Metacritic reviews

With its sweet soul and sharp mind, it's one of the most heartening films of the year.

Gus Van Sant, working from the tangy, well-written script, gets so much humor, grit and emotional truth out of this tale that the familiar formulas behind it simply fall away.

This beautifully realized tale is always engaging and often quite touching.

Fairly bursts with the exuberance and youthful energy that must have attended its creation.

An ordinary story told well. 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.

It's the individual moments, not the payoff, that make it so effective.

You'd never guess this just-off-center movie was directed by indie hero Gus Van Sant. Maybe, like Will, he's casual about his gifts and feels no need to trot them out.

Part character study, part redemptive drama, and all cheesy heart, it's Boston-baked melodrama, a little too gooey at times, but still pretty delicious.

Matt Damon and Robin Williams give touching performances, but Gus Van Sant's filmmaking is surprisingly ordinary.

Van Sant's direction is surprisingly static and conventional, which doesn't help this earnest, underwhelming misfire.