My dad loves Matt Damon. This is particularly noteworthy to me because he is a man who expresses little to no enthusiasm for contemporary movies or television. He enjoys things like Law and Order reruns and televised sports and playing Bejeweled while listening to country music. He doesn’t even say outright that he likes, I mean loves, Matt Damon, but any time Matt Damon shows up in a trailer for something, he will say “Hmm, that looks pretty good.”
I was recently at the movies with him and he saw the poster for Elysium and asked me what it was about. I don’t remember my dad ever asking me what a movie was about before in my life. Maybe The Informant.
It seems as though this is the predominant opinion toward Matt Damon by the general public. Few people will openly display their admiration for Damon the way they will for someone like Leo DiCaprio or Ryan Gosling or Jessica Chastain or Robert Downey Jr. And yet just about anyone you come across, when directly questioned on their feelings toward Matt Damon and his work, will agree: he is pretty awesome.
His movies have capitalized on this unspoken popularity, especially his seminal role as Jason Bourne, the instantly relatable and surprisingly unstoppable force of a hero that cemented Matt Damon as one of the coolest guys in show business.
Here are 6 of the reasons people love the hell out of Matt Damon even if they don’t consciously realize it.