Matt Damon: Netflix dumbs down movies for attention-impaired phone addicts

In Matt Damon’s new Netflix thriller, “The Rip,” a bunch of cops and crooks fight over a $20 million cash stash.

Making the movie required fighting for an even more precious commodity: the viewer’s ever-dwindling attention span.

‘It wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times.’

Appearing with long-time friend and co-star Ben Affleck on the “Joe Rogan Experience” last week, Damon revealed what his first collaboration with a streamer taught him about the new economics of the movie biz — and how it affects storytelling.

Dumbed down

Damon said that the “different level of attention” audiences are giving at home has started to affect how films are being made.

“Like, for instance, Netflix. The standard way to make an action movie that we learned was, you usually have three set pieces. One in the first act, one in the second, one in the third,” Damon began.

“You spend most of your money on that one in the third act. That’s your kind of finale. And now they’re like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay tuned in,'” he continued.

Furthermore, the filmmaker explained that the reason dialogue has become simple and repetitive, in many cases, is that people are splitting their attention.

“‘It wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching,'” Damon laughed, relaying notes he might receive from the platform.

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‘Casual’ vacancy

These types of notes and guidelines could really “infringe” on how writers are telling their stories, Damon stressed.

This theory of “casual viewing” was popularized and widely discussed in 2025, with outlet CBR calling it a style of filmmaking that is “overly descriptive, breaking basic rules of cinema and contributing to a dumbing down of the art.”

Affleck cited British crime drama “Adolescence” as a show that “didn’t do any of that s**t,” and that’s what made it “f**king great,” he added.

“There’s long shots of the back of their head. They get in the car, nobody says anything. … My feeling is just that it demonstrates that you don’t need to do any of that s**t,” Affleck said.

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Photo by Arturo Holmes/WireImage

Du cinéma au smartphone

Affleck’s clear position when it comes to filmmaking and technology throughout the episode was that there will always be an audience for quality films.

“It’s like supply and demand,” he said. “People want to look at their phone, they can look at TikTok, they’re going to do that. I think what you can do is make s**t the best you can. Make it really good.”

When it comes to making movies for mobile viewers, Damon joked that he likes to rile up directors that he works with by asking them if they are thinking about how their film will look on a cell phone.

“That’s a joke that I like to make with every director I work with. Like, when they’re really puzzling over a shot or really grinding out something, I go, ‘You know, it’s not going to look as good on the phone.’ … Everyone gets angry.”

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