I wasn’t the biggest fan of “Friends” on the planet, but I’ve probably seen most of the episodes at some point or another in syndication. Through it all, my favorite has always been the sarcastic Chandler Bing, Matthew Perry. I’ve always been disappointed that Perry hasn’t managed a bigger career away from “Friends,” however, I've been even more disappointed by the few movies he has put out (and let’s not even talk about the disappointment of Studio 60’s cancellation). Sadly, it doesn’t look like that’s about to change.

Perry’s latest theatrical triumph will be a bit part in 17, the Zac Efron vehicle coming out from New Line, even though Perry will technically play the lead according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie centers around an adult who becomes 17 again and enrolls in school to be closer to his own kids. Perry plays the adult version, Efron the younger version. Guess who will see more screen time?

There are two ways to look at this. We could see it as Perry being the new Tom Hanks – after all, in Big, Hanks played the adult version of a kid who suddenly got older. Or, and this seems to be the direction everyone is going, we could see it as Perry playing second fiddle to the kid from High School Musical . Oh how the sitcom mighty have fallen.