Yar, you be here: Good Will Hunting - Collector's Edition > Customer Reviews

Good Will Hunting - Collector's Edition Customer Reviews (28 - 30 of 65 Reviews)

The search for goodwill
I had a teacher who once said that the brightest students oftenweren't the ones getting A's. I think he would have liked "GoodWill Hunting", a movie about a young genius floundering away as a janitor at M.I.T.

Matt Damon plays the troubled kid, Will Hunting and Ben Afflect ("Chasing Amy") plays his best friend Chuckie. (In real life, Affleck and Damon are good friends and co-wrote the screenplay, which won an Oscar and a Golden Globe; Damon was also nominated for Best Actor, although some have suggested that may be undeserved.) The story focuses on Will. An abused orphan, the young man solves a difficult mathematical theorem and is soon envied by the professors at M.I.T. He also has a rap sheet as long as his arm and is released from jail only on the condition he sees a therapist. After an unsuccessful start with a number of big-name shrinks, he settles in with one he begins to trust (played by Robin Williams). He also falls for a Harvard pre-med student (well played by Minnie Driver) he meets in a bar. There's a good scene .....

"Good Will Hunting" is directed by Gus Van Sant, who previously directed "Drugstore Cowboy" (a personal favorite) and "My Own Private Idaho" - two good films. Honestly, though, I liked those films more than this one which is shot rather conventionally (and not as artfully). Also there's nothing new in Will's relationship with Robin Williams. Still, the movie's heart is in the right place and the ending worked for me.

A Good Story
In a way, this is the typical, cliched, conventional awe-inspiring movie that the Oscar Academy loves so much. It has most of its elements, indeed, still director Gus Van Sant is able to make it work without falling into some easy traps and melodramatic common-places.

Matt Damon plays Will Hunting, apparently a young loser who hasn`t a bright future ahead of him. Yet, as he soon discovers, Will is in fact a bright, highly gifted youngster with an uncommon talent to maths. The plot is rich enough to showcase his growing process and further development, even if occasional predictable scenes unfold.

Van Sant suceeds in delivering an enticing and poignant story about self-discovery, isolation, friendship and communication, yet it seems to gets dangerously close to Hollywood fluff in a couple of moments (just close, as it never becomes truly cutesy or embarassing).

The acting also helps a little to make the effort work, since besides Damon it includes convincing performances from Robbin Williams, Minnie Driver and Ben and Casey Affleck. The soundtrack is a plus, too, including Danny Elfman and indie talents like Elliot Smith, the Dandy Warhols or Luscious Jackson.

"Good Will Hunting" is a solid, consistent movie worth watching, yet it is far from being a milestone or a work of genius. It`s basically a good, well-told story with engaging elements.
Recommended.

wicked good (ha ha)
Damon and Affleck wrote, starred and won Oscars for this well-done drama about Will Hunting, a vastly intelligent construction worker whose hot temper won't let him stay out of brawls and the courtroom. It is set in the actors' hometown of Boston and its environs, and they pepper the film with authentic locations such as Bunker Hill Community College (where Robin Williams plays a psychology professor) and features the two drinking the ubiquitous Dunkin' Donuts coffee, founded in Massachusetts.

Hunting demonstrates his intelligence when he solves a theory on a board at MIT (where he is a janitor). Gerald Lambeau, the professor, upon seeing his gift, wants to take him under his wing, but Will is not having it. Sensing the boy needs guidance, he sends him to his friend Sean maguire (Williams), who is a therapist. While Sean unlocks Will's past so he won't wreck his future, Will has started a romance with Skylar (Minnie Driver), a brilliant pre-med student.

A stand-out in this stellar movie is Casey Affleck, younger brother of Ben, who is the doofy younger friend of Will and company. His delight in being able to take the front seat of the car, when he is usually regulated to the back, is pure comedy in an everyday fashion.

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Next Page