10 Ways 2017 Movies Definitely Made Us Dumber

For some unknown reason in 2017 the film industry unofficially elected Matt Damon as its ambassador for cinematic social commentary. Taking roles in the George Clooney directed, Coen Brothers co-penned black comedy Suburbicon and Alexander Payne’s sci-fi comedy drama Downsizing last year Damon bravely tackled such timely and important issues as racism, white privilege, global warming, late capitalism and mass consumerism.

The only problem is that neither Suburbicon nor Downsizing are very good movies and their attempts at social commentary get lost through their focus on the antics of Damon’s characters.

In Suburbicon, we see a black family move into an all-white suburban neighbourhood and their very presence spark white riots – a misguided uproar that masks the real monster of suburbia, Matt Damon’s murderous family man. It’s a seeming satire of white privilege but in execution the plight of the black family plays second fiddle to Damon’s Coen-esque criminal capers.

Similarly over in Downsizing, a five-inch-tall Matt Damon has miniaturised himself to cut down on his carbon footprint and make his dollars go further but Payne’s attempts at parodying capitalism and consumption are second banana to the spiritual journey of Damon’s character.

It seems that Matt Damon’s star power is so great that it eclipses such lesser issues as America’s racism problem, capitalist inequality and global warming because all we really got from Suburbicon and Downsizing is that while social and political issues are important they’re not as important as how they affect Matt Damon.