MovieChat Forums > Matthew Perry Discussion > I read like the first 50 pages of his bo...

I read like the first 50 pages of his book and I already like him alot less now and lost respect for him.


I didn't even finish the book.

He comes across as pompous, self-absorbed (bragging about he changed how America pronounces things πŸ™„, bragging about how rich and famous he was), shallow, arrogant, immature and lacking self-awareness. I felt it was full of Matthew feeling sorry for himself but not learning from his mistakes and blaming them on others (genetics, riding on plane alone, thousands of women used, rehabs don't work, bad parents, dentistry, etc).

Hate to speak ill of the dead, but this book really lost my respect for the guy. I love Chandler but Matthew seemed like a horrible person.

--Michael D. Clarke

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I suppose there are some good actors in terms of being postive human beings,
but they are exploiting, or we are being exploited by the trick used to portray
someone in a set up story or image, and we fall in love with a character when
the person behind them, playing that character is absolute scum.

I'd say most of them.

The way I see it is that MOST really successful people have to put so much
time and energy into their success that they don't have time to inform
themselves or read the news, or treat normal people like human beings.

The other problem is that they don't have time to spend with their family
and friends so their kids get farmed out to nannies and the help and a
lot of them act like little criminals. Money and unwarranted power ruins
the country, and it happens throughout history with pretty much every
country and empire.

Then they end up thinking because they are famous and loved for an
imaginary character or having tons of money that they can tell us what
to do politically or lead a country?

The real problem is that people are so stupid and undemanding. The
people become cynical and criminal because that is the only way to
survive in a violent corrupt ocean of BS.

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It's the whole Hollywood fame going to their head thing. Once they become famous they're never told the word "no" ever again. The writers on SNL would write for famous hosts and observed that if famous people didn't get their shit together after one year of being famous they'd be messed up for life.

Matthew Perry did not get his shit together after one year of being famous. Probably the biggest understatement ever.

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Funny that you mention SNL because Norm told the story a few times of when Perry was on and his agent was insisting he was a genius and wanted to do something revolving around 'Matt speak' which they claimed he had invented to which Norm would respond ('are you talking about sarcasm?)

If the book annoys you then you will hate the audiobook which is narrated by himself. I am at the point where he's just landed Friends i have noticed also that he held himself in very high regard. He spoke of always having this razor sharp wit and no one being funnier than him and his 3 friends. He is quite funny and Chandler like in real life so he's just about getting away with it but yes he is definitely coming off as a bit on an entitled douche. Also how he treated a couple of his first Girlfriends was not kind at all and said a lot about him.

There's a bit of Election vibes going on for anyone who knows the film in that what he's saying and what is actually happening are contradicting each other. For example he goes on about feeling an outcast with his mother and plans to move with his father when he also say's they were pleading and begging him to stay telling him it would kill them. My guess is probably he just saw his father was in LA working as an actor and he fancied getting his feet in there for himself.

Another hmm moment that we will never know but i have suspicions of is when his pal the better looking and funnier version of him was offered Chandler and another role and asked him for advice and he swears he told him to do Friends but the guy picked the other one, we will never know the truth but there was a similar plot in Friends with Joey and Perry claimed to be pitching Jokes and influencing the show so

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Yeah that's pretty typical of the Hollywood ego, think you changed the world when all you did was say your lines written by a LOT of talented writers. It's so weird he could have had so much more, he dated Julia Roberts he could have married her, had 2 kids, stuck with tennis(he was a talented tennis player, he could have stayed in shape, played in a lot of local tournaments, always seen with a smile on his face, etc.).

I guess every major hit show has to have a tragedy, in the case of Friends it was Matthew Perry.

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In the book he say's he dumped Julia Roberts because he was so insecure that she would dump him. And he deeply regretted it evidently up until the day he wrote his memoir 20 years later. He probably made the wise move though considering her track record, he wasn't even responsible for the witty replies of their flirtatious pen pal relationship leading up to when they met up it was the Friends writers who went into bat for him.

To be fair to him also he admitted he was shit at Tennis once he his L.A. He said he was a bright prospect in Montreal where hardly anyone played but as soon as his went to California he was bang average club player at best.

But She did marry Lyle Lovett so maybe it's not inconceivable that she fell for him and he could have married her. But like the OP suggest and i agree after listening to him this man was a pure pity party and egomaniac to boot

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A couple of observations. One, why categorize ? Two, I can see how being rich & famous would be intoxicating, give a person a lot of rope to act out, esp. if they have an addictive personality.

