Ed Ranks Movies whe--HOLY SHIT, MATT DAMON IS IN THIS?

Sometimes you're watching a movie and you say to yourself, "HOLY SHIT, MATT DAMON IS IN THIS?"  Because you didn't even know Matt Damon was supposed to be in this... and yet there he is!

Why is this? Well, sometimes this is because it's a film from before 1997/1998ish (when Damon got really famous after Good Will Hunting). So you saw the film a long time ago and now, after seeing it again, you are stunned by the fact that Damon was in it the whole time.  But a lot of times, even after Matt Damon got really famous, he just unexpectedly cameos in films.

Note that this ranking goes by how likely it is you will be surprised to see Matt Damon in this film. Not by the quality of the film itself. I have 11 ranked here because I thought it was 10 but then I miscounted. Math was never my strong point.

11. Chasing Amy (Damon as Executive #2)  - Chasing Amy came out in April 1997, about eight months before the release of Good Will Hunting and about a year before the latter film gave Damon an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and made him a household name.  If you saw Chasing Amy when it came out in 1997, chances are you had no idea who the hell Matt Damon was (unless you were either Matt Damon's mother or Ben Affleck).  But now in hindsight and after years of Kevin Smith films that feature Affleck and Damon in either leading or cameo roles -- chances are you will not be at all surprised that Damon is in this. Maybe just a tiny bit surprised with a reaction of, "Oh, that makes sense."

Who was he? Oh. Private Ryan.

10. Saving Private Ryan (Damon as Private Ryan) - Damon had JUST become famous and won his Academy Award a few months before Saving Private Ryan came out in 1998. Not everybody watches the Academy Awards or cares about artsy Miramax dramas about the relationship between a self-taught South Boston genius janitor and a psychology professor. Given that, Damon was relatively famous when this film came out, but not SUPER famous. When I saw Saving Private Ryan, I had no idea who Matt Damon was. So years later when I saw it again, I was like, "HOLY SHIT, MATT DAMON IS PRIVATE RYAN?!"  I expect some people had this reaction for a number of years.  It's easy to forget he's in it because Private Ryan doesn't even show up in the film until pretty late. But generally, now it's pretty well known that Matt Damon is Private Ryan. You're far more likely to have your Holy Shit! moment when watching this film when you realize that the rest of the cast included other not-quite-that-famous-yet people like Vin Diesel, Paul Giamatti, Bryan Cranston, and Nathan Fillion.

9. School Ties (Damon as Charlie Dillon) - When this 1992 film came out, nobody who saw it knew who Matt Damon was. If those same people saw it years later they were probably like, "HOLY SHIT, MATT DAMON IS IN  THIS?"  And that's the whole point of this list, isn't it?  I'll rank this one fairly low though because 1) Who cares about School Ties? and 2) Ben Affleck is in this, so if you remember or knew that, it great;y reduces the likelihood that you'd be surprised by Matt Damon being in it too.

8.  Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (Damon as Bachelor Matt) - Remember this 2002 comedy about gameshow host/producer/songwriter/spy Chuck Barris? Not really? Well, we'll carry on anyway.  In case you didn't know, Barris hosted (among other things such as Gong), The Dating Game. Not surprisingly, there is a scene in this movie featuring The Dating Game. Matt Damon showed up in that scene, playing "Bachelor Matt" (creative, right?).  I suppose it is indeed surprising that Matt Damon had a cameo in this, but not ULTRA surprising considering that this film was the directoral debut of George Clooney, who had co-starred with Damon in Ocean's Eleven the year before.

7. Che  (Damon as Father Schwarz) - What the hell is Matt Damon doing in this 2008 biopic about Ernesto "Che" Guevara, starring in a cameo role as a Spanish-speaking German priest? Nobody knows.  You should be pretty surprised when you see his ass pop up.

6. Mystic Pizza (Damon as Steamer) - Matt Damon was 17 when he had a smallish role (his film debut) in this Julia Roberts film. Note that this was before Roberts was in Pretty Woman or Steel Magnolias, so people barely knew who the hell she was. She didn't even get top billing.  The film wasn't that big when it came out, and only generated a cult following later. For that reason, chances are fairly good that if you see this film you'll be like "HOLY SHIT, BABY MATT DAMON IS IN THIS?"

5. Courage Under Fire  (Damon as Specialist Ilario) -  OH SHIT! Specialist Ilario is Matt Damon? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THAT?! Oh right, because nobody knew who the hell Matt Damon was when this movie came out.

4. Finding Forrester (Damon as Sanderson) - He's the man now, dawg. Why the hell does this movie end with Matt Damon randomly showing up a year after the events of the movie to announce to Rob Brown that Sean Connery has died of cancer for no particular reason? Is Matt Damon contractually obliged to make odd, jarring cameos?

Yes. THIS is a Matt Damon film.

3. EuroTrip (Damon as Donny) - An R-Rated, low budget, raunchy teen sex comedy about that girl who everyone hated on Buffy the Vampire Slayer going to Europe. Let me point out by this time in Matt Damon's career he has already won an Academy Award for Good Will Hunting, and was an A-List action movie superstar through Jason Bourne films. There was absolutely no reason Matt Damon needed to, or should have, showed up in a cameo role in an R-Rated, low budget, rauncy teen sex comedy about that girl who everyone hated on Buffy the Vampire Slayer going to Europe. And yet this happened.

2. Interstellar - (Damon as Dr. Mann) - Big budget sci-fi epic by Chris Nolan. Nolan was at the top of his game when this film came out after the Batman Trilogy, Inception, and other flicks. Everyone knew this movie was going to be big and had a HUGE cast.  Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow, Michael Caine, and so on. Occasionally throughout the film they reference this guy name Dr. Mann. Then finally Dr. Mann shows up and HOLY SHIT, MATT DAMON IS IN THIS?!?!?!  Anbd not only is it They had ads for this all over TV. Everyone knew who was going to be in it. But they kept the Damon part a secret and he just randomly shows up. Admittedly maybe we should have guessed since there was an Affleck in this film... but it was Rapey Casey Affleck, not Molestey Ben.

1. Thor: Ragnarok (Damon as Loki Actor) - Oh, spoiler alert, by the way. It's been a month. Now this one is your fault is some surprise was ruined for you.