9 Years Later, Matt Damon's Strangest Sci-Fi Movie Finds a Second Life on Streaming

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Published Mar 2, 2026, 4:33 PM EST

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Some movies arrive with massive ambition and leave audiences scratching their heads. Years later, though? They hit streaming and suddenly feel… kind of fascinating. That’s exactly what’s happening with Downsizing, the 2017 sci-fi satire starring Matt Damon, which is now streaming on a brand new platform.

Directed by Alexander Payne, the film centers on a near-future solution to overpopulation: scientists discover how to shrink humans down to five inches tall, drastically reducing their environmental footprint and promising a life of relative luxury. Damon plays Paul Safranek, an ordinary guy who volunteers for the procedure hoping for a better life — only to discover that smaller doesn’t necessarily mean simpler.

Alongside Damon, the film features Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz, and scene-stealer Hong Chau, whose performance earned widespread critical praise and award nominations. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film sits at a 47% critics score. While some praised its inventive concept and moments of sharp social commentary, many critics felt the movie never quite landed its thematic punches or fully committed to a cohesive tone. That lukewarm reaction was reflected at the box office as well. Downsizing grossed around $55 million worldwide against a budget of between $68 million and $76 million.

Is 'Downsizing' Worth Watching?

Collider’s review stated that Downsizing is Alexander Payne stretching his usual “small man in a big world” theme into literal sci-fi territory — with mixed but often fascinating results. The review noted that while Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor pack the screenplay with big ideas, character development sometimes lags.

Downsizing is a film that is at its best when it’s forward thinking, but it feels very sterile with its human interactions because the world has been built so large it has very little time to define the tiny people outside of very broad strokes. The characters are thusly very old-fashioned in idealist vs. hedonist and the tone never fully settles. (I’d rather continue on the conveyer belt of ideas and worlds rather than spend much time with most of the characters.) The mish-mash of Downsizing’s world with its method of storytelling doesn’t work entirely, but there are moments of fabulous satire.

Downsizing is streaming now on Paramount+.