The Matt Damon Factor: Melba Toast or Red-Hot?

[sisabet]

How to explain this? I am not a fannish person - that is absolutely false, actually, I am a very fannish person. I am not an actor-driven fan though, I am much more a story-series fan. Yes, that describes me fairly accurately.

I don't mean that I don't have preferred actors, or on the other hand, actors that irritate me extremely. The preferance and irritation do not quite balance though. I may adore Clive Owen, because of "Second Sight" but this does not mean I will go to see "Closer" at the theater. Heh - in three years time it should be easily available on a movie channel. I can wait until then, if ever, to see it. So while fannish love of a particular actor will not get me out of the house, dislike is almost guaranteed to keep me away from a movie I would have seen otherwise. So, since Tom Hanks irritates me to no end (mostly because of "Forrest Gump" and I am sorry - while, yes parts of the damned thing *were* moving - I really really really dislike it as a whole. To the point of hives) I have not seen "Road to Perdition" and I have no plans to change that.

I am apparently controlled more by my dislikes than likes. This is useful info to have. I'm also not the type to follow an actor from movie to movie to project to project. So, I miss some things. One of those things was the Incredible Powers of Hawt of Matt Damon.

Until recently, my most consistent view of Damon was the one given to me by Trey Parker and Matt Stone - also I saw him on Oprah and he failed to impress. I need to remember that most people fail to impress while on Oprah. I fell asleep during Good Will Hunting - and wasn't Minnie Driver in it? I don't like her. I don't like Robin Williams movies from that period. I dislike Ben Affleck immensely.

The cards were stacked against Mr. Damon. I took a group of brain damaged patients to see "Rounders" and half way through the movie when one of my patients had an outburst and ran up to the screen and started screaming it was with relief that I ushered him out into the lobby. That movie almost made me dislike Ed Norton and I adore him. Seriously - he is the John Cusack for women who grew up and realized Cusack is not Lloyd Dobler.

So, up until a few months ago - I didn't like Matt Damon. I didn't hate him. Hate is a strong word. I don't hate anyone...well maybe Andie MacDowell, just a little. I don't know - she just grates - ick. Oh! Her and that Leelee Sobieski - I just can't stand the way she forms words. She taps into a very fundamental and primal dislike I have. I can't stand her with my lizard brain. But back to the matter at hand - I did not dislike him - I had Matt Damon indifference. He just blended in and never stood out on the radar.

Then one night "The Bourne Identity" was playing on Encore and it had been on a lot - I've napped to it, I've vidded with it on in the background and I knew enough to knew eventually Clive Owen shows up. I've already said that I like him - so if he is gonna show up in my living room for free, the least I can do is block off two hours to see him. I am very giving like that.

So I am watching and at first Damon is pretty much the Damon I have come to expect: bland, if confused and naked. Or maybe that was confused in a wetsuit? Whatever, I wasn't paying him much attention. He is Chris O'Donnell. Chris O'Donnell is he. Neither of these guys is Dick Grayson and so they are permantly fused as being "Not-Dick" in my head. This does not bode well for young Matt.

And then, and then there was a moment of revelation. A shining light shone down on Mr. Damon and he became suddenly and gloriously hot. He was wearing a sweater and carrying a backpack and I think he was in Germany or Belgium or I have no idea. It has been awhile since I saw the movie but these cops were hassling him in the park and he was trying to talk his way out of it and getting frustrated and all of a sudden he turned into ANGEL. It was fantastic. It was a defining moment - at least *I* felt defined in that moment. And then Damon proceeded to become hotter and hotter so by the time the movie ended me and Lola were both head over heals in love with this crazy, amnesiac CIA assassin dude. Since I never quite go the whole "MANNY!" thing with Lola before, I was glad to see her finally with a guy I liked. Of course it is possible that Famke Potente was not playing Lola at all... but I like Lola and wanted to see her in a sequel.

So, I'm thinking - whoa - "Matt Damon just got hot" and getting ready to dismiss it as a fluke or just Ben Browder conditioning me to like green t-shirts, but "The Bourne Supremacy" was out in theaters so I took a peek. Oh. My. God. He starts the movie at even higher levels of Hawt and proceeds to build from there. It was Krycek hot - it was unassuming at first and then it just smacks you about and you feel like an idiot for not noticing.