This guy just seems to be one of those terminally insecure people who didn't, in the end, have the baseline self-preservation capacity to stay off drugs, once sober. I've met many non-rich & famous non-people with the same personal pitfalls.

I didn't read his book, all I know is he rehabbed bunches of times, but it didn't apparently take.

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RIP, nobody should die prematurely like that--but yeah, he sounds like a douche.

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Agreed.

It says a lot about his character the way he spoke about women and only focused on their looks & attractiveness and how if he wanted to sleep with them or not.

The guy was smug and entitled. He is blessed with all this money yet never satisfied.

--Michael D. Clarke

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In his own words he thoroughly enjoyed Opiates and would go through the usual Hollywood get clean programmes to keep everyone sweet but never had any respect or intention of actually giving up because they felt so damn good.

I had to stop listening after chapter 4 because this man was so full of himself he actually thought he invented sarcasm, was the funniest man alive! he was born with a silver spoon he's the typical Hollywood Brat (Rip)
Shame as i'm not too proud to admit i loved Chandler he was by far the most endearing on the show and i do have a modicum of sympathy but listening to him there isn't an ounce of humbleness in his body his truly thinks he was special and destined for something when he was the spoiled brat son of a very connected elite and he bumbled his way in as do most of them.

Matt Le Blanc i dont know his background but comes across to me as someone who hit the jackpot and thanks his lucky stars every day. Yes they are capable to show bravado and earn it under pressure but Marlon Brando they are not.

You see it with the Mperry and Aniston's where they think they are destined for something greater and when it inevitably doesn't come they are morose and (unfulfilled) yet from the outside they have over performed

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Agreed. While Matthew has talent, I felt he grossly exaggerated them. The "inventing sarcasm" bit was cringe. There are far better comedian/actors that had a more profound impact than him.

--Michael D. Clarke

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The bad parenting is a legitimate complaint. Both parents were self-absorbed narcissists. That shapes a child and can't be undone.

How many times have we read that he was a comic genius? People aren't just lying because he died. The funniest one on Friends? Unique? He was all of these. And yet his father was such a butt he still thought he was better than his son. Read the book. His father, with the "Old Spice" ad, and a cameo on Friends.

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Good Points,

and yet i see the opposite of you.

In the same book when he spoke of going for the same auditions as his father and them wanting me and not him he spoke with glee when his dad was clearly gutted.

You can say rightly so he was a product of his enviroment but he was a cocky cunt does that mean i take pleasure now he's dead not at all but even the rich robin Hood type have endearing qualities and Perry had none

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He gets a pass but also extra venom due to the fact he came from extremely special background. He wasn's just rich, that would be bad enough his mother was Sara Palin Of Canada. He was extremely entitled and spoilt as a child (Not his fault play hand you are dealt)

But it's in that i find the most distain for him. Ayerton Senna was brought up very rich and entitled but he had a warrior spirit and great values that everyone universally responded to. I hated motor Sport but i loved Senna watching this fella he embodied to me a true Spartan. Yet if i wanted to be a prick i could say he was gifted every opportunity on a plate

Doesn't work like that though when you are in the saddle weather you were pushed forward or not people don't care are you a Braveheart if you show spirit you earn your spot if you do very little still put ob fast track and then whine after there is little sympathy .

They say don't meet you'r heroes but also don't listen to them for 8 hrs that there hard done

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Yes. He was such a miserable loser. I was shocked.

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I know, I feel like I lost all respect for him too after reading his book. The Die Hard Fans of Friends group on facebook was all high praise on his book and I kept silent cause in my opinion he was all a swing and a miss, every time. He may have been a good soul but his choices reflected very poorly on his true character. It was all Pick the easy way. And believe me, it makes me angry that after his colon burst, being on ECMO, having 2% chances of living through the night, writing a book, starting fresh, having a tour... he relapsed with ketamine. He's been given so many chances to make it right, how do you put anything into yourself after SO many near death experiences??

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He came across as a real piece of work. The constant name-dropping, the mummy/daddy issues, cheating on his girlfriends and pot shots at Keanu Reeves?

I'm not even a Keanu Reeves fan but I've never heard anything bad about him as a person. Quite the opposite. So I don't know what that was about.

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"Never meet your heroes." I'm not saying he was your hero but you get my point, eh?

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