199. Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Director: Gus Van Sant

Starring: Matt Damon

Robin Williams

Ben Affleck

Stellan Skarsgard

Minnie Driver

IMDb Rating: 8

My Rating: 8.5

"I just slid my ticket across the table and I said,"Sorry guys, I gotta see about a girl."

Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is a closeted genius who works at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a janitor. A professor at MIT Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) posts a problem on the hallway board for his students to hopefully solve by the end of the semester. The next day while at a reunion of his classmates, Professor Lambeau is approached by a few of his students who are interested in who solved the problem. The next morning in class a large number of students has arrived to find out who might have solved the problem. No member of the student body steps forward, which leaves Professor Lambeau to post another more difficult problem. While walking down the hallway a while later, Professor Lambeau catches Will writing on the board, and attempts to chase him down. It turns out, that Will has been the one solving the problems all along.

Baffled at his identity, Professor Lambeau looks for Will and ends up bailing him out of jail for assault. Will is released on the condition that he meet once a week with Professor Lambeau and also seek conculing from a therapist. Will agrees and begins to torture therapist after therapist. It isn't until Will meets Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) that the walls begin to come down. Soon Sean starts to really breakthrough with Will, who soon strikes up a relationship with a Harvard student named Skylar (Minnie Driver). The only problem being that she is soon be moving to California. With job offers now coming, Will must make the ultimate decision about his future, but will it cost him his identity?

Good Will Hunting is your classic "underdog" storyline with an intellectual twist. Where the usual "underdog" films (i.e. Rudy or Remember the Titans) seem to divulge into sappy and cliche, this film paved a road of it's own due much in part to it's excellent writing. The screenplay was written by two young Boston natives, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, which proved to be their tickets to fame. They won the Academy Award for their work, which was justly due. Their raw look at the often forgotten about inner city side of Boston rang true with myself, as well as audiences world wide. What I like most about the writing is how it lends to the authenticity of the character of Will. Here you have this genius, but he talks just like an inner city thug, which he is as well. The three dimensions of Will are also written into the three main characters that surround him. We have his genius in Professor Lambeau, his troubled youth found in his best friend Sullivan, and his life long absence of love which can be redeemed in Skylar. Without giving away the ending, the film concludes in the way that is not only most logical, but also truest to the human spirit. The screenplay of Good Will Hunting lends greatly to it's success and, helps it to become one of the defining and most original films of it's genre.

The comedian taking the dramatic turn can prove to be rather deadly. Not many actors have the ability to transition between drama and comedy like Robin Williams. His performance in this film, all be it a short one, far outshines the rest. Keeping with our underdog theme, Williams plays the classic mentor character brilliantly. Some might draw comparisons to his character in Dead Poet's Society, and call the performances similar. I do not believe that is a good comparison. His perfectly timed and reserved demeanor makes his moments of intensity that much more effective. His scenes along side Damon can only be described as on screen magic. Knowing the star power of both now, it's neat to look back at the rising of a new star, and the true transition of another.

It's hard to not like a film like Good Will Hunting. The character of Will is so layered, that everyone should find a reason to root for his success. Where Damon and the rest of the cast give solid performances, it is Robin Williams portrayal of Sean Maguire that truly outshines the rest. Also the writing of Damon and Affleck hits with a sense of realism and sencerity that is rarely found in films of it's type. I remember in high school watching this film many times and really never getting too far past Will and his buddies. This time I was much more focused on the relationship between Will and Sean. True mentors in life are hard to come by. If you are fortunate enough, these people will shape your life. On a personal note, my life (a tad different from Will's) would not have been the same without my mentor James Brendlinger. He opened my eyes to a aspect of film, music, literature, and theater that I never knew. It is film's like Good Will Hunting that remind us of the impact these people can have on us.