My New Man-Crush

Over the last couple of months I've been watching a lot of movies and TV shows starring Matthew Perry, and I think I've developed a hetero man-crush on him.

It all started when I watched all ten seasons of "Friends", and seriously, who doesn't like Chandler Bing? Chandler's just one of those characters that is easy to connect with because people see themselves in him. Out of all of the friends, he was the most realistic. People can relate to Chandler because they have jobs that they hate, or are a little insecure when it comes to the romance department, or constantly fill the sidekick role. The thing is you still cared about Chandler because he was genuinely a good guy, and part of his appeal was due to Perry's portrayal.

While on my Perry binge, I came across an independent movie called Numb, which is about a screenwriter who suffers from depersonalization disorder and is forced to face his affliction when he meets the woman of his dreams. The movie is in the same vein as Garden State but a little bit more mainstream. It's billed as a romantic comedy, which is a bit misleading because of its weighty subject matter. I immediately fell in love with this movie thanks to Perry's strong performance and the overall story. I'd recommend this film to anyone who enjoys smaller movies that deal with real personal issues.

Recently, I've been addicted to hulu.com because you can watch full episodes of almost any NBC or FOX show for free. Thanks to hulu, I started watching another Perry vehicle, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", and I was hooked from the start. I never watched "Studio 60" when it was on NBC a few years ago, but I'm glad that it still has a little bit of life thanks to the internet. I understand why it didn't catch on with casual fans because it wasn't mindless drivel that tends permeates network TV. It was a satirical, inside look about television, and I think that it's ironic that a show about how TV works never really worked on TV.

So, now I'm relying on Netflix for my Matthew Perry fix. Right now, I have The Whole Nine Yards, Three to Tango, and Birds of America in my queue to get me by. My man-crush hasn't gotten so bad that I feel the need to watch Serving Sara or Almost Heroes, but I did watch Fools Rush In...again.