Good Will Hunting (1997)

Good Will Hunting (1997)

 

8/10

 

Starring

Robin Williams

Matt Damon

Ben Affleck

Stellan Skarsgård

 

Directed by Gus Van Sant

 

Written by young Ben Affleck and Matt Damon before they became big Hollywood stars, Good Will Hunting is about missed opportunities, second chances, and re-evaluating one's life.

The movie showcased some fantastic acting, especially from the late Robin Williams, and the plot/script is not typical, even though some of the concepts can be similar. Watching Good Will Hunting now, more than twenty-four years after its release, there is still class in this production, and the plot is still captivating. This will forever be one of the best movies ever done by those two, and arguably one of the top movies you’ll ever see.

The movie is about a misfit janitor named Will Hunting (Matt Damon), who is a mathematical genius but life has crashed him down to being a janitor. This twenty-year-old is a janitor in a college and solves a mathematical problem that a professor wrote on a board for his students. His genius also has him digesting and understanding things that would blow the mind of the average person. When the professor caught Will solving another of his mathematical questions, he tracked him down.

On the other side of things, Will is having his own challenges with the law, based on some negative influences. After assaulting an officer, he was sentenced to jail, but the professor was able to get him released as long as he agreed to study under him in advanced mathematics. He also had to see a therapist, but his genius gave him the upper hand even over the therapists he was supposed to see, messing with them.

The professor refused to give up and called Dr. Sean (Robin Williams), his roommate from college, to come work on Will, and it was from there that the movie really took off.

From there, Will gets the second chance many never get, and he has the opportunity to re-evaluate his life and give himself a better future.

The movie was not just a huge critical success, but also a financial one, making over $225 million from a $10 million budget. Its critical success earned it nine Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for Williams and Best Original Screenplay for Affleck and Damon. They also won the Golden Globe for Best Original Screenplay.

I’m sure you’ve already seen this movie, so recommending it is old news, but there’s no crime in seeing it again. It will forever be a classic, one of the best things to come out of the 90s.