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DRAMA
GOOD WILL HUNTING
Initial release: December 2, 1997 (Westwood)
Director: Gus Van Sant
Featured song: Miss Misery
Screenplay: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck
Awards: Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
SYNOPSIS
Will Hunting (Matt Damon)
has a genius-level IQ but
chooses to work as a janitor
at MIT. When he solves a
difficult graduate-level math
problem, his talents are
discovered by Professor
Gerald Lambeau (Stellan
Skarsgard), who decides to
help the misguided youth
reach his potential. When
Will is arrested for attacking
a police officer, Professor
Lambeau makes a deal to get
leniency for him if he will get
treatment from therapist
Sean Maguire (Robin
Williams).
REVIEW
It must be heartbreaking to be able to appreciate true genius and yet fall just
short of it yourself. A man can spend his entire life studying to be a
mathematician--and yet watch helplessly while a high school dropout, a janitor,
scribbles down the answers to questions the professor is baffled by.
It's also heartbreaking when genius won't recognize itself, and that's the most
baffling problem of all in “Good Will Hunting,” the smart, involving story of a
working-class kid from Boston.
“Good Will Hunting” is the story of how this kid's life edges toward selfdestruction
and how four people try to haul him back. One is Lambeau, who gets
probation for Will with a promise that he'll find him help and counseling.
One is Sean McGuire (Robin Williams), Lambeau's college roommate, now a
community college professor who has messed up his own life, but is a gifted
counselor. One is Skylar (Minnie Driver), a British student at Harvard, who falls in
love with Will and tries to help him. And one is Chuckie (Ben Affleck), Will's
friend since childhood, who tells him: “You're sitting on a winning lottery ticket.
It would be an insult to us if you're still around here in 20 years.” True, but Will
doesn't see it that way.