Playwright: Mindy Kaling, Brenda Withers
At: Jam Theatricals at the Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont
Phone: (773) 327-5252; $25
Runs through: Sept. 12
You could find worse ways to spend an hour than Matt & Ben, arriving in Chicago after a successful off-Broadway run, where it played for 10 months in the East Village. I think, though, you could find better ways. It's been two days since I witnessed the phenomenon known as Matt & Ben, and I'm still ambivalent about it.
On the plus side, this send-up of the early days of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck is extremely clever, starting off with a bang when the fully realized script for Good Will Hunting literally drops from above, bearing out the question of how two schmos like Damon and Affleck managed to churn out such a solid commercial script, albeit one heavy on the schmaltz. Another plus is the on-target, energetic, and blisteringly funny performances of Quincy Tyler Bernstein (as Affleck, Gwyneth Paltrow and Minnie Driver … hilarious work on the latter, as her accent roams all over the globe) and Jennifer Morris (as Damon and, in a strange and astute characterization, J.D. Salinger, whose Catcher in the Rye the boys were trying to adapt before Good Will Hunting dropped into their laps). The pair replaced Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers, who created the show and starred in its NYC run. I can't see how the originators could have possibly done it any better. These gals (and that's the gimmick here: having women play the two guys, with no resemblance whatsoever to the actual men) are gifted with flawless comic timing and superb character inhabitation skills. The script (and David Warren's direction) keeps the piece moving forward deftly and at a good pace. Even though the show is only an hour, it could seem much longer in less talented hands.
And yet, I can't really wholeheartedly endorse this comic outing. Although there are plenty of laughs (especially at the stud/doofus Affleck) and the material is topical, Matt & Ben to me seems more like an extended sketch. It could probably be trimmed substantially and work as well, if not better. And its cleverness is not, to my mind, so clever that it deserves this stand-alone mounting. We see just as good stuff on the Second City Stage, or even Mad TV, for that matter.
Because of its gimmick of having women play two current superstars who may or may not be entitled to their fame, Matt & Ben will probably draw crowds. If you want to be part of the crowd, I don't think you'll come away feeling cheated, but you may come away, as I did, feeling like you could have spent this hour of your life in a better way, say, down the street at Berlin, enjoying a cocktail or two.