Helen Hunt received a standing ovation when she joined Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show recently. Probably a good thing the audience gave it to her upon arrival. I won’t say she was bad, she wasn’t, but she just wasn’t great. She did take control and dominate the conversation (not always easy with Ellen)… which was ok. She did talk a lot about her new film, Then She found Me,… good. She even joked about her old boyfriend, Matthew Broderick, playing her husband in the new film… funny. And her timing and delivery are strong (she did win and Oscar, after all!). But something about her overall demeanor is plaintive and whiney and even a bit condescending. She always looked pained. It’s off-putting and makes for a less-than-satisfying experience. It may be what got her where she is in her career, but I wish she didn’t bring it with her to interviews… not good!
Courtney Cox and Ellen DeGeneres are clearly friends. And there lies the blessing and the curse in a talk show appearance. We know they are friends, because not only did Ellen mention it several times, but she opened the interview asking Cox when she was last over to the house. They then proceeded to discuss the visit to Ellen’s “amazing” house for an evening of Pictionary, how well they (Cox and husband David Arquette) played the game, and how much fun they all had! Too close and too cute for the average host, but Ellen does have a way of keeping it from getting sickening sweet.
The problem with this level of familiarity is that Cox, a seasoned veteran of the talk show circuit, lost control of why she came in the show in the first place to promote her FX series Dirt and a cosmetic line.
Ellen relentlessly stayed on the personal track when she brought up Cox’s daughter, Coco and asked if Cox wanted to have more kids, to which she replied, “Now?” Ellen, clarifying that she didn’t mean with her, but with someone else. Cox politely attempted to answer and move on, but Ellen kept pushing, saying “you could adopt, you could use a surrogate, you could have another baby…” Cox said “maybe we’ll talk about it some other time… I don’t know.” Ellen replied “no, let’s talk about it now.” Ellen finally got off the issue by suggesting that Cox adopt her and give her an allowance.
Ellen then cornered Cox with the dreaded Friends reunion question. Cox bobbed and weaved, berating Ellen, a bit, saying they never talk about THIS stuff at home. Ellen chose to hide behind her roll as host of a show where the viewers demand her to ask such questions. Cox deftly put it to bed saying, “has that Sex and the City movie come out yet? Let’s see how that does.”
They then segued into a previously ignored reason for her booking, the discussion of a cosmetic line Cox represents, Kinarese. Ellen proceeded to eat it – yes eat it — much to the delight of the audience. When Ellen offered Cox a crackerful, Cox wiggled her way out, replying “I ate so much of it before I came out!”
Overall, Cox did a good job trying to maintain her composure, managing to remain natural and unaffected even as Ellen felt the need to show her familial ties to her “friend” and smother the plugs.
