Chicagoist Loves Matt & Ben

By Margaret Lyons in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 16, 2004 12:39PM

Chicagoist scored some early tickets to Matt & Ben, and even though we were in the worst seat in an itty bitty, ice cold theater, we still couldn’t have had a better time. The play is sharply funny, impeccably well written, and wonderfully acted. High fives all around, Matt & Ben.

To enjoy the show as much as we did, though, you’ll have to grant the premise. And that’s might be a little challenging. Matt and Ben are that Matt and Ben—Damon and Affleck—and it’s 1995. They’re working on an adaptation of The Catcher in the Rye, which is going nowhere, when all of a sudden, a completed screenplay of Good Will Hunting falls from the ceiling. Also, Matt and Ben are both played by women. Anyway, that’s the premise, and you’d be surprised how easily it goes down.

Jennifer Morris and Quincy Tyler Bernstine, as Matt and Ben respectively, are both totally believable as the familiar pair, mostly because they’re really nothing like them. It’s not just that they’re women, or that Bernstine is black, but also that they’re not, thank god, doing impersonations or impressions or even adaptations. We all already know what Matt and Ben are like, maybe to an embarrassingly specific degree. By fully altering the elements of the duo that we’re all familiar with, the story and actors are able to focus on the more interesting and subtle aspects of the relationship—more broadly, any relationship—we probably never think about: crippling jealousy, intense loyalty, how difficult it can be to compete against someone you love. Matt is insanely jealous of Ben’s popularity and easy charm and comforts himself by thinking he is smarter and more talented, which, at least in the play, he is. Ben, portrayed here as vaguely stupid if morally superior, is the more determined but somewhat less capable of the pair, who cares deeply for Matt but is exhausted by his arrogance.

The actresses demonstrate a surprising honesty and believability in their roles, which is crucial in such a surreal setting, and their chemistry with each other is undeniably strong. Bernstein’s Ben is the more likable and interesting, mostly because the Ben role is just more complex—smart guy burdened by dumb friend is pretty tired at this point. Bernstein gets to play the funnier lines of the show, and she deserves credit for hamming it up just enough in such a small theater. Played larger and more exaggerated, Ben would seem like a caricature rather than just a funny, goofy guy; played smaller, he’d never come to life enough to distinguish himself from his blonder counterpart.

Chicagoist went to see the show with some of our best friends, and in that context the play was maybe meaningful in a way that an hour-long one-act about Ben Affleck and Matt Damon probably has no right to be. Being a best friend is a uniquely powerful position, filled not only with love and support but also with frustration and anguish. M&B uses this relationship as the most concrete force of reality in an abstract scenario of fantasy, and in doing so highlights one of the important roles of having a best friend: his ability to punch you in the face when you’re being an asshole.

Matt & Ben opens tonight and runs through September 12 at the Theater Building at 1225 West Belmont. Tickets are $25, and it’s general admission, so it’s worth getting there a little early. Bring a sweatshirt, too.