast and crew list; "Friends Around the World" is trite and pointless; "Friends of Friends" and "What's Up With Your Friends?" are nothing more than series of clips; and "Ross's Ultimate Challenge," while mildly entertaining, could have been so much better.
Where are the outtakes? These are funny people saying funny things in situations just begging for bloopers to happen. I know they exist -- they teased us with a few during the credits of the season finale -- so why can't we have them? There is no excuse for not including outtakes with a sitcom that aired so recently. Also, while we're at it, where are the interviews and behind-the-scenes footage? Unacceptable.
Like the extras, the transfers for this DVD are adequate, but not good. Then again, the transfers for most TV shows, especially those more than a couple years old, are adequate, but not good, so I shouldn't expect too much. The video is not as sharp as I would have liked; the audio is hollower than I would have liked. But neither will interfere with your enjoyment of the show, so discussing it any further would be much ado about, well, nothing.
Four seasons in, and still nary a minority in sight? In one of the most diverse cities in the world? C'mon people, we can do better than this.
If you don't like Friends, nothing I say will convince you otherwise. But if you do like the show, you should do it justice and watch it in its entirety, with original and bonus footage included. In other words, you should buy the DVDs.
Friends is found not guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime and is free to continue feeding my addiction.
Case adjourned.
Review content copyright © 2003 Elizabeth Skipper; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2008 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Video: 85
Audio: 85
Extras: 70
Acting: 95
Story: 95
Judgment: 90
Perp Profile
Studio: Warner Bros.
Video Formats:
* Full Frame
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround (English)
Subtitles:
* English
* Chinese
* French
* Korean
* Spanish
Running Time: 555 Minutes
Release Year: 1998
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* Audio Commentary with Executive Producer and Co-Creator Marta Kauffman, Executive Producer and Co-Creator David Crane, and Executive Producer Kevin Bright for "The One With Chandler in a Box," "The One With the Embryos," and "The One With Ross's Wedding"
* Additional Footage
* Cast and Crew List
* "Friends Around the World"
* "Friends of Friends"
* "What's Up with Your Friends?"
* "Who Knows Whom Best? Ross's Ultimate Challenge"
Accomplices
* IMDb
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0108778/combined
* Official NBC Site
http://www.nbc.com/Friends