There was a Matt Damon and a Ben Affleck before "Good Will Hunting," but I'd bet you would have been hard pressed to place faces to the names. This film was a revelation which brought about two of the most sought after male actors of the late 90's and 2000's with massive performances and an incredibly sharp script. The film isn't perfect, but there are enough moments of near perfection throughout that it gained immediate attention. Its lasting power is a testament to that display of talent.
Gus Van Sant directs the two writers. Matt Damon plays Will, a young man from the south of Boston who works as a janitor only to hide the fact that he is the next Einstein or Newton. Affleck plays Chuckie, his good natured best mate who would take a bullet for Will should he ask it. The genius janitor works at MIT and is finally noticed by Professor Lambeau after Will solves a proof that the group of mathematicians took two years to achieve.
The greatness of this young man is too large to go squandered though that is exactly what Will wants. After getting thrown in jail, Lambeau is able to get him released under the conditions that he meet once a week and work out complex math with the professor, and that he go see a therapist. The shrinks all fail until he is finally brought to the attention of a gentle but deceptively smart community college teacher named Sean (Robin Williams).
Once the plot is established the entire arc of the story becomes apparent. Will's past prevents him from allowing anyone into his life and it is up to a breakthrough on Sean's part in order to steer him in a proper direction. In the meantime, Will does nothing but push away those who try to get close to him or help him. There is a beautiful romance that forms between him and a university student named Skylar (Minnie Driver), and it ends in much the same way that everything else does for him.
I said the film isn't perfect and it is precisely because one can predict the entire outcome of the film at the different intervals in which it will happen that the film is flawed. The structure is entirely routine, but I suppose that shouldn't be so unexpected coming from two first-time writers. However, what makes this film so good is the level of creativity that went into the individual scenes. There is so much richness and complexity interspersed throughout that it almost entirely wipes clear any predictability in the quiet moments.
Will is a person who uses his brilliance in order to shield himself from the presence of others who might try to get too close to him. His friends are uneducated, boyish, drinkers, what I would call "lads" were they English--"bros" I suppose would be better. When he is with them his talk is of girls, drink and the guineas they dislike. Get Will offended and he will tear you down with his knowledge far vaster than a normal person's. The best scenes of this movie are those when he throws down the gauntlets and reveals that intensity of a man whose superiority is a well-disguised blessing and far more a curse.
The only truly interesting moments come when he talks with Sean and Skylar. There is an organic chemistry that Damon has with both characters that feels fresh and inspired. When there is Will and Sean it is like watching a dance or a duel. It is a battle of rapiers; on one side we have the brain and the other the heart. When he is with Skylar it is simply a conflict of the self: survival vs. love. Although Skylar is a wonderful character played exquisitely by Driver, the scenes she is in are never ever about her. She is simply there to make Will's decisions all the more painful to watch.
The ending is a disappointment, but there is enough good stuff just before that it washed over and covers up the pointlessness of what finishes. At the credits one doesn't really think of the pieces missing, but rather remains focused on all of those special moments that make it stand out. There is so much charisma in those characters and a screenplay that crackles with newness that it does equal out to a very enjoyable viewing experience.
3/4
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