Matt Damon’s 10 Best Movies, According to Rotten Tomatoes

An Oscar-nominated actor and producer, as well as an Oscar-winning screenwriter, Matt Damon has become one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces and most bankable stars. He’s gained fame for his roles in large-scale action movies and small-scale dramas alike. Becoming well-known for his support for an eclectic range of talent and his propensity to jump between various genres in various types of roles, from supporting characters to cameos.

For your reading pleasure, here is the ranking of his ten best movies according to their critical scores on aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. (These are feature-length movies in which Damon stars as a credited character.)

10 Chasing Amy (87%)

Kevin Smith’s highly unconventional romantic comedy follows Ben Affleck’s schlubby comic book artist as he falls for a young woman who he discovers to be a lesbian. It remains one of Smith’s most highly rated movies, just being beaten by Clerks on Rotten Tomatoes for the number one spot.

Damon only appears very briefly in the movie as a media Executive character, his cameo making perfect sense considering the presence of Affleck and Smith’s role as a producer on their film Good Will Hunting, released that same year. 

9 Ford v Ferrari (88%)

James Mangold’s upcoming racing movie chronicles the attempts of automotive legend Caroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles to finally lead Ford to victory over the rival Ferrari team at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race in France.

Damon plays Shelby and critics have already hailed it as a creative success, the Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus praising its “polished auto action” and “gripping human drama”. The movie premiered on August 30th at Telluride Film Festival and is set for a wide theatrical release on November 15th.

8 The Martian (91%)

Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s bestselling novel of the same name was a massive crowd pleaser and a refreshing change of tone for an increasingly dark and somber Scott. (The Martian would also become one of the prolific director’s most highly rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes as well.)

Damon plays the lead character, Mark Watney (an astronaut stranded on Mars after he’s presumed dead and left behind). Though he’s part of a large ensemble, Damon impresses with his ability to both carry most of the movie and keep the drama high without other actors to interact with.

7 The Departed (91%)

Martin Scorsese’s Boston-set crime epic finally won the director his belated Best Director Oscar and garnered huge praise for its talented cast. The Departed was an adaptation of the Hong Kong modern crime classic Infernal Affairs and, while not as highly rated as the original on the site, it satisfied a large percentage of critics and audiences.

Damon plays a corrupt police officer in the movie who’s pitted in a game of cat and mouse with Leonardo DiCaprio’s undercover mob infiltrator.

6 The Bourne Ultimatum (92%)

The highest-rated entry in the Bourne franchise remains the series’ crowning achievement for many fans. The threequel reteamed Damon’s unstoppable superspy with director Paul Greengrass from the previous installment, upping the scale and the action.

Still pursued by his former employers, everyone’s favorite amnesiac assassin decides to take the fight to them in this explosive finale to Damon’s original trilogy. After a hiatus, he would return to the franchise with Greengrass in 2016’s Jason Bourne.

5 Ponyo (92%)

Despite not even breaking into the top ten highest-rated films from Japanese animation legend Studio Ghibli, Ponyo still ranks above the vast majority of animated movies. The studio’s master director, Hayao Miyazaki, paints a vivid and original picture from a very, very loose adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

In the English-language dub of the movie, Damon appears in a small supporting role as the loving, but often absent, father of the main character and is seen working out at sea during the events of the story. 

4 Saving Private Ryan (93%)

Though only a part of a much bigger ensemble in Spielberg’s Oscar-winning war epic, it’s hard to forget Matt Damon’s character as his name is in the title.

Inspired by the story of the Niland brothers in World War II, the movie sees Tom Hanks lead a group of soldiers to find the titular Ryan in Nazi-occupied France and transport him to safety after the deaths of his brothers.

3 Behind the Candelabra (95%)

Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace biopic received huge critical acclaim for its brutally honest look inside the life of one of America’s most famously closeted performers. It was released on HBO in the US but received a theatrical run in the UK, thus straddling both TV awards and film awards shows. (It won numerous Emmys and several Golden Globes.)

Damon plays Scott Thorson, upon whose memoir the screenplay is based, and the movie follows his difficult romantic relationship with Liberace (played by Michael Douglas, who would win both a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy for his portrayal of the flamboyant pianist with Damon nominated alongside him in both categories).

2 True Grit (96%)

The Coen Brothers’ adaptation of Charles Portis’ popular Western novel of the same name proved to be one of the left-field directing duo’s most mainstream efforts without sacrificing any of their trademark quirks. Though nominated in nine categories, it was not as Oscar-winning as the original 1969 adaptation starring John Wayne, but the Coens’ version still ranks higher on Rotten Tomatoes.

Damon plays a Texas ranger named LaBoeuf (pronounced “LaBeef”) and joins Hailee Steinfeld’s determined young girl and Jeff Bridge’s grizzled old lawman as they pursue Josh Brolin’s fugitive across the American West.

1 Good Will Hunting (97%)

The movie that really made Damon a star and won him his Oscar for screenwriting alongside his longtime cohort Ben Affleck. Good Will Hunting is a unique drama about an uncommonly gifted working-class man from Boston who seems afraid to use his intelligence to make a better life for himself.

Full of hugely memorable quotes and scenes, the movie is most remembered for its other Oscar-winning aspect – the supporting performance of the late great Robin Williams. (Damon was also nominated for Best Actor that year, along with a host of other major nominations for the movie, but lost to Jack Nicholson for As Good as it Gets.)

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