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DVD Good Will Hunting (Miramax Collector's Series)
Robin Williams won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck nabbed one for Best Original Screenplay, but the feel-good hit Good Will Hunting triumphs because of its gifted director, Gus Van Sant. The unconventional director (My Own Private Idaho, Drugstore Cowboy) saves a script marred by vanity and clunky character development by yanking soulful, touching performances out of his entire cast (amazingly, even one by Williams that's relatively schtick-free). Van Sant pulls off the equivalent of what George Cukor accomplished for women's melodrama in the '30s and '40s: He's crafted an intelligent, unabashedly emotional male weepie about men trying to find inner-wisdom.
Matt Damon stars as Will Hunting, a closet math genius who ignores his gift in favor of nightly boozing and fighting with South Boston buddies (co-writer Ben Affleck among them). While working as a university janitor, he solves an impossible calculus problem scribbled on a hallway blackboard and reluctantly becomes the prodigy of an arrogant MIT professor (Stellan Skarsgård). Damon only avoids prison by agreeing to see psychiatrists, all of whom he mocks or psychologically destroys until he meets his match in the professor's former childhood friend, played by Williams. Both doctor and patient are haunted by the past, and as mutual respect develops, the healing process begins. The film's beauty lies not with grand climaxes, but with small, quiet moments. Scenes such as Affleck's clumsy pep talk to Damon while they drink beer after work, or any number of therapy session between Williams and Damon offer poignant looks at the awkward ways men show affection and feeling for one another. --Dave McCoy
Review(s): DVD Good Will Hunting (Miramax Collector's Series)
Loved It
When this came out I really did not know what it was and so I ignored it and watched other movies. One day I was at a rental store I was looking around and I seen it on the shelf and so I took a chance and got it finally after all these years. This movie suprised me because I did not think it would be good because of the young writers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were new and did not have any experience at all. The story was good and it worked some how. I recommend to people who have not seen to take look at it and for those who have seen good for you. I bought the movie after I rented it but I recommend people to rent then make a decision.
Very good for viewers who don't always need to take sides
What I like most about this film is its characters. There's a Harvard professor, a depressed psychologist, a good friend, and last but not least, a pretty, intelligent girl. Not to mention the main character, a genious with an extensive police record who seems to enjoy getting drunk and fighting on the street.
These characters have different points of view, but this does not mean that some of the characters are good and some of them are evil. Everyone has good intentions. But the "right" thing to do doesn't seem to be crystal clear.
worth its flaws
Damon and Affleck deserve all the credit they got for this script, as well as their acting. There are flaws, however, which we can overlook, but obviously I want to list them! That's the fun of this. The most glaring mistake is the guy (apparently a teamster, as if they need to get overpaid any more than they already are) cast as the judge. I've lived in Boston, and people with that accent, bordering on speech impediment, do not become judges. They become, well, teamsters and the like. Robin Williams is good, but this movie doesn't even need him. Also, Minnie Driver is fairly unattractive and has an irritating way of speaking. Stellan Skarsgaard is good as the professor, even though nobody with that eurotrash accent of his would be named "Jerry". How's that for a thirty second review?
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