As if Tom Brady’s $50 million BetMGM Super Bowl commercial and calling next year’s Big Game as a FOX broadcaster weren’t enough for his post-playing career, he double dipped on the Super Bowl LVIII ad front by teaming up with longtime allies Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
This Dunkin’ commercial has obvious appeal for the Affleck-Damon alliance alone. They broke out in Hollywood together as co-stars and Oscar-winning screenwriters in Good Will Hunting and have collaborated multiple times since. Memes are scattered across every corner of the Internet when it comes to Affleck carrying Dunkin’ Donuts orders as if his life depends upon hauling a $50+ delivery in one trip. Amazing stuff.
…All those appealing factors acknowledged, nothing could’ve prepared me for how great this was:
Jack Harlow is at the beginning. Whatever. He had a bafflingly bad halftime show at Thanksgiving in Detroit. Don’t know his music. Guess he’s famous. But like…we’re talking about Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Tom Brady and Affleck’s wife, Jennifer Lopez, banding together in the name of Dunkin’ for the freaking Super Bowl.
As you might expect, there is a callback to Good Will Hunting, where Damon puts a spin on one of the iconic lines. Instead of the punchline being “apples”, it’s “How do you like them…donuts.” Damon sheepishly apologizes for even uttering the words, and kicks off his appearance in the ad by saying, “Sometimes it’s really hard to be your friend” to Affleck.
The whole commercial revolves around a musical passion/side project Affleck is working on called “The DunKings”, where he’s the front man of a Boston-area hip-hop group — and Tom Brady is playing the keys…? How is this real? It looks like they’re auditioning to be on J-Lo’s album? She doesn’t seem interested in giving Affleck the gig based on preferential treatment, that’s for sure!
Brady hangs back with J-Lo to finish the ad off, as Damon and Affleck wander off, the former still humiliated by participating; the latter telling him to look at the silver lining of having a drink named after them. I guess we’re getting a Damon-Affleck Dunkin’ drink of some sort in the near future? Unclear when that’ll be, or what it’ll be called, but I’m sure it’ll be a huge hit. Probably a massive best-seller in the Boston area in particular.
I’ll always respect how Ben Affleck doesn’t take himself too seriously and is always willing to take big swings and risks. They don’t all work out. This Dunkin’ ad sure did. Hysterical. Totally landed. Best commercial of Super Bowl LVIII. OK, it’s close if you count the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer. But folks on Twitter — and Dane Cook — are loving this Dunkin’ commercial.
