Jennifer Aniston is out promoting her new movie Management, but the little tidbit everyone seems to have fixated on has nothing to do with her new work and everything to do with her past: the elusive Friends movie.

The Daily Mail, a UK news source, had reported back in July 2008 in the wake of the Sex and The City Movie craze that a Friends movie had been greenlighted and was set to be filmed within the next 18 months, according to anonymous “inside sources.” That little morsel from the UK spread all over the Internet, kept alive by fans yearning to see Rachel, Joey and the rest of the gang back together on the big screen.

But it seems as though the Daily Mail report created a lot of smoke but revealed no fire: since then, no official reports of a Friends movie have surfaced and the topic has been pushed to the back burner. Until recently, that is: as Jennifer Aniston makes the rounds to promote Management with Steve Zahn (who you might recognize as Phoebes’ gay ice dancer husband from Season 2), the question was raised again, this time by MTV News: will there be a Friends reunion?

“They do want to know that— all the time,” replied Jen gamely, who’s clearly heard this one before. Aniston explained that it’s not likely, but if they were to reunite the cast for a movie, it’s now or never.

“I don’t think so, and if they do, they should hurry up […] Well, it’s been off the air, but you also don’t want it to be that reunion show or movie where you see – like when the ‘Brady Bunch’ had a reunion and they were old.”

So basically no— and if they want to, they’d better do it now before the Friends are geriatric and sipping decaf in Central Perk complaining not about men or dead-end jobs but about arthritis and kids who never call.

But for die-hard fans, the hope remains alive. Bloggers on sites like friendsmovie.org and even Perez have latched onto the MTV soundbyte to revive their dream for a Friends reunion movie. But judging by how difficult it is to get all six castmates back together and by the unfortunate fate of the spin-off TV series Joey, it seems unlikely we’ll see Rachel, Ross, Chandler, Monica, Pheebs and Joey jump back into that fountain on the big screen.

It’s tempting to wonder, though… if the six Friends were to come back together in 2009, where would they be now? And do you think a reunion movie is a good idea?