Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's The Rip proves the upsides and downsides of using real-life Hollywood friends

It may come as a shock to learn that, despite playing the "it’s for work" card, I occasionally lose control of the TV remote, which is how I ended up sitting through The Rip, a heist-based, gun-heavy, F-bomb-flooded thriller that I will describe, without apology, as "probably a film for boys".

On the plus side, it starred – nay, was almost rescued by – Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and when I wasn't watching another shootout through my eyelids, it got me thinking about them and how we feel when film-star friends appear together on-screen.

It’s almost 30 years since this golden pair arrived in our lives. The story of how two longtime friends co-wrote Good Will Hunting, defying all their Hollywood doubters and going on to score box-office millions and an Oscar each for best screenplay, has become as rich in mythology and inspiration as the film itself.

The film’s most moving moment comes when Affleck's blue-collar loyal friend Chuckie tells Damon’s maths genius Will he's worth more than the life he’s settling for: "You’re my best friend. I call for you every day. The best part is when I knock on your door and I think maybe you won’t be there."

Cut to 2026, and The Rip proves that day has not yet come – the Affleck-Damon alliance still tight in life as on screen.

A similar challenge is posed by the George Clooney-Brad Pitt pairing in Wolfs. As in The Rip, the film sets two solitary operators in competition and seemingly reluctant comradeship. Except, of course, they’re played by two of the world’s most recognisable men, famous for being handsome, successful and, most pertinently, great friends ever since they dazzled together in Ocean’s Eleven.

Studios have long used the same trick to seduce audiences, repeatedly pairing equal and sort-of opposites like Paul Newman and Robert Redford, or channelling the unstoppable-force-meets-unmovable-object charisma of Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. We happily sit through hours of fictional rivalry and mistrust, even when we’ve seen the stars sharing a red-carpet joke or hanging out in a boat on Lake Como.

Does it matter? Well, it means we can’t fully immerse ourselves in the narrative. If it’s hard enough to believe in any screen character when the face belongs to George "grinning, gravelly" Clooney, it’s almost impossible when he’s squaring up to Brad Pitt. Their widely documented, endlessly photographed real-life friendship means we can never take on-screen conflict between them entirely seriously.

Nor are we meant to. We’re not really investing in the stories of The Rip’s competing cops or Wolfs’ mutually suspicious fixers. What we’re immersing ourselves in are these real-life bromantic backstories: Affleck and Damon, the former leaning on the latter through years of rehab; Pitt and Clooney, bonded by decades of practical jokes on film sets.

There’s nothing remotely reluctant about any of these partnerships. Anyone who’s worked on a film set will tell you about the long days of downtime between takes – and how much more bearable those hours are when spent playing cards and swapping stories with your besties.

The best moment in The Rip's five days running time (OK, just under two hours) is a quiet action-free scene shared by the two stars. "Great work today, man," says Damon. "You, too," says Affleck. Thirty years on, one still calls and the other’s still there.

Read more:

• The Rip ending explained: who was the traitor in the Netflix thriller?
• Is Netflix crime thriller The Rip based on a true story?

The Rip is streaming now on Netflix.

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