Review of Good Will Hunting (1997) by Chris M — 05 Aug 2013

One of the most important things a person should know is that everyone is different and we all have our own life story. Sometimes, a person with certain skills and talents comes from the last place we think we'd find them. In the case of the main title character in Gus Van Sant's 1997 drama Good Will Hunting, Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is a gifted mathematician even though he's only a janitor at MIT. Although a mathematics teacher (Stellan Skarsgard) on campus recognizes his impressive skills, Will doesn't seem to be interested in pursuing a future as a student and would rather hang out with his pals (Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Cole Hauser) instead.

This all changes however when he gets into a fight with someone who bullied him as a kid and faces the possibility of going to jail as a result of his actions. When the teacher gets wind of this incident, he offers to bail Will out under two conditions: 1) he studies mathematics under his supervision, and 2) he sees a therapist regularly. Although Will agrees to this deal, he isn't thrilled with the idea of seeing a therapist and doesn't take his first few therapists seriously.

But when the teacher is able to hire his former college roommate (Robin Williams) to give a shot at getting through to Will, Will eventually starts to open up about his past and his current relationship with a British student (Minnie Driver) at MIT. Through their therapy sessions, they start to learn more about one another and realize that they both share important things in common.

Good Will Hunting is an inspiring, if not particularly surprising, tale about learning to plan for the road ahead and figuring out where you want to go in life with committed performances from the entire cast, and a script by co-stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with a handful of enjoyable moments. Good Will Hunting is also a well crafted character study about a young man who has the potential as proved through his math skills, but just doesn't have the direction towards where he wants to go in life. In a way, all the people that Will comes across are all there to help him. Between his girlfriend, his friends, the therapist and the teacher, they all shape him in more ways than one.

The first two-thirds of the film are very well done and naturally play out with the chemistry between Damon and Driver as well as the relationships Damon has with everybody. Then comes the last third of the movie which relies too heavily on the formula most other movies follow, with the love interest possibly leaving town and the main character experiencing some sort of downfall in which everyone in the audience then knows what will happen next and how everything will be resolved in the end.

I've always disliked it when a film resorts to very clichéd plot devices like this since it takes away the natural authenticity the film had before that point, and since it feels too safe to the point where even the slightest bit of creativity is discouraged due to an excessive fear of failure on the filmmaker's part. In particular, it doesn't work in the last third of this movie, since they don't give us a good enough reason why these events need to happen in the first place, it just feels really forced and heavy-handed.

Other than that "normal" plot flaw with the film's last third and a few brief slow spots, I liked what Good Will Hunting had to offer. I thought its message regarding the importance of figuring out your life goals and dreams is a good moral to reinforce to teenagers and young adults. Although there is a generous amount of profanity in the film, the dialogue and the situations the characters undergo were well thought through by writers/stars Damon and Affleck.

Even despite its predictability, the story that was being told had a certain originality to it and the characters were fairly engaging enough to make the drama in the story stimulating. As long as you don't expect too many surprises, with the exception of one or two, there's enough substance in Good Will Hunting that makes it worth checking out.