Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

A31
PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 14 July 2017
Cobie Smulders, Keegan-Michael Key among Netflix’s ‘Friends’

By FRAZIER MOORE Key, as a once-promising
AP Television Writer novelist, has been enjoy-
NEW YORK (AP) — Six ing a friends-with-benefits
friends from college find connection since college
themselves reunited, pick- with Parisse’s character,
ing up shared lives 20 years Samantha, who by now is
after graduation day. But likewise married as well as
along with the familiar ca- a mother.
maraderie, they encoun- For years Ethan and Sam
ter new complications and lived hundreds of miles
conflicts. apart, allowing only the
Have the times passed rare hookup. Now, how will
them by? That’s the ques- they handle life in the same
tion asked and answered city in the same tight social
with amusement by circle?
“Friends From College ,” a “I remember being on set
new eight-part comedy to and thinking, ‘Should this
be released Friday by Net- be FUNNY?’” says Smulders.
flix. “I’ve been with my hus-
The viewer-friendly cast in- band for 12 years” — actor
cludes Fred Savage, Nat and former “Saturday Night
Faxon, Annie Parisse and Live” cast member Taran
Jae Suh Park, plus Cobie Killam, whom she married
Smulders (“How I Met Your in 2012 — “and if infidelity This image released by Netflix shows, from left, Annie Parisse, Nat Faxon, Keegan-Michael Key,
Mother”) and Keegan-Mi- came into my life it would Cobie Smulders, Jae Suh Park, Fred Savage, Billy Eichner in “Friends From College,” premiering
chael Key (“Key & Peele”) be heartbreaking and trag- on Friday.
as now-wed friends from ic.” Associated Press
college Lisa and Ethan Fortunately, “Friends From
Turner. College” eases this threat, themes,” Key says, “is how be.” erative artist!”
“Yes, it’s a comedy, but and the rest of the action, foggy the lens of nostalgia In any case, the present is Smulders calls “How I Met
it’s a DARK comedy,” says with a shrewd mix of smarts can be. All the characters a cool place for Key. After Your Mother” (her hit CBS
Smulders over a light-heart- and loopiness. are thinking, ‘Being back five seasons creating doz- sitcom that ended a nine-
ed lunch alongside Key. (Just TRY being mad at together SHOULD be the ens of characters on “Key season run in 2014) “such
“These friends have a tight Ethan for cheating on his way it was.’ But it CAN’T be & Peele,” along with writing a beautiful thing it’s hard
relationship, but there’s an wife, however lovely and that way anymore.” and producing that brilliant to compare it to anything
ever-changing scenario devoted she may be, And it may not ACTUALLY Comedy Central series with else. But, truly, ‘Friends from
they have to deal with on when it’s Keegan-Michael have been that way in the his co-star Jordan Peele, College’ has been a ver-
the fly.” Key playing him!) first place. Sam’s husband, Key says he’s grateful for sion of that. I love working
“The darkness keeps it hon- “There isn’t a lot of judging played by Greg Germann, the change that “Friends in an ensemble and play-
est,” Key adds after ward- in how it’s written or how grumbles about how she From College” repre- ing in group scenes.”
ing off Smulders’ razzing the parts are played,” says and her college friends try sents: “Not having to be in With “Friends From Col-
for the excess pepper he Smulders. “It’s up to the to live in their shared past: charge: I can’t tell you how lege” wrapped, Smulders
has showered on his clam audience to make their as- “You should let the past just much I relish being an inter- and Key are busy these
chowder. sumptions and judgments.” go,” he tells her. “The pres- pretive artist, and not being days with impressive the-
At the heart of the story: “Another of the show’s ent is a pretty cool place to asked to be a wholly gen- ater projects. q

Review: ‘The Almost Sisters’ tests bonds of family & friends

By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL Washington suburb. But Wattie, who is Birchie’s so- cret that tests the normal
Associated Press Leia’s roots are in the town cial equivalent in the local boundaries of love and
“The Almost Sisters” is, at its of Birchville, deep in the black community. Thick as friendship, but ultimately
heart, a story about four heart of Alabama, where thieves, these two. strengthens them.q
generations of family. How her father’s family, the When Leia gets the call that
author Joshilyn Jackson de- Birches, has been quite liter- Birchie is sick, she doesn’t
fines family, however, isn’t ally the pillar of the commu- think twice about taking a
just by bloodlines and gene nity for generations. Grand- long-term hiatus from her Like
pools. ma Birchie is nearest and daily routine. Life is headed Like
Describing the book as dearest in Leia’s heart. She toward a big shake-up any-
I’ve done already to a few admires her grandmother way since she just found out
us on
friends — all in the form of almost blindly as a dynamo she is pregnant with a baby us on
recommendation — makes independent spitfire with boy who was conceived
it sound far-fetched and thick Southern charm and with a man wearing a Bat-
soap opera-ish, but there’s impeccable manners. She man costume at a comic
Facebook
nothing but authenticity also cherishes that Birchie is expo, and Leia hasn’t talk- Facebook
and compelling storytelling the only connection to her ed to him since. This cover image released by
driving it. Bear with the sum- father, who died when Leia But it turns out that Birchie William Morrow shows “The
Associated Press Bon Dia 24 Aruba
mary: it’s worth it. was young. is hiding more than the se- Almost Sisters,” a novel by
Leia is a successful com- With Birchie comes her best verity of her illness. She has Joshilyn Jackson. facebook.com/bondianoticia
ic-book author living in a friend, her true soul mate a bona fide deep, dark se-