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IS THERE NOTHING BEN AFFLECK CAN'T DO?

By Brian Prisco | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (32)

ben_affleck_burger_s.jpg

I don’t wanna like Ben Affleck, but I can’t help it. He’s got the kind of a face you want to punch, with that stupid dimpled chin and poufy mane, like some sort of low-rent superhero or rejected New Kid on the Block. He seems to ooze smug. And yet, he got his start in the days when Kevin Smith mattered, staying loyal to his boy through when he got big and Smith got wide. Is he a bad actor? No, he’s good, afflable, amusing, fun.

Then he goes and writes a fucking screenplay, and you’re like, really? Who’s this fucking guy think he is? And I laughed just as hard as everyone else when I found out Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers wrote that fucking play “Matt + Ben” about two stoner partyboys who literally have fame fall into their laps. And I fucking loved Good Will Hunting. Yeah, now, we look back on it with disdain as a Robin Williams Beard Film and the hard AH accents Damon and Affleck would affect until the Sox won the series. But at the time, I adored it, and to some extent I still do.

Affleck goes on to marry the “Alias” chick and preggo her right out of a career. Then he wants to be a director. Of what, of course, a fucking movie set in Boston. This motherfucker can’t seem to aim a camera without Faneuil Hall being in the fucking background. Bad enough, he has to try to make baby bro into some kind of serious actor. And goddamn it, he does, on both counts. Turns out Affleck can write, can act, can direct, and he seems like a genuinely nice fucking guy who’d do shit for his friends and still has a sense of humor and humility. SON OF A BITCH!

Now he thinks he’s a fucking blogger. The Daily Beast had Affleck write up his top eleven heist films, supposedly what had the biggest influence on The Town. And the fucking list is goddamn good. He gets into more detail at the Daily Beast and it’s worth a gander to see how breaks down his choices.

11. Point Break
10. Snatch
9. Reservoir Dogs
8. The Killing
7. The Usual Suspects
6. The Bank Job
5. Ocean’s Eleven
4. Inception
3. Heat
2. Rififi
1. The Friends of Eddie Coyle

That’s a nice list. He knows what he’s talking about. It’s esoteric and original. I was afraid when he did it, he’d leave off some classics, but he likes that shit for the same reason we all do. Your film career, if you write or direct, is basically broken up into two spheres: before you saw Rififi and after. Classics, modern, popular: it shames me and fills me with woe. Particularly, I adore the fact that Point Break had as much influence on his flick as Eddie Coyle. And when you watch The Town, you can see all of what he’s saying there.

Great. Is there nothing Affleck can’t do?










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Comments

Yeah, now, we look back on it with disdain

We do?

Posted by: Todd at January 6, 2011 9:33 AM

I kinda like that people kinda like him again.

Everyone has a J.Lo phase.

Posted by: Natalia at January 6, 2011 9:37 AM

Is there nothing Affleck can’t do?

Make Daredevil a hit?

Posted by: mswas at January 6, 2011 9:40 AM

people will still dislike him for JLo, but even then...he was banging JLo. he may still come out ahead on that one.

and screw your disdain for good will hunting.

Posted by: Sinnh at January 6, 2011 9:42 AM

Well he couldn't pull off that fake engagement to Jennifer Lopez just to bring PR to his movie. Pretty much everyone fell around the floor laughing when that was announced. I'm glad about it though because I'm sure every time he and the wife have any kind of argument about who is right about, let's say, how to do the laundry, all she has to do is look at him and say "Gigli" and she wins hands down.

Posted by: PaddyDog at January 6, 2011 9:44 AM

I second everything Prisco just said, except for that stuff about Rififi since I haven't seen it and will not endorse the high-falutin' beliefs of others just to avoid sounding like a country bumpkin in this gladitorial arena of cinematical one-upsmanship.

Posted by: Kballs at January 6, 2011 9:45 AM

But...between Good Will Hunting and marrying the Alias chick there was Armageddon and Pearl Harbor. And Paycheck. And Daredevil.

I might leave "act" off the list of things he can credibly do.

Posted by: nosio at January 6, 2011 9:45 AM

Haha, mswas, I should've refreshed before I posted. Good lord that movie was terrible.

Posted by: nosio at January 6, 2011 9:47 AM

C'mon he banged J-lo when she was at her highest bangability. The rat faced guy that is banging her now is the sad one.

Posted by: logan at January 6, 2011 9:47 AM

This is my favorite part of that article:

It was magnificent. I remember Jon Hamm and I were on the set of The Town, in that scene where Jon’s talking to Blake Lively at the bar, and Jon’s like, “Oh, that’s just like that scene in The Usual Suspects, isn’t that incredible?” I’m like, “Yeah, it’s amazing.” And Blake’s like, “What? What movie?” I was like, “The Usual Suspects!” And then I realized that Blake was 5. And that depressed me.

Posted by: The Other Agent Johnson at January 6, 2011 9:53 AM

Used to hate him, saw Gone Baby Gone, then I liked him. Still like him. But more behind the camera than in front of it.

He's made some poor - very poor - career choices in the past, but it looks like he's trying to leave that behind and redeem himself, and as much I once would've wanted to use a pool cue to rage fuck that chin vagina of his, all I feel inclined to do now is say: good luck to him.

