Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy

Like many others, I was saddened by Matthew Perry's death and how events unfolded afterwards, so I was looking forward to watching this.

Firstly, there is nothing new here - particularly if you followed Perry's career and his untimely death at the time. Ironically, two of the main talking heads are tabloid journalists, who themselves no doubt profited from him along with many of their peers. In addition, the amount of tabloid photos used when Perry was unaware are in pretty poor taste.

The entire thing is made up of either these talking heads - the only one mildly interesting being the doctor talking about how ketamine treatment should be administered - or archive footage that has been around for a long time; the biggest name they could get being Morgan Fairchild. Nothing against her, it seems they were good enough acquaintances going by her word, but she played his mother in five episodes of Friends.

Next up is the 'quality' of production; they're talking about money changing hands, so here's some b-roll of what money looks like. They're talking about clandestine meetings in parking lots, so here's what a car in a parking garage looks like, they're talking about shady drug dealers texting each other, so here's some random hands and fingers texting on a phone 🙄 All set to sinister music, naturally.

Ultimately this is a disservice to Matthew Perry's memory and there continues to be room for a much more intelligently produced take on his life, his demise and the aftermath.

Felt absolutely filthy watching this. Absolutely appalling dragging the late Matthew Perry's name through mud with over dramatic narrative views. The dramatised music was also so gross and unnecessary. Just goes to show the producers of this show will capitalise on anything and anyone including the loss of life. They have no moral values. I ended up turning it off. 0/10 don't watch. They never would have done this unless he wasn't here to defend himself. The lack of respect is outrageous and undignified and his family don't deserve this whatsoever. I hope for their sake they don't watch this garbage.

What a disappointment this was. First of all, there was nothing new in it - just all the details in one fell swoop. There were very few original interviews, and most of those were with tabloid reporters. One thing that did catch my attention, though, was Perry's diction in the excerpts from his audiobook and the interviews he conducted about his book. He was sober at that time, but his speech was a little slurred, as if he were recovering from a stroke. I wondered if he had suffered some neurological effects from his years of drug abuse. Other than that revelation, I'd say this program is a must-miss.

Usually, there's no point in writing reviews for documentaries, but I can't skip this one because this picture is a scam, and people who read reviews and opinions first should know about it to avoid wasting their time.

Why is it a scam? Because the title and the film itself feature "Matthew Perry," but in fact, it's not about him, far from it. Yes, he is part of the narrative; he is the main face of the story. A sad and sorrowful one, but it's deeper than it seems and about something else entirely. It's about old world problems but in new packaging-addicts, drugs, addictions, corruption, and vile people who profit from sick individuals. People who think they can quit. Thereby deceiving themselves and those around them, while in reality, they continue to destroy themselves more and more.

Here, Perry serves more as an anti-advertisement for drugs, showing and proving that fame and money don't solve or change anything and only make things worse when it comes to deep-seated problems/traumas and addictions.

This film is all about the same thing as thousands of other films and stories-self-destruction. They have always existed and always will. Only the "main" face changes. And it doesn't matter how much money or power you have. The outcome is always the same.

If you are a fan or even just follow what happens with the investigation and how it proceeds, then there's nothing here for you. You already know what's what and how. Perhaps even better and more than what is shown here. But if you are just an ordinary viewer and not a fan of the actor, then it will be interesting, at the very least, to find out what happened. The picture tells everything concisely but in a very simple and accessible way. Of course, you could read about it in any online article. So, it's up to you to decide whether to watch or not.

In the end, I'd like to add that although I am not a fan, Matthew Perry was an excellent actor and one of the best friends. It's such a pity that he couldn't overcome his problems and become an even bigger star and a better version of himself, but even despite that, he managed to etch his name into history and become a legend.

Unflattering pictures of Matthew at his lowest, a random "O'Neill" woman excusing the assistant who killed him and laughed about it in texts, and a random advertisement for Ketamine being a miracle drug that more people should have access to.

Did you expect that from this documentary? Because that's what it is. It doesn't go deep on anything meaningful, like the people behind the drug ring that killed him, and likely countless others, nor is it anything more than an exploitation of a celebrity's death.

One of the kindest souls, one of very few in Hollywood, who struggled with mental illness his whole life and was exploited by the people he trusted, to death - this is the "documentary" we get for him.