Beyond 'Friends', this new Mathew Perry documentary puts addiction to the spotlight

It came as a rude shock to fans worldwide when Matthew Perry was found dead at his Los Angeles home in October 2023. The beloved Friends’star died after suffering the acute effects of ketamine, an anaesthetic and pain reliever that has also found use in the treatment of depression. It’s this tragedy, and Perry’s long battle with addiction, but most importantly, the people – doctors, quacks and peddlers, who fuelled his demons, which a new documentary seeks to unpack. ‘Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy’ released on Discovery Plus on January 2.

Rather than delving into Friends, the 1990s sitcom that made Perry a global star, the documentary focuses on its after-effects – how fame and money can make fulfilling one’s addictions rather easy. 

While Perry was vocal about his struggles: how he started drinking at the age of 14, struggled with alcoholism, and later substance abuse -- the documentary is at its strongest when in the way it, in a way, humanises addiction and, rightly, treats with contempt those who preyed on his vulnerabilities, extracting vast sums of money from him. 

Perry repeatedly described his addiction as a “disease” - which it clinically is, though society rarely treats it as such. The burden of recovery is instead often placed on the individual, forcing addicts into a lonely battle. The documentary returns to this idea often: addiction thrives in isolation, striking hardest when one is alone.

Set against this is the callousness of those who sought to profit from Perry’s vulnerability – doctors, no less. When Perry attempted to obtain ketamine, Dr Salvador Plasencia texted a co-conspirator, “I don’t know how much that moron is going to pay… Lets [sic] find out.” Plasencia was later sentenced to 30 months in prison.

The film then widens its lens to Hollywood’s drug peddling ecosystem, placing Jasveen Sangha—dubbed the “Ketamine Queen”—at its centre. It was ketamine allegedly supplied by Sangha that ultimately caused Perry’s death. 

​The documentary also references Cody McLaury, whose death was similarly linked to ketamine allegedly supplied by one of the accused in Perry’s case, underscoring how widespread the problem is, and how it only came into the spotlight after the actor’s death. 

Much about Perry is already known, much will remain unknown, and the documentary makes the good choice of placing addiction and drug peddling at its centre. As a watch, it is often gripping. Where it falters, however, is in its ambition: attempting to compress too much into a one-hour runtime. 

The film moves rapidly through Perry’s troubled childhood, meteoric rise to fame, alcoholism, dependence on painkillers, repeated stints in rehab, ketamine addiction, and finally his death. It also attempts to examine the five individuals accused in the case. The result is a film that often appears skimming the surface and never going too deep into anything.

Much of the material is drawn from Perry’s interviews and his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’, meaning viewers already familiar with his life and struggles will find little that is new. 

And yet, the film still lands its blows. It shocks, it unsettles, and it evokes genuine sorrow for a guy the world lost to addictions, and how we’ve consistently been unsuccessful into finding a cure for the disease.