Why Do You Think He Never Made It Like Affleck?

I'll preface this by saying that I was born in 1993, so I'm not familiar with primary sources around 90s fandom. But it interests me, as a fan of Chasing Amy, that Lee never made it big like Affleck. To my knowledge, Affleck wasn't a big star before Chasing Amy (not that the film was necessarily his big break) and Lee received more critical acclaim for Chasing Amy.

What it looks to me is that Lee was a lot more tied to Kevin Smith, whereas Affleck used Kevin Smith projects to make a name for himself but networked with other directors like Richard Linklater. Affleck also had a more clean-cut, boyish image to Lee which allowed him to take conventional leading man parts like Pearl Harbour and The Sum Of All Fears. Lee conversely seemed like a vestige of the 90s, being a skateboarder and playing the archetypal slacker on screen which meant that there weren't as many roles for him as he got older.

Let me know what you think. I'm aware of what you might think but still curious about your thoughts.