Good Will Hunting - Collector's Edition (1998, DVD)

In the film industry, it's always hard to get discovered and sometimes it can take years. Two examples in recent years have been the case for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Two young struggling actors trying to get acting gigs when in 1992, Matt Damon seemed to hit pay dirt when he landed a huge role in the film School Ties with Brendan Fraser. While his friend Affleck also received a small supporting role in the film, the movie did nothing for Damon and Affleck. Between 1992 and 1996, the two decided to work on a screenplay about a young janitor with a high IQ whose potential is in question by his friends, a mathematician, and a therapist entitled Good Will Hunting.

Around those years, Damon finally scored a memorable role in Courage Under Fire with Denzel Washington while landing a small part in Kevin Smith's film Chasing Amy that Affleck starred in. Affleck had already become a regular in Smith's circle as he showed Smith and producer Scott Mosier the script he wrote with Damon. Smith presented the script to Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein as Damon and Affleck hit pay dirt. With Ben's little brother Casey finally providing one more key element in bringing in independent film director Gus Van Sant, who had hit big with To Die For that Casey was in. One of Hollywood's greatest rags-to-riches tale was made in a simple character study piece called Good Will Hunting.

Written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with Gus Van Sant as director, Good Will Hunting is a tale about a young janitor named Will Hunting who has a profound intelligence while churning out answers for math theorems at M.I.T. Despite his knowledge, Will is a troublemaker who is on the verge of going to jail until a mathematician wants to work with him as well as get some therapy. Bringing in an old colleague, the therapist explores Will and his life while Will contends with a new girlfriend and his working-class buddies. Starring Matt Damon in the title role along with Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Cole Hauser, Stellan Skarsgard, Minnie Driver, and Robin Williams. Good Will Hunting is a majestic, profound character study from Damon/Affleck and Gus Van Sant.

For the 20-year old Will Hunting, he wakes up in the day and goes on a train to serve as a janitor at the prestigious M.I.T. near Boston. At night, Will often spends his time drinking and hanging around with his buddies Chuck (Ben Affleck), Morgan (Casey Affleck), and Bill (Cole Hauser). At M.I.T., the leading math professor at the school is a honored mathematician named Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) who asks his students to answer a theorem he wrote correctly on the board outside of the class. None of students can but while cleaning the floors, Will, who has photographic memory, does as he figures out the answer and gets it right. Gerald wonders who has done it while Will gets into a fight with an old school bully where he gets in trouble after assaulting a cop.

With a huge juvenile record and a background of troubling foster homes, Will might seem in trouble as he has a trial on the way. With Will and his gang deciding to go to a bar near Harvard, Will meets a British student in Skylar (Minnie Driver) who is tempted by another student who Will calls on his knowledge and outwits him. Skylar is impressed with Will's knowledge and attitude as she gives him is number. Unfortunately, Will is found guilty and sent to jail as Lambeau decides to bail him out only if he does some assisting into his math problems and take therapy twice a week. After a few failing sessions including with a renowned psych professor (George Plimpton), Lambeau calls in on a former roommate of his in Sean McGuire (Robin Williams) who works as a teacher in a nearby community college.

Sean decides to study Will but after criticizing a painting and comments about his dead wife, Sean begins to threaten him as he realizes that Will is a big challenge. With Will working with Chuck at a construction site, his relationship with Skylar begins to blossom as she is amazed by his intelligence while he tells her that he lives with a large family. After a second session with Sean, Sean tells his own life as Will realizes that Sean is someone he doesn't give up. After a few sessions, Will begins to open a bit as he and Sean begin to have a rapport about all sorts of things. Will takes Skylar to meet his friends as Chuck and the gang enjoy her presence.

While Will still works with Lambeau, he talks to Will about getting a future including a position at a corporate building that he can work in with a lot of money. Will isn't sure about the interview as Chuck decides to fill in for him where he scams the interrogators for money. Will decides to have another date with Skylar where later that night, she reveals that she's going to California to finish her medical studies and wants him to go with her. Will doesn't want to as she learns that he had been lying and she wants the truth no matter how bad it is but he pushes her away.

After having problems with Lambeau, Will starts to walk away as Sean finally begins to learn about his background and what Lambeau wants to do with him. During a day of work at the construction site, Chuck finally confirms his frustrations to Will for passing an opportunity as Will is forced to contend with his own troubling past and what he wants to do with his life as Sean gives him one final sense of guidance.

In a story like this, there could've been so many ways it would ve been approached though Damon and Affleck do bring out some conventional storylines to the film. In Van Sant's approach, it's really about a young man who is trying to figure out what to do with his intelligence without giving in to conformity or a situation that will hurt him. Van Sant's direction is very spot-on in bringing out real characters and situations while being very observant in his direction.

