Good Will Hunting (1997)

Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Writers:

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck

Stars:

Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck

Top 250 #148 | Won 2 Oscars. Another 18 wins & 37 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matt Damon	...	Will Hunting
Robin Williams	...	Sean Maguire
Ben Affleck	...	Chuckie Sullivan
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Prof. Gerald Lambeau
Minnie Driver	...	Skylar
Casey Affleck	...	Morgan O'Mally
Cole Hauser	...	Billy McBride
John Mighton	...	Tom - Lambeau's Teaching Assistant
Rachel Majorowski	...	Krystyn
Colleen McCauley	...	Cathy
Matt Mercier	...	Barbershop Quartet #1
Ralph St. George	...	Barbershop Quartet #2
Rob Lynds	...	Barbershop Quartet #3
Dan Washington	...	Barbershop Quartet #4
Alison Folland	...	M.I.T. Student #1

Storyline

A touching tale of a wayward young man who struggles to find his identity, living in a world where he can solve any problem, except the one brewing deep within himself, until one day he meets his soul mate who opens his mind and his heart.

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Plot Keywords:

genius | professor | janitor | mathematics | friend | 

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Taglines:

Wildly charismatic. Impossibly brilliant. Totally rebellious. For the first 20 years of his life, Will Hunting has called the shots. Now he's about to meet his match.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language, including some sex-related dialogue

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 January 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

En busca del destino

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$10,400,000 (Non-US) (6 March 1998)

Gross:

$138,339,411 (USA) (24 July 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Be Gentlemen Limited Partnership, Lawrence Bender Productions, Miramax Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At a WGA seminar in 2003, William Goldman denied the persistent rumor that he was the actual writer of Good Will Hunting: "I would love to say that I wrote it. Here is the truth. In my obit it will say that I wrote it. People don't want to think those two cute guys wrote it. What happened was, they had the script. It was their script. They gave it to Rob [Reiner] to read, and there was a great deal of stuff in the script dealing with the F.B.I. trying to use Matt Damon for spy work because he was so brilliant in math. Rob said, "Get rid of it." They then sent them in to see me for a day - I met with them in New York - and all I said to them was, "Rob's right. Get rid of the F.B.I. stuff. Go with the family, go with Boston, go with all that wonderful stuff." And they did. I think people refuse to admit it because their careers have been so far from writing, and I think it's too bad. I'll tell you who wrote a marvelous script once, Sylvester Stallone. Rocky's a marvelous script. God, read it, it's wonderful. It's just got marvelous stuff. And then he stopped suddenly because it's easier being a movie star and making all that money than going in your pit and writing a script. But I did not write [Good Will Hunting], alas. I would not have written the "It's not your fault" scene. I'm going to assume that 148 percent of the people in this room have seen a therapist. I certainly have, for a long time. Hollywood always has this idea that it's this shrink with only one patient. I mean, that scene with Robin Williams gushing and Matt Damon and they're hugging, "It's not your fault, it's not your fault." I thought, Oh God, Freud is so agonized over this scene. But Hollywood tends to do that with therapists." As of 2009, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have both co-written one other script each, although not with each other; Damon co-wrote Gerry with Gus Van Sant and Ben's brother Casey Affleck, and Ben Affleck directed and co-wrote (with his childhood friend Aaron Stockard) the script for Gone Baby Gone. In 2010, Ben Affleck directed The Town, for which he had also co-written the screenplay.

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Goofs

Cigarette in Chuckie's hand when Skylar is telling the story about the Irish couple.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Lambeau: Mod fx... squared... dx. So please finish Parceval, by next time. I know many of you had this as undergraduates, but it won't hurt to brush up.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits, the film is dedicated to the memory of poet Allen Ginsberg and writer William S. Burroughs, both of whom died in 1997.

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Connections

Featured in The 82nd Annual Academy Awards (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Fisherman's Blues"
Written by Mike Scott and Steve Wickham
Performed by The Waterboys

User Reviews

Beautiful in its own way.

There's one thing about Hollywood - you can't stop the hype. I think it was the hype that gave this movie the bad reviews by some IMDB users, as let's face it, it can totally ruin a movie for some people.

In "Good Will Hunting", you have to look past the hype and Oscars and see that it really is a gorgeous film written by two very talented young men, and acted out by proficient actors such as Robin Williams and Stellan Skarsgard. Personally, I thought the plot was an excellent idea - maybe someone else could have thought of it, but could they have provided the great script? And as for the profanity - yes, there was a lot, but I don't give a damn! This is real life! People swear! Deal with it!

Anyway, what I really enjoyed about "Good Will Hunting" was the psychological aspect - very believable. Here you have this "typical" 21 - year - old, drinking with his friends, getting into fights, etc etc, but you look below the surface and there's a lot more to him. I think this really tells us a lot about the people around us and makes a point about looking below the surface. This aspect of the movie also revealed a lot of sociological issues - yes, it IS believable that there is a genius in a rough suburb of Boston, repressed by his upbringing. (Hey, my mum even says so, and she teaches sociology!)

I enjoyed the acting a lot, especially by Robin Williams - I had been too used to seeing him in cutesy films, so this was definitely a refreshing change. I feel he plunged right into the part and relished it, although something told me his accent wasn't quite right! Will's relationships with the people around him are wonderful to watch, especially with Skylar (Minnie Driver) - there was real chemistry between them. I also liked to watch how Will behaved around his buddies; the four guys really seemed as if they had known each other all their lives.

Overall, I thought this movie was believable and touching, without your typical ending. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck really have done themselves proud. My advice: Forget the Oscar nominations, the rave reviews, the famous faces, and sit down to watch this movie with a completely impartial attitude. You will see that it really is beautiful.

By the way, I very VERY rarely cry at movies. But if there's any scene that will have me in tears, it's the one where Will finally breaks down and starts to cry. That's saying something!