I was a new recruit. I began to re-evaluate a lot of my long-standing prejudices - maybe I have been wrong about many things? I felt out of step and off-tune. I - I pride myself on at least knowing what is hot and what is not and I missed this. Maybe I have been wrong about Val Kilmer? No, I haven't. I know this. Iceman was a fluke.

So, with this in mind, I finally watched "Oceans 11" recently and... Matt Damon was many things - most of them cute and fluffy and akin to a small animal. He was a puppy. He wasn't hot - he was Connor without the Hell memories. I watched "Oceans 12" and yes - still a puppy, still adorable and much with the tail wagging. Not hot.

So now I need a litmus test - a control, an experiment - something to determine if Matt Damon has the power of turning his Hot on and off or if he is only hot whilst playing angst-ridden amnesiac assassins. He needs to be hot in just one other movie - so what is that movie? "The Talented Mr. Ripley" - is that the movie I need to see? I've avoided it in the past cause Paltrow is like Leelee Sobieski time 20 for me. See - I am a woman ruled by her dislikes.

Comments

[chartophile.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Clive Owen in the BMW commercial/short films online? They are teh sex.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I saw part of one but they bored me. I love him in Second Sight. The commercials just... well he is *in* them, that is for certain.

[swanswan.livejournal.com]

Ha! I love a woman who has strong feelings about random celebrities. Especially when they coincide with mine!! I hate Gwyneth too!! So much that when i lost a bet to my friend the worst thing she could think to do was make me promise to name my first daughter Gwyneth. heh. I so won't.

ANYWAY I have warm-ish feelings towards Matt (and really Ben too, who is pretty awful, but somehow likeable because he's clever) but I never really found him at all attractive until the Bourne films. For my two cents - I don't think you'll find another Hot!Matt film. But hey, if you do, be sure and let me know!!! He could have some kind of hidden superpower! The power to turn off the hot and then turn it on again later!! Maybe when he turns it on it makes a noise! Like... KazAAAAM! or somesuch!

[fatuorum.livejournal.com]

I'm seconding your opinion on not finding another hot Matt movie.

And I think your icon just killed me.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

The power to turn the hot on and off is a Superpower! Like Clark with the Red K!

I dislike Ben mainly because he has never impressed me as being intelligent at all - and then I disliked Gwyn for dating him for so long and then I disliked them both, jointly, for making a terrible movie together, and then I disliked Winona Rider for hanging out with them and giving an insipid interview to Vogue or Harpers Bazaar or some other Really Thick Magazine and then I disliked the dude from Coldplay first for writing rather insipid lyrics and then for recording rather insipid arrangements (Coldplay is like Evanesscence for adults) and then I disliked him for marrying/impregnating Gwyneth and then I learned to really really not want anything to do with either because they named their kid Apple.

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

I love this post with the power of a thousand million powerful things.

I agree utterly.

That movie almost made me dislike Ed Norton and I adore him. Seriously - he is the John Cusack for women who grew up and realized Cusack is not Lloyd Dobler.

::worships::

[jebbypal]

You've seen Dogma yes? Just curious. I think that was the movie that showed to me that Damon can really control how the audience responds to him. ummmm...Rainmaker (john grisham) is one of his early movies so it might be interesting to check out if it doesn't have any grating characters. Legend of Baggar Vance as well. I don't know if it is truly his acting or simply the way he is dressed and the film is edited, but he's versatile.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I like Dogma - but not the Angels - I was not impressed by Affleck and I didn't think Damon stood out.

Now, looking back I can say that I have fallen asleep during both Rainmaker and The Legend of Baggar Vance. While this does not mean, in an of itself, that either movie is exceptionally boring - it does not bode well.

[swmbo.livejournal.com]

See, Bourne Identity is what did me in on Matt Damon, too. I was so not impressed by him, didn't think he was particularly attractive but halfway through that movie I was all 'guh'.

And now I am trembling about seeing the sequel!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I think he is hotter in the sequel. JMO.