Posted by: zeke the pig at January 6, 2011 9:55 AM

I adore Ben, but I’m with the others on his acting abilities. Just last weekend I watched Jersey Girl (man, I miss George Carlin!) and my god, I had to turn away from the screen because there was a moment where I was too embarrassed to look at Ben's fake crying. It hurt my soul. He’s cute, he can write, he can direct, but the acting? There are too many examples of his failures in this department.

Posted by: Scully at January 6, 2011 9:57 AM

Rififi is one of the most influential films you've probably never seen, but the heist movies of the last 55 years owe it a debt of gratitude.

That 30 minute silent break-in sequence is audacious and outstanding.

Posted by: Simon at January 6, 2011 10:14 AM

'man, I miss George Carlin!'

Posted by: Scully at January 6, 2011 9:57 AM

------------------------

I'd like to add another 500 exclamation marks to that to fully express my agreement with that statement.

Posted by: zeke the pig at January 6, 2011 10:19 AM

I've never heard of Rififi. I rarely disagree with Prisco* though so I think I'm going to have to find out more about it.

*Except I've never had any disdain for Good Will Hunting.

Posted by: Paultera at January 6, 2011 10:27 AM

His article was a lot of fun. It actually put me in a really good mood, and I'm not even going to say anything snarky now.

Thanks for posting this, Prisco. I love Affleck, so this was a good way to start the day.

Posted by: superasente at January 6, 2011 10:32 AM

C'mon he banged J-lo when she was at her highest bangability.

Posted by: logan at January 6, 2011 9:47 AM

Anyone would have. I know I would have. And you can tell from his pics at the time that he HATED getting into that whole "Bennifer" mess - never saw a man so miserable banging a movie star.
~~~

Posted by: Meander at January 6, 2011 10:35 AM

You and me both, Scully. You and me both.

My father introduced me to Carlin and Richard Pryor at a fairly young age. Can you tell?

Posted by: Kballs at January 6, 2011 10:39 AM

My father introduced me to Carlin and Richard Pryor at a fairly young age. Can you tell?


Posted by: Kballs at January 6, 2011 10:39 AM

----------

Your father was a saint.

Posted by: zeke the pig at January 6, 2011 10:44 AM

I never fully got the backlash against Ben Affleck, like you said he's a nice, talented guy but everyone sort of decided to hate him while he went on being this nice, talented guy.

YES, whole he was with J-Lo...I guess people sort of assumed that her raging asshattery must be linked to him somehow but he never stopped being just...just a nice dude.


He...he can MAYBE act when he just..sort of plays brash tough guys. He was amazing in GWH playing a brash tough guy. Just cast him as brash tough guys.

Or let him just make lots of films starring Casey who was ALWAYS the more interesting brother any way, even though Ben is great! He's a nice guy!

Posted by: Nadine at January 6, 2011 10:45 AM

"... and as much I once would've wanted to use a pool cue to rage fuck that chin vagina of his"

--Posted by: zeke the pig at January 6, 2011 9:55 AM

sweet. jesus. coffee through nose.

Posted by: capnrza at January 6, 2011 11:29 AM

Daredevil was a hit just not to the stupid. Just like "Superman Returns" made 400 million world-wide the studio didn't consider that a hit.

Posted by: The Minn at January 6, 2011 1:05 PM

I said 'stupid' instead of 'studio', ha ha..aren't they one in the same, though?

Posted by: The Minn at January 6, 2011 1:06 PM

Let us not forget his dead-on performance as the high school bully in Dazed and Confused. The fit he pitches after getting the paint poured on him is classic...

Posted by: GreenMyEyes at January 6, 2011 1:12 PM

Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms yo.

Posted by: TL at January 6, 2011 1:48 PM

It's nice when you guys let Lewis Black write one every now and again. America really is learning to respect its elders.

Posted by: raddish at January 6, 2011 1:59 PM

I'm kinda disappointed not to see The Sting in there, but other than that, solid. I've always had a place in my heart for Affleck because of his relationship with Kevin Smith. And really, he did pretty great stuff in the 90s. It was only when he tried his hand at moviestardom that shit went terribly awry.

Posted by: ChristianH at January 6, 2011 2:37 PM

Funnily enough, I love Affleck despite his relationship with Kevin Smith. I think Affleck is a mensch. And I love that he's smart but not an asshole about it like, say, Goopy Paltrow. Which, by the way, how mismatched were those two?

Posted by: Az at January 6, 2011 3:29 PM

And then sometimes you go and make Reindeer Games.

Posted by: klingonfree at January 6, 2011 4:38 PM

And then sometimes you go and make Reindeer Games.

Posted by: klingonfree at January 6, 2011 4:38 PM

I can't believe how long it took someone to mention that little stinker. Still, I like him, and South Park did a really funny episode on J. Lo and Ben.

Posted by: Uriah Creep at January 6, 2011 10:10 PM

@nosio,

But after that he made Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back mocking all those choices, so that's pretty cool (as miley would say).

Posted by: John G. at January 6, 2011 11:21 PM

I think he's a so-so actor but I'll be damned if his performance of O'Bannion in Dazed and Confused isn't one of the best of all time.

I'm serious.

Posted by: Craig at January 6, 2011 11:53 PM