Good Will Hunting

UK Release: 6th March 1998

Watched on TV: Tuesday 30th August 2011

Rating: 15

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 2hrs 6mins

Tagline: Some people can never believe in themselves, until someone believes in them.

IMDb Plot Summary: Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

The trailer above is truly shockingly terrible. Please don’t base your opinion of the film on it!

My Review: Matt Damon really flexes his acting muscles in this interesting, deep and beautiful film. Every scene is fascinating and the acting from Robin Williams is outstanding. I’d always seen him as more of a comedy actor, I hadn’t seen such a serious side to him before and he is really fantastic. Their is a great relationship between him and his ‘patient’ Matt Damon which is brilliantly believable and lifts the film into Oscar territory (the film won 2 - Williams for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Damon and Ben Affleck for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - both well deserved. It was also nominated for 7 others including Best Picture).  Ben Affleck played Damon’s best friend and his final scene in the film is so poignant and wonderfully played it brought tears to my eyes. But the film isn’t essentially sad. It is certainly frustrating at times to see Will “waste” his talents, but you can also 100% empathise with his justifications. 

But the biggest reason the film is so excellent is the chemistry (real-life it would seem as the two would go on to date for 2 years) between Matt Damon and Minnie Driver. They seem so natural on screen and with the amazing direction from Gus Van Sant, the film shows a true love story without any of the cliches or cheesiness. It is just raw which is probably why the producers decided to end the film the way they did in such a frustrating and unsatisfying way. I understand why, as it does make the film linger a little longer in the mind, and is almost given a life of its own that way and purposely doesn’t follow the path of corny romances, but instead ends in a fascinating and clever way.

Score: 9/10