[luminosity]

Other than Bourne, I don't think there's another movie that will make Matt the hotness. Lola made Matt hot. I don't think it was anything that he did or wore. It was her. He's like every guy I hated in high school. The Talented Mr Ripley? Any sort of hot that Matt may have had (*MAY* have had) was eclipsed by the hotness of Jude Law--and Ripley is the only movie where I thought Jude Law was hot. Talk about an actor who does nothing for me! Ewww. He always looks like he needs a bath.

OTOH, it took American History X to convince me of the hotness of Edward Norton (and to make me forget that that is also the name of Art Carney's character in the Honeymooners). I also love Guy Pearce, now that I'm actually thinking about it.

In conclusion, Angel.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

In response: Angel.

We have talked many a times about Jude Law. I always want him to be hotter than he is solely because of his name - I love his name.

We have also discussed Colin Firth - right? Here is a guy I think is extremely hot - yet I hate every movie I have ever seen him in and I totally disrespect him as an actor. He is like a dirty shameful secret. Like Angel.

[zandra-x.livejournal.com]

Well, Matt Damon doesn't ring all the bells for me that he does for you; what I've got is grudging respect. When I saw "Courage Under Fire", long before I'd ever heard of MD, there was this kid, who obviously had something going on that wasn't being said in the script. Yes, he was intriguing.

You should see "The Talented Mr. Ripley", in fact, I may see again, now that you mention it.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

He didn't ring any bells for me at all until he played Jason Bourne. Now I'm just wondering if he could do it again.

[barkley.livejournal.com]

I turned "The Talented Mr. Ripley" off halfway through because I just didn't care anymore. (And this was a movie I paid $4 to rent, mind you.)

I loved Good Will Hunting. I loved Matt Damon's character, but I never thought of him as hot, and generally don't, though TBI did amp up his potential. He did have one defining moment for me though, and that's the moment I always go back to when my brain starts to puzzle along when someone proclaims that Matt Damon is hot. In Saving Private Ryan, when they first come across him, he's sitting out in the sun, relaxing, and his head turns and he gives this smile, this OMGSOCKMELTINGLY hot smile.

[luminosity]

The only scene I liked in Good Will Hunting was the scene in the bar. And that was it. Wait! And MD writing on the chalkboard at the beginning.

[thisisbone.livejournal.com]

We share some common traits, though unlike you, I am likely to see shitty movies simply because an actor I like is in them (I really should have known that Paul Walker could not overcome the combination of Leelee Sobieski AND Steve Zahn -- never before had I watched a movie solely in fast forward and pause modes).

Gwyneth? Don't like her, and especially not since she stole my kid's nickname and pretended it was something you could name a kid for real.

Val Kilmer? Don't like him. I barely looked at Iceman because I usually had Slider in the frame at the same time, and Slider always beats Iceman.

John Cusack? Still love him. But I don't want him to be Lloyd Dobler. I want him to be Martin Blank.

Now. Matt Damon? I'll just say this: I love Jason Bourne.

The Talented Mr. Ripley? Pretty but ugly. Jude's pretty, but what happens to him isn't. The scenery's nice. Gwyneth didn't register much. Jack Davenport did, but something ugly happens to him, too.

And a random unsolicited rec if you're looking for Teh Hawt in a movie: Colin Farrell in Tigerland. My fondness for the character of Boz has led me to see many other CF movies I haven't liked nearly as well, but oh, sweet Jesus, he's fine fine fine in that.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I am afraid of Martin Blank. He kills people. He looks at people and murders them. I can't get past that. I can't kill spiders.

Apple as a nickname is fine. Hell, Apple as a given name is fine if the child is named for your laptop. I was named for 2 aunts. I consider both to be appropriate sources. But just naming her Apple - well that is pretentious. IMO. But I think everything she does is pretentious - it is kinda how I know what is pretentious and what isn't.

And yes Slider beats Iceman, but Iceman beats Maverick and Goose beats Iceman but Maverick beats Goose. It is like Rock, Paper, Scissors only with shirtless volleyball.

[thran.livejournal.com]

I liked Ripley in that way that it's so creepy you're uncomfortable, and you have to hand it to the filmmakers for making you feel so writhingly uncomfortable. Damon definitely doesn't bring the hotness like he does as Bourne; in fact, he seems like he's on the opposite end of that spectrum. See, when I saw it, I already thought Matt was hot, from Good Will Hunting and I don't remember what else, but as Ripley, he was amazingly unhot. It's like he was being deliberately unhot, which when mixed with the painfully repressed homoeroticism doth an intriguing combination make.

