GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Director: Gus Van Sant Writers: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Starring: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Minnie Driver, Stellan Skarsgård, Ben Affleck, Cole Hauser, Casy Affleck, George Plimpton
There are certain people in the world who have some talent that very few people have, but they chose not to take advantage of this for some personal reason. "Good Will Hunting" is about one of those people.
The Will Hunting of the (horrible) title (let's face it, this film would be a bitch to title), played by co-writer Matt Damon, is a mathematical genius. He can do almost any mathematical connundrum in about the time it takes to brew a cup of Irish Cream Cappuccino. And he works at MIT...as the janitor.
One day, the professor of one of the most challenging courses, Proffessor Lambeau ("Breaking the Waves"'s Stellan Skarsgård), puts a big problem on the board for his students to attempt to complete. The next day, it's already done on the board, but no one in his class claims to have done it. So Lambeau puts another problem on the board, this time one that took he and his colleagues over two years to prove. And, duh, it's done again. Of course, they catch the guy who did it red handed - Will.
Before Lambeau can find Will again (he ran away when he caught him), Will has gotten into a fight with a bunch of punks on a basketball court, and struck a police officer, so Lambeau gets him out on probation with two agreements: a) he work with him on math, and b) he get some therapy. After going through some therapists whom he psyches out in one way or another (for a hypnotist, he fakes being under his spell, then launches into an impromptu performance of the 70s classic, "Afternoon Delight").
Finally, Lambeau's old college roomate, Sean McGuire (Robin Williams), a psych professor, agrees to treat him, and the two begin a rocky relationship, as Sean tries to get Will to open up. Turns out Will had a rough childhood, being abandoned, and placed in foster homes and what not. It also turns out that Will does not want to do simple mathematics all his life; he wants a challenge. And that is to hang out with his buds (including the other co-writer, Ben Affleck), and do honorable jobs, like construction.
Is it right to make this genius follow in the footsteps of Einstein and Kasinsky? Should this guy be forced to do something he doesn't want to do? This appears to be one of the million questions in this film, which is jam-packed with greatness, but does not have the totally brilliant whole it should.
I'm not saying "Good Will Hunting" is a bad film at all. It's a very enjoyable film with tons of great moments, and lots of great things about it. The acting is amazing, with two Oscar-nomination-worthy performances from Damon and Williams, who have amazing chemistry together. We also get some great support from Stellan Skarsgård (great name), Ben Affleck, and from Minnie Driver, who plays Will's love interest, Skylar.
There are tons of individual moments that I adored. I loved all the comedy in the film, especially a scene where Damon proves a schmuck out of a college student who is quoting a historian to impress some chicks, his various attempts at therapy, and of course, my favorite scene in the entire film, the one where he delivers a long, exstensive rant to some NSA agents about the downside of working for them.
I liked the relationship between some of the people, like Will and Skylar, Will and Sean, Sean and Lambeau, and Will and his friends. There are scenes between them which are just amazing to watch. And there are even moments in the film which are so honest in their portrayal, that I felt rightfully uncomfortable. Like the break-up scene between Will and Skylar, Will and Sean's first meeting, a bar scene between Sean and Lambeau, and a scene where Sean tells in detail how he doesn't regret meeting his first wife, who would later suffer a slow, painful death, and leave him lonely and slightly bitter.
However, the main flaw of the film is there's too much of everything, and not enough of it either. The film tries for deeper relations between the characters, but they're sometimes either overwritten or underwritten. Take for example the relationship between Sean and Will: the film gets an interesting father/son as well as doctor/patient relationship going with out any problems, but when it tries to show them as equals, it falls on its face. We hear how they went to the same town, and there are even scenes where the film shows how hypocritical both of them are at times. But this never takes off like the other parts of their relationship do.
Also, Will's relationship with his best friend, Chuckie (Affleck), has a nice climax, but not enough rising action. We see them joking around, but when Chuckie arrives at a decision between the two of them, it seems more like a superficial reasoning than a more selected one. Their relationship never goes beyond "just best friends," and his decision just seems to be a generalization of any two best friends instead of something more...human. Maybe it was just me. And it also goes for a parallelism with the relationship between Sean and Lambeau, but that, again, is underwritten.
And, of course, as in most films like this, the girl/boy relationship is pretty underwritten. We never understand what they see in each other, so when Skylar confesses that she loves him, it seems more like it's there for plot details that anything else. Minnie Driver is interesting, though, and breathes life into her character.
The writing is a bit at fault here, but what makes all this worthwhile is the little moments in the film where it acheives true awesomeness. Sure, it feels overstuffed, but it's extremely enjoyable. The dialogue that Affleck and Damon have written is amazingly fresh, and seems extremely human. I think that they should get a nomination for their script chiefly because of the dialogue, which is amazing.
While this is probably director Gus Van Sant's most conservative film (you'd hardly know it's the same director of "To Die For," the only Van Sant film I've seen, really), it's still a pretty remarkable film, albeit a tad overrated (what's this "best picture" deal?). And if a film puts a smile on my face despite posessing a lot of flaws, I have no problem with reccomending it to anyone.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
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