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Good Will Hunting - Collector's Edition Customer Reviews (46 - 48 of 65 Reviews)

Great, moving effort
It's hard to view "Good Will Hunting" without a certain detachment. After all, two young actor punks won Oscars for their screenplay - and considering this is a vanity project in the purest sense (they wrote it to give themselves some great roles), there's a strong urge to analyze the film rather than just watch it.

But try to watch it and you'll see how strong it really is. Affleck and Damon have written an intelligent and engaging movie with some exceptionally moving and real moments. Williams is outstanding - few actors could deliver his key lines (and key silences) with the understated conviction he brings. Damon and Affleck, and their buddies, transcend the vanity project tag and really embody their characters. You're with them. You care about them. And so when the movie completes its rather conventional arc, you're happy that everything went pretty much the way you thought it would.

Directed with an extremely perceptive and sensitive touch by Gus Van Sant, "Good Will Hunting" breaks no new ground, but it's not supposed to. It's an effective, simple, engaging character study with sharp performances. To add "and nothing more" to that sentence would be a travesty, since it's a rare movie that offers even that much. Well done, Ben n' Matt - write another one, huh?

GRITTY, STIRRING, THOUGHT-PROVOKING DRAMA
As close as a film comes to thrilling, moving, complete entertainment.

The taut screenplay keeps you riveted as events unfold. Despite it's straightforward thematic backbone, Good Will Hunting does an impressive job playing out complex emotional negotiations between lover and friend, eager professional mentor and unwilling father figure, with the bitterness any hardworking career academic like the professor must inevitably feel in the face of a genetic miracle who'd rather chase girls than gunk around with theorems and formulas.

On the negative side, some characters may come across as cardboard (an arrogant MIT professor; a humble-by-choice psychologist who turns out to be The Most Effective; an unsung math prodigy from the wrong side of Boston who never really saw the face of school but can recite page numbers from economics books; etc) but all of it is executed with such magnificent grace, style and heartfelt emotional realism that it has moved me every single time I have watched it (5 times).

Special mention for the fabulous cameos from Robin Williams in a rare subdued but effective performance sans his usual comedic histrionics, and Minnie Driver, who is simply stunning in her role as Mr. Precocious' love interest.

The DVD has some neat special features including interviews with the director and some interesting outtakes. This one's a keeper.

An intelligent story
This is a very intelligent film about Will Hunting (Matt Damon) a young genius, who because of his disadvantaged and abusive childhood, ends up as a janitor at MIT when he could easily be the head of the Mathematics department. Though the story is a bit far fetched (it is hard to believe a kid this bright wouldn't have been noticed by someone who would have guided him towards higher education), once you put that aside, it is a fascinating character study of a very complex and dynamic young man.

Will is discovered after solving a math challenge left on a blackboard by the head of the math department at MIT. This throws his life into turmoil, as the mathematicians want to make him into a prodigy. He also begins seeing a therapist (Robin Williams) who forces him to confront many deep emotions and experiences he had been repressing. The effect this has on him, and his relationship with his friends is powerful and makes for an engrossing tale.

The screenplay was written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for which they won an Academy Award (the film was nominated for nine). Both were considered promising young actors before this film, but this tied a rocket pack to their backs and lit the fuse. Damon was outstanding in the lead. He had a very complex character to play and his emotional range was phenomenal. Not only was he quick witted, charming and vibrant, but he also had to be hot headed, arrogant, confused and despondent. He was able to switch emotions with ease and was always intense and believable. Robin Williams also gave one of his better performances and received a best supporting Oscar.

It is hard not to like this film. Most of the challenges that Will faced were inside him, and watching him struggle to overcome the limitations from his past was very uplifting. I rated this film a 9/10. We need more scripts like this. Perhaps if we are lucky, Damon and Affleck will take time from their successful acting careers and collaborate again.

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