Has Aniston turned out to be the best Friend?
 

I saw Along Came Polly last night and enjoyed it. Not great comedy but good for a few yuks. Typical Ben Stiller movie. I really enjoyed Jennifer Aniston in it though.

Anyway that got me to thinking that of all of the cast members of Friends she is the one who has had the most critical and commercial success. If at the beginning of the show's first season you had asked me to predict which one of them would go on to have the most success I almost cretainly would have said Courtney Cox. Interesting to see an actor develop as she has and change my perception of her as well.

Who would you have thought would be the most successful of the six and would you agree with me that she has been the best?

IMHO she's a horrible actress, she's very flat and one dimensional.

I'd like to see her stretch herself above just being her friends character on the big screen.

Wow, I feel 100% opposite. I think that in most of her movie roles, she has gone in the other direction from her Friends character. Her Friends character is superficial, snobby and more reactionary. Even in other comedic movies, like Office Space, she has been understated.

Her work in The Good Girl was unbelievable, and was quite a stretch from her work in Friends.

Clifclav, to answer your questions...I too would have said Courteney Cox, probably because she was the most successful one out of the bunch when the show started. I knew Matthew Perry from his role on a show called Boys Will Be Boys and Matt LeBlanc from his work on a show called TV 101, but Cox was much more popular.

As for Aniston being the best, I'd put Schwimmer up there too, although I agree that I think Aniston will have the most successful film career. Here's my thoughts on each, minus Aniston:

Lisa Kudrow: Has really only played offshoots of the Phoebe character. Sometimes it works (Romy & Michele), sometimes it doesn't (Marci X). In the future, I imagine she will have one of the hardest times getting roles that are more than just that character. I didn't see her in The Opposite of Sex but I heard she was good in that.

Matthew Perry: His "brand" of comedy is easily adaptable to a number of different characters, so I think he will continue to play roles like the ones he played in Fools Rush In and The Whole Nine Yards, with success. I also bet he will do a dramatic role that he will receive acclaim for. Probably a heroin addict or something.

Courteney Cox - seems to be going the Lifetime TV route.

Matt LeBlanc - Can't seem to pick a good movie script for his life. He has been extremely funny on Friends in the past two seasons. I imagine it's because they were trying to give his character a little more to work with since he'll be going into his own show. The show will probably only last two seasons at most. Look for the other Friends costars to show up during Sweeps.

David Schwimmer - his movies were kinda cruddy, but he was smart and retreated from movies and the limelight before anybody got sick of seeing "Ross" on the big screen. He has been very smart in focusing on theatre, where audiences are much more open to him playing different characters (not as much money riding on it). I predict he'll continue doing theatre, do a show or two on Broadway, and if he does a movie, he'll definitely NOT play "Ross." He'll stay far away from that character for years (except during Sweeps on Joey's show). Also, look for him to get seriously into directing various television shows and movies. Even now, he directs many of the Friends episodes.

Yeah, I always felt they built the show aroound Cox after coming off of Ace Ventura, and that the rest of the cast just grew up to her level / overshadowed her.

quad,

I seem to put her into that same boat you put the rest of the cast into. I haven't seen the Good Girl but I'll have to check that out.

I've only seen her in Rock Star (which I turned off in the middle because it was just horrible) She's the One, and Leprechaun. I barely remember Leprechaun. A friend is the assistant to the producer of Along Came Polly so I'll be seeing that at some time.

I agree with you guys saying Aniston will achieve the most commercial success, but imho Matthew Perry is the funniest, I loved The Whole Nine Yards, and can't wait for the sequel.

Ross was excellent in Band of Brothers and The Uprising, Perry, Kudrow and LeBlanc are always going to be Chandler, Phoebe and Joey until they die.

I never really enjoyed Aniston's acting. I thought it was mediocre, at best. Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer I find to be more original and talented actors, and I've enjoyed their performances on Friends, even though I pretty much gave up on the show itself once they started having babies and getting married and stuff. It felt too much like they were heading down the Melrose Place road, but as far as I know no bombs have gone off yet, so...

Thats a good point that i never thought of. Not wanting to sound too sexist but I wonder if being married to Brad has rubbed off on Jennifer a bit. I would think that getting pointers from somebody like him around the breakfast table couldn't hurt.

Personally, I thought David Schwimmer played his 'Ross' character in Band of Brothers. There was nothing I saw that indicated that he could be anything but "Ross". I found it difficult (almost painful) to watch his scenes.

I would agree with that. In that scene in Band of Brothers where one of the men threw his voice to sound like the general and got Schwimmer's character all flustered and in trouble, he was standing around looking just like he had lost his pet monkey in his apartment.

Here's an interesting piece of trivia: David Schwimmer was the only cast member who didn't have to audition. The creators knew him previously, and the character of Ross was written for him.

Okay, one more piece of useless trivia: Jami Gertz was offered the part of Monica and turned it down.

Cyn, no fair, you can't hold Leprechaun against her! Although you CAN hold "Ed" against Matt LeBlanc. :D I agree that she did play very close to Rachel in She's The One (and Picture Perfect too). She was a little generic in Bruce Almighty, but I didn't think it was "Rachel..."

I agree, out of the entire cast, she's the one most likely to have the best career.

Schwimmer was pretty good in Band of Brothers, and Breast Men (I think it was called that, it was about the guys who invented breast implants.)

i think it'd be hard to see schwimmer or matthew perry or lisa kudrow in any roles outside of ross, chandler, and phoebe. and matt leblanc made that movie about the monkey that plays baseball so he gets an automatic fail (though that movie introduced me to chocolate bananas). between cox and aniston, it goes easily to aniston

I think that if the other 5 had been more wise in their movie choices that there would have been a change. Although I like Jennifer alot, as an actress, I think that she has pik her movies wisely and not limited herself to dumb comedies.... She has been the only one to go outside that comey box. To me id all the other "Friends" did that and picked their movies well that they would have been about equal.. But since they didn't I would say that (hands up) it goes to Jennifer Aniston Pitt.

I think David Schwimmer did an exellent job in Band of Brothers. Not even once (well, the first time I saw him) did I think of him as Ross. He made a damn mean drill instructor, and it was incredible to see him scheming to make his troops' lives a living hell. The spaghetti was just unnerving. :)

If you haven't seen Aniston in The Good Girl, do it. It'll change your opinion about her. I didn't think she'd do that great off of Friends, but she really excelled in that movie. Of course, Jake Gyllenhaal was in it too, and he's a damn good actor. They make a good combination.

-Lasereth

The character he played (Sobel) was really like that. He was an anal, ego-centric captain who himself was a serious incompetant pussy... but he "lived vicareously" through his troops that he trained to be the best.

Whether he seemed too much like Ross, I don't know... maybe the problem was that Sobel was unwittingly too much like Ross in the 40s ;) Maybe that's why they cast Schwimmer for the role. He even LOOKS like the real Sobel.

personally I think courtney cox is hotter, but none of the Friends girls have really made that big of a big-screen impact