One could justifiably argue that Ben Affleck’s work as a screenwriter or director is much better than his job as an actor. He has showed up in a number of really weak films like Daredavil and Gigli, but has recently redeemed himself by successfully directing Gone Baby Gone. Matt Damon in the other hand hasn’t performed in as many crappy movies as Affleck, but he’s nowadays more known for his role of Jason Bourne in Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass’ flicks than for anything else. Not too many people know that eleven years ago, back in 1997, both Damon and Affleck wrote the script of a non-popcorn movie production, Good Will Hunting, which isn’t perfect but is capable of effectively developing some interesting ideas and combine them with good performances to create a film that won two Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay and supposed director Gus Van Sant’s breakthrough into the American audience.  

Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is a janitor from south Boston working for the MIT. Will has a gift for mathematics but he’s never received any education and doesn’t want to exploit it. He and his friends from Southie, Chuckie Sullivan (Ben Affleck), Morgan O’Mally (Casey Affleck) and Billy McBride (Cole Hauser) get involved in a fight with some old school-rivals which ends up with Will being sent to jail. He has previously been able to prove his innocence but this time the judge condemns him for having assaulted a police officer. Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), a talented mathematician who’s very proud of having won the Field Medal (like the Oscars for math), finds about Will’s talent and tries to help him get out of prison and use his gift for the good of science. In order to do that, he has to arrange some meetings between young Mr. Hunting and a psychologist but he’s unable to find a therapist who wants to work on the case for free. Finally, he contacts an old friend from college, Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) who takes the patient and develops a peculiar relationship with him.

First of all, it’s obviously necessary to highlight the movie’s remarkable screenplay. Some of the dialogues are extensive yet never boring and a couple of them resemble Pulp Fiction in the way the characters speak of certain subjects. The ideas developed in the film are interesting and the different conceptions of success discussed by psychologist Maguire and Professor Lambeau –the former sustained a more philanthropic position while the latter a more materialistic one- aren’t innovative but cause the viewer to think about them for a while. The discussions can be appreciated as the classic clash between reason and idealism, between mind and heart. Good Will Hunting treats a number of themes which include a main character who is afraid of failure and to be rejected by a society which he’s been led to distrust. The movie states that some people just don’t want to take any chances and never really live their lives; they never trust in themselves until finally somebody trusts in them. Another interesting subject the movie develops well is the impact people can have between them. It’s not only Sean who straightens up Will and makes him actually do something with what he has and for what he loves; Hunting also opens Maguire’s eyes by showing him that life isn’t over because his wife is dead, and he can start over. The psychologist took his chance and married the right woman but is as frightened as Will when it comes to take risks again. The problem with the script is that the ending feels too Hollywood-like; it’s predictable and perfectly packaged, I don’t want to discuss too many details but you probably know what I mean. Nevertheless Affleck and Damon evidence they’re talented writers who can go into deep subjects without loosing the viewer’s attention in the way.

Matt Damon also proves he’s a good actor giving what’s probably the best performance of his career. He shows comfortable with his character and makes it believable for the audience. Some of the attempts of developing the protagonist aren’t very effective and although we have some information about him, I felt eager for a little more. This isn’t a serious problem though because most of what happened to Hunting in the past is not hard to deduce (he comes from a bad neighborhood, was raised by foster parents, etc). Robin Williams is also OK but his character of the redeemer seems to me the same in every movie he’s part of. He got an Oscar for his role of Sean Maguire, who is a complex person but –and this is maybe because I’ve watched some of Williams’ movies after Good Will Hunting- every time he’s on-screen, we see Williams, not Maguire. Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgard and particularly Minnie Driver, as Will Hunting’s beloved, add some decent performances to the movie.

Direction by Gus Van San (Finding Forrester, Elephant) is solid and he uses some good camera angles during the film. He doesn’t use too many close-ups during the dialogue sequences but chooses to slowly rotate the camera to show the characters’ feelings. The director also employs the typical slow motion during the fighting scene to emphasize human brutality and all the repressed feelings Will and his friends are going through. There’s one particular scene which is worth mentioning and involves Will Hunting and his therapist. Will finally breaks down in front of him admitting he’s not perfect and regretting his background and what he had to go through; he leaves his arrogance aside and accepts his flaws. The style achieved for the film is good and although some of the music is cheesy it serves the purpose of generating a good feeling in the audience. Visually there are a couple of remarkable shots for the way they’re illuminated and the pacing of the film is just fine, the movie doesn’t feel long although it lasts over two hours.

Ultimately, Good Will Hunting is a good film which manages to tell a pretty interesting story in a conventional way. Its intention isn’t to innovate and its ending won’t surprise any spectators but it is worth watching because of the way it presents the protagonist and some subjects, which have eventually affected us all. Some of the premises –like Will being a janitor and at the same time a genius- the movie presents feel forced and are a little hard to believe but as a whole, the motion picture has solid performances, a good director and a script –some people didn’t believe Damon and Affleck had actually written it- which little by little deepens into a complex, genius, arrogant yet good in the inside Will Hunting, a character overwhelmed by the responsibilities that come along with talent he didn’t ask for.

© Mauricio Kahn

Lima, Feb 2008

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