Ed
1996, PG, 94 min. Directed by Bill Couturié. Starring Matt LeBlanc, Jayne Brook, Bill Cobbs, Doren Fein, Patrick Kerr, Jack Warden.
Not reviewed at press time. Matt LeBlanc, one of the co-stars of that inexplicably popular sitcom Friends, here plays a ballplayer who's losing his touch with a curveball, as well as his enthusiasm for the game. Then the team's new mascot/ballplayer -- a chimpanzee named Ed -- restores his teammate's technique, as well as his love for the sport. A 9-year-old girl I know, who's also a fan of Friends, thinks Ed looks “icky” and a three-year-old boy I know has decided the chimp looks kind of “scary.” It's not a scientific poll, I realize, but it sure makes me wonder who the audience for Ed might really be. Director Couturié's choice of projects is curious to say the least since the respected documentarian has won an Oscar and a Peabody for his co-direction of Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, as well as two Emmys, a Peabody, and a Cable Ace award for 1982's Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam.
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Marc Savlov, Nov. 3, 2000
March 13, 2023
Ed, Bill Couturié, Matt LeBlanc, Jayne Brook, Bill Cobbs, Doren Fein, Patrick Kerr, Jack Warden
