Matthew Perry Made His Movie Debut In A Forgotten River Phoenix Drama
by Jeremy Smith · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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Mary Robertson's documentary "The One About Matthew Perry" –- a play on the episode titles of "Friends," the sitcom that launched Perry into the television stratosphere -– is one of the most brutally valuable portraits of how fame and fortune solve nothing. It's the old "Richard Cory" story: a person who seems to have it all inexplicably ends their life due to hidden sadness and/or distress.
The narrative surrounding Perry, before he died, has long been one of an incurable addict. He was acutely aware of his sickness, but he couldn't maintain his sobriety. As he says, in his own words, in the documentary, he found booze and pills and whatever else to be a halcyon escape from the joylessness of his life.
As such, it's doubly tragic to realize that Perry's first big-screen role came opposite River Phoenix in William Richert's bawdy coming-of-age movie "A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon." Per Perry's autobiography, we know he had been drinking since the age of 14, and, according to Gus Van Sant's "Pink," Phoenix's major issue was not heroin but alcohol. They were two bruised peas in a pod, and while they were wildly different people (in the documentary, Perry is described as a cheeseburger dude whereas Phoenix was a practicing vegan), they were perfectly matched on screen.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon was a one-and-done pairing for Matthew Perry and River Phoenix
"A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon" should've been a horned-up coming-of-age classic in the ribald mode of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." You've got a never-sexier Phoenix romancing Meredith Salenger, Ione Skye, and Ann Magnuson. But it wasn't a low-aiming sex comedy like the "American Pie" films. William Richert was adapting his novel, "Aren't You Even Gonna Kiss Me Goodbye?," and he envisioned Phoenix's title character as a half-assed beatnik who wanted out of Chicago.
Perry's Fred Roberts was his moneyed, Harvard-bound, easily manipulated best friend who got nothing out of the relationship. It's one of the few instances in his career where Perry was cast as a dupe. Early in the film, Jimmy hits up Fred to cover half of his college tuition, which he coughed up in an abortion scam. Fred resists until Jimmy promises to get him a girl who'll relieve him of his virginity. They find the girl, but, predictably, she ends up with Jimmy.
Perry and Phoenix were good together, but as a charmless rich kid, the former was playing way against his strengths. I've never seen Perry more directed, which leaves me wishing he could've collaborated with a filmmaker who might've unlocked the actor we never got to see. He was so talented, and so willing to please, but sometimes tragedy is inescapable.