A real stroke of genius (Good Will Hunting (DVD))

Member Name: Kepler

Product:	Good Will Hunting (DVD)
Date:	08/03/04 (167 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Robin Williams at his best, An engaging story

Disadvantages: A bit slow at times

Written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and directed by Gus Van Sant, Good Will Hunting is another of those films from the category I would describe as ?feel good films?. What I mean by this is, that Good Will Hunting is a film that will make you happy, sad and sometimes downright angry all in the space of just over two hours. Now films of this ilk are either spectacularly good or spectacularly bad and the key (in my opinion) is the degree to which each of the three emotions are used (bear with me it gets better). Too much of one of the ingredients leads to a film that is either sickeningly upbeat or downright depressing, which is why more often than not I steer clear of this type of film. Under much harassment however, and with severe protest on my part I finally rented this film over the weekend to see what all the fuss was about.

Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is a bum, there is no other word to describe him. He lives in a run down house and spends most of his time in bars drinking with his friends. If he?s not drinking then he?s committing some kind of felony, he works as a janitor at the prestigious M.I.T. College famous for its mathematicians. One evening whilst he is cleaning a hallway he comes across a complex maths equation on one of the blackboards which has been set by Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) for his students to solve. In secret he solves the equation which leaves both Professor Lambeau and his students puzzled. When none of the students come forward to claim the solution the Professor sets another problem which took him and his colleagues two years to solve. The following night Professor Lambeau catches Will completing the puzzle but Will runs away before the Professor can quiz him.

Eventually the Professor manages to track him down and discovers that Will is facing a prison sentence for assault, he manages to convince the judge to let Will go free on two conditions. The first is that Will must attend maths sessions with
Professor Lambeau and the other is that he must see a psychiatrist. Faced with the prospect of jail Will agrees but after meetings with several psychologists who are alienated by his sharp wit and cutting insight the Professor is struggling to maintain his hold on Will. As a last resort he takes will to another psychologist, Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) who is his old roommate from college. While play the roles of old friends you can tell immediately that there is some underlying tension between the pair and this is something that grows throughout the film to good effect. Sean Maguire is a quiet and down-to-earth psychologist who is still grieving for his dead wife and is content with teaching psychology at a local college, that is until he meets Will.

The film mainly focuses on Will?s sessions with Sean and their initial meeting is one of my favourite scenes as Will psychoanalyses Sean based on one of his paintings that he has hanging on the wall. Intermingled with the counselling sessions are several other sub plots which focus on Will?s life outside of the sessions, including his relationship with Skylar (Minnie Driver) a medical student who he meets in a bar and his relationship with his three closest friends who he spends most of his time with. I won?t go into any more detail where the plot is concerned, as it would probably spoil it for anyone who hasn?t yet seen the film.

The acting in this film is for the most part good, Matt Damon puts in a solid performance as the tortured genius and he works well with Robin Williams who puts in one of his best performances as the down trodden psychologist who is struggling to come to terms with his wife?s death. His performance in this film makes me wonder why he bothers wasting his time on films like Flubber when he is capable of great performances like this. Ben Affleck puts in an adequate performance, playing the down to earth friend who is always there for Will. Minnie Driver who plays Skylar is the
only weak link in an otherwise excellent film and her performance as the women who tries to get Will to love again is average at best. Stellan Skarsgard does a good job of portraying the maths genius who feels intimidated by Will?s natural intelligence and my favourite scene from the film is where Will solves an equation that the Professor cannot solve and then subsequently sets it alight right in front of him. This prompts some mad scrabbling from the Professor as he tries to save the solution from the flames and we come to realise that Will has shattered his previously perfect world.

Good Will Hunting in my opinion is one of the few ?feel good? films that actually get the mix right, there is enough of all the right ingredients to keep you hooked without subjecting you to something that is either nauseatingly happy or depressingly sad. While the plot is fairly simple and contains very few surprises this doesn?t detract from the film. This is a character based film and the enjoyment comes from watching the main characters evolve throughout the film rather than complex plot twists or explosive action. As a person who does not normally watch this type of film I would recommend this film to everyone and anyone. This is one of those films that you will either love or hate, personally I love it and I will definitely be watching it again at some point in the future. Even if you don?t think you will like this film you really should give it a go; it is one of those films that everyone should watch, even if it is to decide that you hate it. You never know you might really enjoy it, I know I did.

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