Review of Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible ThingFriends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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Note: Today would have been Matthew Perry’s 56th birthday. As such, I thought I would post my review of his autobiography that I wrote up back in 2022. I don’t do this to disparage him. Perry was clearly a gifted actor and talented comic, and like most of the world, I loved him on Friends.

He was also a deeply troubled man. Sadly, this book foreshadowed what everyone was afraid was coming.

Happy birthday, Matthew Perry, I hope you’ve finally found some peace.

First off, I completely understand that addiction is a disease. I have known, and lost, and will lose, family members to addiction.

I am sorry Matthew Perry went through all of this, it does sound like Hell, and it must be, because he reminds us of this over and over and over…

He repeats himself often. Yes, I knew he had a 55 pill a day Vicodin habit because he mentions it often.

And Perry isn’t the most unlucky is schlub ever, he’s also the luckiest. That’s right, he’s a one-upper. Oh, you have an addiction? His is far worse. Your girlfriend is hot, well he shagged all of the hottest ones.

Perry tells you time and again that he had the number one show, the number one movie, the hardest addiction to Vicodin, the worst addiction to Oxycontin, the most terrible alcoholism, the worst luck with women.

No, Matt, some of these are choices. You’d become sober and then you’d have a bad day, a minor setback, and you’d use again.

Oh, poor you.

You’d earn the love and trust of a wonderful woman and then you’d get sober and fuck all of southern California.

Oh, poor you.

And what’s his problem with Keanu Reeves?

In short, could a man who has been incredibly wealthy since his 20s and said yes to every hedonist impulse for 30 years BE any more disconnected from reality?

I wish him well and hope this is his final, successful attempt at sobriety, but honestly, I don’t believe it is, nor do I buy his earnestness.

But who doesn’t love gawking at a car wreck?

Want to read it yourself?

Libby: Audiobook | eBook
Amazon: Audiobook¹ | Hardcover² | Kindle³ | Paperback⁴

Originally written and published on Goodreads in December of 2022

© 2025 Michael A. Diaz