Good Will Hunting: A Quick Review

"Good Will Hunting," released in 1997, was directed by Gus Van Sant.  It stars Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgard and Minnie Driver.  The film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, and walked off with two, Best Supporting Actor for Robin Williams and Best Original Screenplay for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.  I assume "Good Will Hunting" would have won more if 1997 wasn't the same year "Titanic" was released, going on to absolutely dominate everything.  That's just some information that might be of interest to some people, but now I'll get to my attempt at giving a synopsis.  Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is poor and was abused growing up.  Now he is working as a janitor at MIT in Boston.  As it turns out he has a brilliant mind for mathematics.  His brilliance in this regard makes him the perfect candidate for all sorts of high paying jobs.  Essentially he needs to turn his life around, yep that probably sounds cliched, but that is indeed a major plot point in the movie.  Several people are trying to help get him to that point in his life where he finally understands himself and wants to change.  This includes Skylar (Minnie Driver), a girl at MIT Will starts dating, Professor Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), one of the professors at MIT, Will's best friend, Chuckie Sullivan (Ben Affleck), and the most essential character in the movie (besides the one that it's named for), psychologist Sean Maguire (Robin Williams).  Well, as it turns out the majority of the human race loves this movie.  And the majority of the human race would actually be correct on this one, in my humble opinion.  The characters, are definitely the strongest parts of this movie.  All of the people in Will Hunting's life are well developed characters and crucial to the change that ultimately happens with his life.  Everyone gets some great dialogue courtesy of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.  The main reason why the movie is so good and why I enjoyed it so much is because of Matt Damon and Robin Williams.  Both are phenomenal actors and I have a difficult time picturing anyone else in these two roles.  The two start out not really liking each other, mainly because Will is forced to be there or he'll have some jail time to spend.  As the movie progresses they become close friends.  The chemistry between these two actors was great and Robin Williams also got a couple opportunities to have some great comic relief lines.  The rest of the cast was good to, you can take my word for it.  I don't really want to comment on everyone, though.  Two more things to comment on for those of you who actually read these things.  It keeps my mind semi-busy so I enjoy these things.  Gus Van Sant as it turns out is a great director.  Of course that last comment is only based on two movies, "Good Will Hunting" and "Milk."  This film was aesthetically appealing.  There were some great aerial shots and tracking shots of characters on the screen and the city of Boston in general. Overall very well composed and all of those other good film terms.  Danny Elfman is the last person associated with this movie that I would like to comment on.  I love this man.  His scores for Tim Burton movies are great.  However, in "Good Will Hunting" I felt like the score kind of got lost in the background of what was going on, instead of complimenting it.  So overall, great movie.  A little long, but well paced.  I would see it if I were any of you.

-Joseph Sbrilli