The Best and Worst of Ben Affleck

The "Best and Worst" series profiles the best and worst work of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week I take a look at the filmography of "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" star Ben Affleck.

Films Starring Ben Affleck that I've seen:
Mallrats
Chasing Amy
Good Will Hunting 
Armageddon 
Dogma
Pearl Harbor
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 
Daredevil
Surviving Christmas
Smokin' Aces
State of Play
Extract 
The Town
Argo 
Runner Runner
Gone Girl

Best Performance: Gone Girl (2014)
Affleck has been on a roll on both sides of the camera since he rejuvenated his career with 2007's Gone Baby Gone. While Affleck has turned in a number of excellent performances of late, his work in Gone Girl is his clear defining moment as an actor. Affleck brings the perfect amount of smugness and emotional indifference to the role of Nick Dunne, a shady man who becomes the primary suspect for the murder of his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) following her mysterious disappearance on the date of their fifth wedding anniversary.    

Worst Performance: Armageddon (1998)
After his breakout performance in Good Will Hunting, Affleck's career hit a wall for nearly a decade. He starred almost exclusively in god awful movies and any bit of the acting talent he showed in Good Will Hunting appeared to be a fluke. His lowest moment came in Michael Bay's dim-witted sci-fi action blockbuster/high-budget soap opera Armageddon- his first major role following Good Will Hunting. Affleck has all of the charisma of a vacuum cleaner as he shoots off non-stop idiotic dialogue and shares no shortage of awkward, faux-sentimental scenes with his on-screen wife, played an equally wooden Liv Tyler.  

Best Film: Good Will Hunting (1997)
Being from the Boston-area and having a soft spot for coming-of-age stories, I'm pretty much obligated to love this movie. Between the strength of the acting, likability of the characters and poignancy of its central messages of dealing with grief and facing your fears, Good Will Hunting hits all the right notes for the genre. It may not be the most complex or thought-provoking film, but it's without question one of the most touching and endlessly rewatchable films I've ever seen.

Worst Film: Pearl Harbor (2001)
You won't find too many films from the past 15 years that are more widely panned than Pearl Harbor and in my eyes, every ounce of the public disdain for this film is justified. Michael Bay turned one of the most traumatic events in United States history into a ridiculous corny, overlong and poorly-acted melodrama that focuses more on a moronic love triangle between Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale's characters than the actual bombing of Pearl Harbor. To this day, I remain genuinely surprised that the people who weren't steady Hollywood fixtures when this was released (Bay, Beckinsale, Hartnett and Jennifer Garner) were able to find work again after starring in this grand-scale debacle.    

 Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next week, I'll take a look at the best and worst work of "Miles Ahead" star Don Cheadle.