The heart of the film is in the script by Damon and Affleck that balances both a bit of comedy in many of the film's Boston sequences while the dramatic moments involve Will's therapy, his math sessions, and his relationship with Skylar. Still, it's a simple character study though it does have predictable moments except in its ending. Still, Damon and Affleck make it work and with Van Sant's direction, Good Will Hunting ends up as an imaginative, heartwarming film.

Helping Van Sant in his visual style is cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier who brings a colorful look to many of the film's exterior sequences while using lots of orange lights for many of in the intimate interior scenes, including a few of the bar scenes. Production designer Melissa Stewart also does a great job in getting the feel of the bars, rooms, and surroundings in the Harvard, Cambridge areas as well as the South Boston area where everything is gritty or broken-down where the use of the locations gives the film some credibility. Even the costume design from Van Sant regular Beatrix Aruna Pasztor brings realism to the film's look of colleges and street. Editor Pietro Scalia does a wonderful job in the editing, especially in some of the kaleidoscopic sequences of the movie while on a whole, moves very steadily.

With a wonderful plaintive and atmospheric score from Danny Elfman. The film has a wonderful soundtrack of music featuring cuts by the Dandy Warhols, Gerry Rafferty, Supergrass, Del Shannon, Luscious Jackson, Starland Vocal Band, Al Green, and the Waterboys. Aside from classical pieces and Elfman's score, most of the original music comes from the late Elliot Smith. With his wonderful, singer-songwriter style of music fused with melancholic lyrics including the Oscar-nominated Miss Misery, Smith is the real star of the film's music since it's the driving force behind the shadow that Will Hunting hides.

Then there's the cast that includes cameo appearances from Harmony Korine, George Plimpton, and To Die For star Allison Folland while Scott William Winters makes a memorable appearance as a target for Will's intelligence in a battle of who would win Skylar's phone number. Also making small, memorable appearances are Cole Hauser as the quiet yet street-wise Billy and Casey Affleck as the more abrasive, immature Morgan. Stellan Skarsgard is brilliant as the intelligent but selfish Gerald Lambeau who believes he has a chance to help Will's future only to be reminded that before he was great, he was just a regular guy. While many people will slag Ben Affleck now and he deserves a lot of heat but before J-Lo and all of those awful Michael Bay films, he was a decent actor. Ben Affleck gives a wonderful performance as Chuck, the true friend and supporter that Will has who knows what's he's going through and tells him of his opportunity. Affleck brings a lot of humor and heart as a guy who is content in his destiny while he hopes for the best in his best friend.

Minnie Driver is amazing in the role of Skylar, a British student who has a lot of charm and dirty humor while trying to understand Will's background and Driver really brings a lot of drama and goodness to Will, even when he's trying to push her away. Robin Williams is the film's best supporting performance and definitely worthy of the Oscar he won as the sympathetic, tough therapist Sean McGuire. Williams brings a lot of humor and dramatic restraint to his performance while being a wonderful guide and unlikely father figure that Will needed and sought for all of his life. It's truly a majestic performance from the always talented comedian-actor.

Matt Damon is also brilliant in his role as the troubled Will Hunting by not making him into a genetic kind of caricature but a real person. Damon uses his grit, street-wise wit, and winning smile into a performance that everyone can cheer for while proving that he is more complex as a character who is dealing with abandonment issues and what to do with the gift that he has. It's truly a wonderful performance from Matt Damon whose often overlooked as an actor since people focus on his good looks.

While Good Will Hunting isn't a perfect film, it's still a wonderful, majestic gem from director Gus Van Sant with the wonderful writing talents of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck along with a great cast led by Damon, Robin Williams, and Minnie Driver. While many of the people involved in the film went on to bigger and better things, except for Ben Affleck, it's this film that created new stars out of Affleck and Matt Damon while opening some artistic doors for Robin Williams and Van Sant who retreated from mainstream fare for European art film styles in recent years. Still for a character study film that's got a lot of heart, great characters, the late Elliot Smith's music, and a wonderful story, Good Will Hunting is the film to see.

Gus Van Sant Reviews:

Mala Noche (1985):

http://www.epinions.com/content_413449817732

Drugstore Cowboy (1989):

http://www.epinions.com/content_211260968580

My Own Private Idaho (1991):

http://www.epinions.com/content_171471965828

To Die For (1995):

http://www.epinions.com/content_415524556420

Trilogy of Death

Gerry (2002):

http://www.epinions.com/content_150229651076

Elephant (2003):

http://www.epinions.com/content_189435055748

Last Days (2005):

http://www.epinions.com/content_213618757252

Paranoid Park (2007):

(Coming in 2008)