Number Rolled: 5
Movie Name/Year:
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Genre: Drama
Length: 126
minutes
Rating: R
Director: Gus Van
Sant
Writer: Matt
Damon, Ben Affleck
Actors: Matt
Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgard, Minnie Driver, Casey
Affleck, Cole Hauser, John Mighton, Rachel Majorowski, Colleen McCauley
Will Hunting is a 20 year old, janitor, genius. Spending his
free time with his buddies drinking, picking up girls and getting into fights,
he seems like the average “wrong side of the tracks” young adult. That is,
until an MIT professor (where he works) puts a seemingly unsolvable problem on
a chalkboard outside the classroom. In almost no time at all, Will has snuck
the correct equation onto the board and the professor goes on the search to
find him.
“Good Will Hunting” is one of my favorite movies. Even if I
were to strip away the main storyline, it would still hold my favorite love
story along with my favorite movie quote (which you’re just going to have to
guess at since I don’t like to reveal spoilers).
I don’t know where Matt Damon and Ben Affleck came up with
this, but it just plain works. Everything about it feels real and believable. The
banter is witty and fits the psychological standpoint taken with the
characters. The back stories are interesting and each and every character comes
with a wealth of depth that’s very rare outside of books.
I love the entertainment value of “Good Will Hunting,” but I
also love the meaning behind it. I get a lot of enjoyment from movies that
explore the good points of a rough background. Maybe it’s just where I’m from,
but I can’t see anyone being unscarred by the time they’re twenty. If I were to
go through the histories of me and my closest friends I’d come up with only
about two fathers still in the picture and so many traumatic experiences, we
could fill a psych textbook easy. So, when I come across a movie like this that
acknowledges a person can be screwed up by their past but still have something
amazing to offer, it feels more real to me than any other kind of movie.
Robin William’s character struck me as an interesting piece
of the puzzle. Most people think of therapists as the stereotypical “…and how
does that make you feel” kind of people who don’t really say much and just sit
there like a life-support system for a pair of ears. I spent most of my life in
therapy. From six years old until I was twenty-six, I went through them like
you wouldn’t believe. I had a lot of the stereotypical ones, and for each and
every one of them, I had a Will Hunting attitude. There was one woman I saw
when I was thirteen or so, my mom was ecstatic because she was world famous or
some shit, meanwhile I would go to her office, take an hour nap and go home.
This lasted about six months before people finally got that I didn’t trust her
enough to let her make me a sandwich – let alone let her into my mind.
Meanwhile, the best therapist I ever had never wrote a book. She wasn’t world-famous;
in fact, I was her very first patient. I will never forget Denise, the
therapist that helped me finally move on in my life. She understood that I wasn’t
going to trust her until she gave me a reason to. She WAS Robin William’s
character, and this movie serves to remind me of her and the good she did for
me.
The only problem I had that keeps it from being a 5, is Ben
Affleck. Look, Affleck is a MUCH better actor than people give him credit for.
I mean, when he’s bad, he’s ridiculously bad (Daredevil). However, when he’s
good, he’s ridiculously good. In this movie he was good… he just sucks so much with accents. It’s like my ears TRY
not to hear him when he puts one on. It’s a really small issue, but he talks so
much in the movie that it seems bigger.
Fantastic movie. Everyone should see it.
Overall Opinion – 4.5/5
P.S. Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier were co-executive
producers of this movie.