I think I agree with Sockkpuppett on that one thing, though... Franka will make anyone look good.

Mmmmm, Franka.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Franka - not Famke. Famke is a different actress - right?

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

Matt Damon is up and down for me. I love me some Jason Bourne, Will Hunting, Private Ryan and Tom Ripley. But I love Amnesiac Asskicker Jason Bourne best. I love the cold intensity Damon brings to the role.

Val Kilmer ... depends on what he's doing. I mean I have parts of the slash-bash that was Salton Sea committed to memory I've watched it so much, and I think Spartan was one of the best movies this year.

Clive Owen? Once again, depends on what he's doing. IMHO he'll never top Croupier.

[cosmic.livejournal.com]

It was Krycek hot - it was unassuming at first and then it just smacks you about and you feel like an idiot for not noticing.

Nononono. That movie *had* a genuine Krycek. Or maybe Krycek's younger brother. Karl Urban, baby. Matt Damon was crazy-sexy but I had to get stuck on this detail, just because. *g*

I've had a soft spot for Damon and Affleck since Good Will Hunting and I think I've seen roughly every movie Damon is in and the only ones where he really *does* bring the sexy hawtness? Bourne movies. Talented Mr. Ripley is interesting, but I just feel *bad* and sometimes uncomfortable for the character (and it's not good when you feel *bad* for a sociopath, right?) and there's the Gwyneth problem. Really good things about the movie? Jude Law and Jack Davenport. Jack Davenport's character is so *nice*.

I recommend Dogma the most. That has good Affleck and Damon, and it's in general a good, enjoyable movie (if you don't have great hatred for some obvious Kevin Smith-isms). Oh, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Just for the hee.

And, dude? So with you about the goodness of Edward Norton (and John Cusack, for that matter), the hatred of Tom Hanks and Forrest Gump, and Gwyneth and Leelee Sobieski.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I like Kevin Smith - I genuinely like fellow geeks even when I feel they are misguided and lost. Smith is a Geek Made Good.

So - I've seen everything he has ever done and the thing I liked least about Dogma was the casting of Afflect/Damon.

Nononono. That movie *had* a genuine Krycek. Or maybe Krycek's younger brother. Karl Urban, baby. Matt Damon was crazy-sexy but I had to get stuck on this detail, just because. *g*

And I have no idea who Karl Urban is. It's been a while since I saw either movie - I did not mean he *was* Krycek -- just the way his hotness snuck up on me and then was all in my face - that was the same way Krycek came after me waaaaay back when I was all innocent and young and watching second Season TXF. All of a sudden Mulder's new partner went from Earnest and Not Getting It to Dangerous and HAWT.

[voleuse.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on finding Matt Damon on-and-off hot. I actually didn't find him attractive at all until he did a guest spot on Will and Grace, and then I adored him like wildfire. And it wasn't the W&G factor, because I'm ambivalent about the show when I think about it at all.

I think he can turn it on and off as he chooses. So weird.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I SAW THAT! I've seen maybe 4 episodes total of W&G and that was one of them. He was actually hilarious as the straight guy who dreamed of choral singing, but not all that hot to me. Possibly because he was making out with the curly-haired chick and she disturbs me since the time she was on that show with the slow fellow from Wings. And then she was on another show, I think, with Todd Manning from One Life to Live and also with Vincent Ventresca, who would go on to be Darien Fawkes in "The Invisible Man" and win my heart but I did not know that at the time - all I know is she creeps me out. She looks like a stalker.

[crowie.livejournal.com]

Random person blundering in here, because random celebrity talk is fun.

I like Matt Damon, quite abit. I same as you didn't really see him as *hot* until the Bourne Identity. I've however always been intrigued by how different he can be onscreen.

He's brilliant at being different people, he can do hot, just as well as he can do geeky or twisted or.. well . I just don't think he's been called on to do that sort of *hotness* anywhere else than in the Jason Bourne movies. It's not often that you come across people who can be completely uninterestingly average in one movie and then blindlingly hot in another, especially not in leading men type actors.

