By ‘Matt Lewis & The News’ guest blogger Jason Mattera
Turns out that both the haves and the have nots decided against dropping money on Matt Damon’s latest film, “Elysium,” which fell short of expectations with a mediocre $30.5 million at the box office this weekend.
Not that you can blame moviegoers either.
If they really wanted to watch a pep talk on the gloriousness of universal healthcare, open borders, and wealth redistribution, they don’t have to dig deep into their wallets for tickets and overpriced popcorn.
An Obama press conference within the last five years will do the trick.
But there’s another reason I suspect why “Elysium” garnered so-so numbers, and that has to do with the star of the sci-fi movie itself, Matt Damon. Stomaching a film’s political undertones is one thing, but tolerating the smug hypocrisy of a celebrity is something entirely different.
And Matt Damon is serial hypocrite:
On capitalism, while he’s worth an estimated $65 million, he performs “The People Speak,” a Marxist ditty based off of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.
On the environment, he gave us “Promise Land” in an attempt to expose the alleged dangers of fracking (which don’t exist and is actually a jobs bonanza), only to remain attached to an industry that is the second largest polluter in Los Angeles. What, you didn’t think studio lots were powered by Al Gore speeches, did you?
On guns and violence, Matt Damon claims that he is so committed to peace-loving progressivism that he’s turned down violent roles, a statement made after starring in action packed orgies, including “The Departed,” “Saving Private Ryan,” and The Bourne Trilogy. (To be honest, I’m glad Damon’s a charlatan here. Imagine how lame movies would be without violence?)
And on education, as Damon fancies himself as a public school advocate and vocally criticizes the existence of charter schools, he’ll be sending his children to one of those expensive private schools in Los Angeles area.
I mean, crap, at this point it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that Damon’s secretly manning drone strikes as he publicly dumps on the President over the program’s proliferation. The dude’s a major league phony.
“Elysium’s” disappointing showing could very well be Damon’s obnoxious and duplicitous political lecturing finally catching up with him.
Come to think of it, there’s also a third reason why “Elysium” underperformed as well as other Hollywood “blockbusters” this summer. It may have something to do with the growing number of “Obamacare 29ers” – you know, the number of employees having their hours slashed below 30 to avoid the health-care law’s massive penalties.
So there is that.
Jason Mattera is the New York Times bestselling author of Hollywood Hypocrites a