Good Will Hunting (1997)
Seen on 7 December 1997 for $0 at the Loews New York Twin.
*Good Will Hunting* is a situation drama about a supergenius who cleans the floors at MIT instead of pacing them as a student.
That's the situation, the high-concept, if you will. Mathematics professor Lambeau (Stellan Skargard) leaves an "impossible" problem on the bulletin board, and Will Hunting solves it. Lambeau tracks him down and wants to take credit for discovering him. But, for all his cerebral cortex action, Will is a diamond in the rough, and needs polishing if he's going to become part of the Establishment.
Will's life is rooted in South Boston, an orphan shuttled around foster homes who now lives in a dump, works in construction, and gets into trouble with his ne'er-do-well friends, who clearly have no use or respect for the college kids that abound in Boston.
To get him under control, Lambeau takes Will to prominent psychiatrists, all of whom Will either infuriates or outwits, until he reaches Sean McGuire (Robin Williams), who is an old friend of Lambeau's who is also from South Boston, and teaches at a Bunker Hill Community College.
What follows is a fairly predictable and average "he's met his match and they have more in common and they learn a lot from each other story." McGuire's background: he lost his beloved wife and is "ironically" in his own protective shell, "ironically," just like Will. It's a good premise, but it just wasn't very interesting. Even the double-entendre title (Good Will Hunting, hunting for good will) seems a bit sophomoric and quite the cliche.
Skylar, Will's love interest, played by the personable Minnie Driver, who--finally--gets to use her (real) British accent. The interaction Will has with her and with his friend Chuckie (Ben Affleck) is the most believable. The epiphanies Will reaches with them seem much less hackneyed than the ones he reaches with McGuire. In fact, it is Affleck's speech to Will that really seems to cut through Will's defenses more than anything else. Robin Williams' performance is a bit too earnest and forced.
Perhaps it's my own bourgeois background, but it was difficult for me to understand the reverse snobbery shown in *Good Will Hunting* that keeps a supergenius stuck in a clapboard shack with a screen door that is barely on its hinges. Apparently, it was h ard for Chuckie to understand either, and he's from the same background.
The performances are what stand out in this movie. Damon is charming and funny, as is Driver. Affleck's big scene gives Chuckie some actual depth the rest of the characters are lacking. But, it's enjoyable nonetheless; I've seen a lot worse.
Directed by Gus Van Sant, this must be his blandest offering yet, when you consider his credits include the offbeat *Drugstore Cowboy*, *My Own Private Idaho*, *Even Cowgirls Get the Blues*, and more recently, his biting, more upscale hit *To Die For*. *Good Will Hunting* is probably good for his bankroll and his Hollywood credentials, but it is the least original of his projects.
Affleck and Damon have been hyped for penning and selling their screenplay. Why? It's a feel-good movie written by two men already firmly entrenched in the Hollywood establishment. Affleck was in Chasing Amy last year, and Damon has had three big movies this year and the cover of Vanity Fair. It doesn't seem that David-and-Goliath to me.
More movie reviews by Seth Bookey, with graphics, can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2679/kino.html
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