I'd watch Talented Mr. Ripley if only for the pretty of Jack Davenport and Jude Law (and for watching Matt Damon act, because he turns on and off his vibe within that movie, as in his character is acting).

Then again that might just be me. So with you though on the love of the moment in the film where he takes on the cops, mmmm...

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I, too, totally dislike Paltrow. This does not stop me from loving Rriply with the fire of a million suns. This icon is from Ripley -- Damon does such a good job being sympathetic in that movie. And yet, poor Peter (if you do watch it, you will understand why I say poor Peter). And there is canonical gayness in Ripley, if, you know, you like that stuff.

But yeah, I'm not sure if he's actually hot in Ripley -- you've also got Jude Law as Dickie (the bath scene!) and Jack Davenport as Peter. I'd only seen Jack in Ripley and yet his was the name that made me realize that I had to see Pirates of the Caribbean, not Depp or Bloom.

Ripley is such a psychological movie and it rips my heart out.

But yeah, I'm not sure that I had seen a movie that made me say, "OMG! Matt Damon is so fucking hot!" until Bourne. His characters usually aren't coded to be hot and he's a very good actor.

[bionic.livejournal.com]

This post is so me! lol. I hate Paltrow and Sobieski with a passion, as well. Just - grrr! Hate Sobieski especially. Oh it is a burning, hot hate. Primal, like you said. *nods*

But as for ...Mr. Ripley, it's an okay movie. Damon is good in it, but he isn't hot. I agree with everyone else who said you probably won't find another movie besides the Bourne movies wherein Damon is hot. When I watched The Bourne Identity on tv, halfway through, I was hit with the same revelation - Matt Damon is HOT.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

He should be hot more often. We know he can do it - so it would be a really good career move for him to be hot in other movies. I think he needs to pay attention to the Nick Cage Action Movie Factor, but other than that, being hot more often can only be a positive thing.

[myriad69.livejournal.com]

I cannot STAND Andie McDowell. And it's so annoying because she's in a few movies I really like, such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Groundhog Day.

But that damn weird accent of hers makes me want to smack her. I HATE her.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I actually like her voice - she's Southern and tries really hard not to be and it makes an interesting mix. She just... she just cannot act and it kills me.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Bourne Identity was when it struck me that Matt Damon is actually, surprisingly hot. But before that, he mostly played big puppy dog, cutie pie roles. Two recs, though: He's terrific in both Courage Under Fire and Saving Private Ryan. Both war flicks. Hmmm. ::ponders::

I've adored Val since Iceman. If you haven't seen him in Thunderheart, Tombstone, and The Salton Sea, you're missing out. So much with the hot and the slash, it's enough to singe your eyebrows.

I love Tom Hanks for Bosom Buddies, because he was an unabashed doofus, and for making Band of Brothers. I *worship* him for that.

I used to really dislike Gwyneth, too, but then I saw Sliding Doors, and later Possession. Maybe I only like her with a Brit accent. ::ponders some more::

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

See - I am not big at all on any War Movie. I've seen Saving Private Ryan and I will never ever ever watch it again.

This is why I won't watch Tigerland. I'm sure it is a great movie - but not *my* kind of movie. I've already suffered thru Full Metal Jacket - I never want to go thru that again.

I like Val Kilmore in "Tombstone" - who doesn't? But I fell asleep during Thunderheart and until yesterday I had never even heard of The Salton Sea. It sounds pretty grim and I have enough of grim in real life, so I doubt I check it out any time soon.

Tom Hanks - back in the Bosom Buddies days - I wanted to grow up and marry after my marriage to Bo Duke broke up. But then - Holy Christ - I hate that damned Forrest Gump movie with the passion of ten thousand fiery suns. I just cannot explain how it felt like that movie was *assaulting* me over and over again and people would not leave me alone about it. It was like this new religion and heaven forbid you dislike or not care for it. ::shudders:: To this day - I can hardly stand to look at him.

::ponders::

[kimera.livejournal.com]

I just can't stand the way she forms words.

Dude. Seriously- I make snap judgements of people based on their voices sometimes. It's not even people with what would typically be classified as "grating" voices that irritate me, but sometimes there's just *something* about their speech patterns that I can't stand.