There are not a lot of famous people in โThe One About Matthew Perry.โ None of the late actorโs โFriendsโ castmates sat for an interview for the three-part Netflix docuseries; neither did Perryโs longtime friend and โSimpsonsโ star Hank Azaria, who knew Perry as a striving young actor in L.A., or later collaborators like Bradley Whitford and Aaron Sorkin.
One could take this notable absence as an indicator of the access director Mary Robertson (โQuiet on Setโ) and her team were, or were not, able to secure. But whether a matter of intention or circumstance, what emerges in place of star power is a more intimate portrait of Perry and his decadeslong struggle with substance abuse, leading to his death from a ketamine overdose in the fall of 2023. Through friends, family, fellow addicts and former partners, what emerges is a straightforwardly told, crushingly sad story of a man whose talent, humor and success were not enough to overcome a chronic disease.
The unofficial protagonist of โThe One About Matthew Perryโ is Perryโs younger half-sister Mia Perry Bowick, a therapist who narrates what itโs like to share a loved one with the world at the peak of the monoculture. Bowick is joined by Perryโs close friends Roger Castillo and David Pressman, who recall frequent pre-fame nights with Perry and Azaria at West Hollywoodโs Formosa Cafe, as well as multiple ex-girlfriends and even a member of Gen Z who met Perry in one of his many rehab stints. (She says they partly bonded because, not in spite, of their age gap: โI was born in 1997; youโre not that big a deal to me.โ) Some of these voices, like โThe Whole Nine Yardsโ director Jonathan Lynn, can speak to Perryโs artistic ability. Most, however, are there to testify to what the public didnโt see, at least until Perry chose to share his start-and-stop road to recovery in venues like his 2022 memoir.
Because of such late-in-life disclosures, which Perry made after embracing his platformโs potential to help others with similar issues, there arenโt any bombshell revelations in โThe One About Matthew Perry,โ or even much new information. An introductory title card positions the series as โthe story of Matthew Perryโs life, as told by his family and friends โ and by Matthew himself.โ Though recent events made me read that last clause and fear AI-assisted necromancy, Robertsonโs approach is formally straightforward and free of such ill-advised techniques. Interviews are supplemented with archival clips of Perryโs screen work and interviews, and some of the showโs most searing material is conveyed in the actorโs own (previously recorded and publicized) voice.
โGod, you can do anything you want to me; just please make me famous,โ Perry freely admits to praying in his youth. (He got โFriendsโ shortly afterward, but ruefully notes that โGod didnโt forgetโ about the first part.) โThe One About Matthew Perryโ is more a collation of established facts about Perryโs battles, including a sepsis-induced coma in 2018 resulting from his use of opiates, and an unveiling of new ones. What the project adds are personal testimonies about witnessing said battles up close, plus memorable observations like โintimacy was his greatest fear and his greatest wish.โ Though the most memorable lines โ โReality is an acquired taste,โ say โ fittingly belong to Perry.
โFriendsโ has a couple of representatives in Robertsonโs cast of talking heads, namely writer Jeff Strauss and former NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield; it wouldnโt be possible to tell Perryโs story without dwelling on his most famous role. What โThe One About Matthew Perryโ does is situate the sitcomโs run, which concludes by the docuseriesโ halfway point, within Perryโs broader life: after a childhood feeling adrift between his remarried parentsโ respective family units, before attempted follow-ups like โStudio 60 on the Sunset Stripโ and addiction interfering with his work. The 2021 โFriendsโ reunion is presented as a source of great anxiety for Perry, who was hurt by online comments picking apart his mannerisms and appearance. Unbeknownst to viewers at the time, he was still recovering from his coma and the attendant complications.
The seriesโ length allows โThe One About Matthew Perryโ to communicate the protracted, start-and-stop nature of Perryโs addiction, from first taking prescribed painkillers after an on-set injury while filming the 1997 film โFools Rush Inโ to the many cycles of relapse, detox and sobriety. Eventually, the actual circumstances of Perryโs death โ which resulted in multiple criminal convictions for Perryโs dealers and live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who administered the fatal drug dose โ are quickly addressed in the showโs closing minutes. After so much emotion, the detour into factual legal territory via interviews with a former U.S. Attorney is abrupt, if necessary. Bowick grounds these data points with an impassioned condemnation of Iwamasaโs enabling, arguing that he shouldโve tipped off family members to Perryโs ketamine abuse. Such is the function of โThe One About Matthew Perryโ: well-known headlines, reframed through the lesser-known perspective of those deeply affected.
All three episodes of โThe One About Matthew Perryโ are now streaming on Netflix.
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