(Note: Since Smith co-executive produced Good Will Hunting, it's not out of the question that he had some input into this scene.)ĭirector Gus Van Sant ( Drugstore Cowboy, To Die For) culls genuine emotion from his actors, and this results in several affecting and powerful scenes. At one point, Will comments that a session with Sean is turning into a "Taster's Choice Moment." Later, Will gives a brilliant, breathless diatribe against the NSA that has the rhythm of something written by Kevin Smith. The characters are well-developed, however, and there are times when the dialogue positively sparkles. The script, by co-stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, is not a groundbreaking piece of literature, and occasionally resorts to shameless manipulation. And, as Will advances his self-awareness in sessions with Sean, he also learns about friendship from his buddy, Chuckie (Ben Affleck), and love from a Harvard co-ed named Skylar (Minnie Driver). After a rocky start, the two form a rapport and Will begins to explore issues and emotions he had walled up behind impregnable armor. Eventually, once several psychologists have rejected the belligerent young man, Sean McGuire, a teacher at Bunker Hill Community College, agrees to take the case. The judge agrees to release Will under two conditions: that he spend one day a week meeting with Lambeau and that he spend one day a week meeting with a therapist. Unfortunately, by the time the professor finds him, Will is in jail for assaulting a police offer. Then, one evening, his anonymity is shattered when Professor Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) catches him at work. While working as a janitor at MIT, he delights in anonymously proving theorems on the math building's hall blackboards.
But he's a mathematical genius with a photographic memory and the ability to conceive simple solutions to complex problems. He has a short temper and any little incident can set him off like a spark in a tinder box. Now, not yet 21 years old, he has accumulated an impressive rap sheet.
An orphan, he was in and out of foster homes on a regular basis. As a child, he was the frequent victim of abuse. And Matt Damon's Will Hunting uses pugnaciousness to supplant the blandness of Chris O'Donnell's Charlie. Al Pacino's Slade was a larger-than-life individual Robin Williams' Sean McGuire is much more subtle. The formula for the two films is similar - both of the principals learn from each other as they slowly break down their barriers on the way to a better understanding of life and their place in it - but the characters are different.
Like Scent of a Woman, which was released around this time of the season five years ago, Good Will Hunting is about the unlikely friendship that develops between a world-weary veteran and a cocky young man.
So, while Good Will Hunting is far from a late-year masterpiece, it's a worthwhile sample of entertainment. But it's intelligently written (with dialogue that is occasionally brilliant), strongly directed, and nicely acted. Taken as a whole, there's little that's special about this tale - it follows a traditional narrative path, leaves the audience with a warm, fuzzy feeling, and never really challenges or surprises us. In essence, Good Will Hunting is an ordinary story told well.