Dir. Gus Van Sant (trailer)
Good Will Hunting is one of the most beloved films of all time, and for good reason. The film follows Will Hunting (Matt Damon) as he works as a janitor at MIT and tries to create a future for himself in Boston with his childhood friends. After beginning court mandated therapy with Dr. Maguire (Robin Williams), Will taps into his full potential studying mathematics, after being discovered solving an extremely hard problem on a chalkboard.
While Damon and Ben Affleck won the Oscar for Best Screenplay, Robin Williams' performance as Dr. Maguire that won him a Best Actor award is the real stand out of the film. Maguire takes on the serious role of a depressed psychologist who agrees to meet with Will Hunting as a favor to Professor Lambeau and soon finds a challenge within Will that brings him out of his grief filled life. Williams' melancholic yet still often funny performance is nuanced in a way that no other actor could have achieved. Rather than encouraging Will to accept jobs from prestigious firms like Lambeau wants him to, Maguire encourages Will to live a life he will not regret, including making an effort to make his new relationship work.
Good Will Hunting is a film that sneaks of up on you. It takes it's time allowing you to enjoy hanging out with the characters as they explore the local pubs of South Boston and get into arbitrary fights with Harvard students, before smacking you with emotional scenes that culminate in a happy ending for the characters.
I highly recommend this film for fans of emotional dramas and character driven stories.
Rating: ★★★★★
Recommended for fans of: Dead Poets Society, drama, October Sky (1999), Whiplash (2014), classics
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