Good Will Hunting Review
Good Will Hunting
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck both won an Oscar for their work on this screenplay, but everyone knows that. What is great about the film is the fact that it is written from the point of view of Bostonians, guys who grew up in the shit they wrote about, drawing influences from past people and events. But at the same time it is so powerfully written that it is hard to remember that people live this way, live this struggle, and for every Will Hunting that makes it out, there are others who can 't.
The story follows a gifted young adult, Will (Matt Damon), who works as a janitor at MIT and constantly solves, to the annoyance of the professor, extremely difficult math questions left undone. And as luck would have it one of the professors spots him working and attempts to change his attitude from ambivalent to scholarly by personally tutoring him in all things math- A proposition Will is not extremely excited about.
Before the tutoring gets very far, one afternoon while hanging out with his boys, Will ends up beating the hell out of some seemingly random kids at a neighborhood basketball court, arrested, and forced to complete counseling or else be thrown in jail. His counselor, played by Robin Williams, really affects a formerly stubborn Will at a personal level and gets him to see the world differently- essentially helping him to mature and grow up. After completing his counseling sessions and receiving some tutoring he is left to find a job, of which he has the pick of the litter. However what he ultimately decides to do lets the audience into Will 's head for the first time and helps to fully develop his character and also acts to bring the story full circle.
About halfway into watching this movie I became worried- there was no conflict set up, or adversity for Will to overcome, and although it was clever and funny it didn 't really have any dynamic quality to it leaving me wondering why this film had been so highly regarded. But then it became
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck both won an Oscar for their work on this screenplay, but everyone knows that. What is great about the film is the fact that it is written from the point of view of Bostonians, guys who grew up in the shit they wrote about, drawing influences from past people and events. But at the same time it is so powerfully written that it is hard to remember that people live this way, live this struggle, and for every Will Hunting that makes it out, there are others who can 't.
The story follows a gifted young adult, Will (Matt Damon), who works as a janitor at MIT and constantly solves, to the annoyance of the professor, extremely difficult math questions left undone. And as luck would have it one of the professors spots him working and attempts to change his attitude from ambivalent to scholarly by personally tutoring him in all things math- A proposition Will is not extremely excited about.
Before the tutoring gets very far, one afternoon while hanging out with his boys, Will ends up beating the hell out of some seemingly random kids at a neighborhood basketball court, arrested, and forced to complete counseling or else be thrown in jail. His counselor, played by Robin Williams, really affects a formerly stubborn Will at a personal level and gets him to see the world differently- essentially helping him to mature and grow up. After completing his counseling sessions and receiving some tutoring he is left to find a job, of which he has the pick of the litter. However what he ultimately decides to do lets the audience into Will 's head for the first time and helps to fully develop his character and also acts to bring the story full circle.
About halfway into watching this movie I became worried- there was no conflict set up, or adversity for Will to overcome, and although it was clever and funny it didn 't really have any dynamic quality to it leaving me wondering why this film had been so highly regarded. But then it became
Cited: * IMDb Amazon. Good Will Hunting, 6 August 1998. Web. 18 February 2011. * Johansson, Robin. “Good Will Hunting; please….” IMDb. 22 November 1998. Web. 18 February 2011.