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

Think back to the times of Good Will Hunting. It was 1997. Matt Damon hadn't yet achieved the title of World's Cutest Boy (Other than Brad Pitt). Ben Affleck was almost a respected actor. There was even a connotation of achievement with Robin Williams' name.

But the culture has changed. Matt Damon is a household name. Your faithful reviewer is probably the only person on Planet Earth who gives Ben Affleck credit, and Robin Williams' career is a joke. But both then and now, it's still pretty amazing that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of all people wrote Good Will Hunting's script.

By now, you've probably heard the storyline. Matt Damon plays Will Hunting, a confident 20-year-old orphan who works as a janitor at MIT. However, unlike most janitors (or human beings in general), Hunting is a genius who can solve all sorts of esoteric mathematical equations at the drop of a hat. MIT professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) discovers this and tries to coerce Hunting into getting a high-profile job with the government or a corporation, but Hunting is obstinate-----he'd rather be a janitor. Lambeau then employs his friend Sean Maguire, a psychologist, to help Hunting out.

The film works mainly because it makes you care about the characters. Hunting is certainly likable, mostly because he's smart, fractured, and can kick ass. Director Gus Van Sant triumphs at romanticizing a scene where Hunting pummels a childhood bully. Not too long after that, he's outsmarting a grad-school pedant who is trying to impress some girls. Williams' character can be admired because of his faithfulness to his late wife and his sense of humor-----a ab-libbed scene where Maguire describes the wife's farting antics is particularly funny.

Rumors once circulated about William Goldman having written the script. In Goldman's denial of this, he stated, "I would not have written the 'It's not your fault scene.'" Goldman is right-----while it's well-directed, the sequence is a trifle over-dramatic and is all too clearly going for the "You can start crying now" effect. That turning point is powerful, but its verisimilitude evades logic upon closer scrutiny.

Yet Good Will Hunting pushes past its few flaws, and for all its depth, ends up being a very memorable and replayable film, finding Damon, Williams, and Affleck all at the top of their game. (Insert profound statement here)

Rating: B+