Good Will Hunting

I absolutely loved 1997's Good Will Hunting. It was excellent! The fact that actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wrote this movie's screenplay while they were in college makes it even better! This movie made a person think. I tend to not follow movies very well, maybe because I'm sometimes not interested, but this movie intrigued me.

The article Holden Caulfield, Alex Portnoy and Good Will Hunting: Coming of Age in American Films and Novels by Lawrence E. Ziewacz discussed how this movie began. It read "Written by co-stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck- actually begun as a 50 page script by Damon for a screen-writing class at Harvard- he had two semesters to go for his degree- it grippingly details the struggle of Will Hunting, a foster home orphan in South Boston, to discover how to orient himself into the adult world and how to maximize his immense intellectual talent- he is a genius- in the real world." I find it wonderful that this screenplay was done by two college students. It shows what a person can do if they put their mind to something. The article goes on to explain the type of life that Will Hunting (Matt Damon) has lived. I felt that his friends brought a lot of humor to this movie, especially Morgan (Casey Affleck) and Chuckie (Ben Affleck).

I felt this movie was about a very strong, intelligent young man trying to find his way in life. Will Hunting had an extremely difficult childhood. Will also was a genius mainly in mathematics but had an interest in everyone. Even with this amazing ability of his, Will was content with being a janitor and hanging out with his friends every night. I know if I was a genius, I'd be rich, that's for sure!

The article Too smart for their own good? by Patrick McCormick discussed a few different movies with "geniuses" including A Beautiful Mind, Rain Man, and Good Will Hunting. It read "Matt Damon's genius janitor in Good Will Hunting can humiliate MIT professors, but he's about as grown up as the average schoolyard bully." The article discussed how some genius's maybe didn't have the best childhood. The article also read "You get the sense that somebody stole their childhood, or at least all their recess periods. Maybe they could do algorithms at 4, but nobody ever taught them to color or play marbles." I believe these thoughts relate to Will in Good Will Hunting quite nicely. I think that Will became interested in books, math, and other things because of the type of childhood he had.

Will's unique adventure began when Professor Gerald Lambeau started his search for the "mystery math magician" (Will Hunting). I felt that the professor did a great thing by bailing Will out of jail. It was easy to tell that Professor Lambeau saw Will's potential. However, he also saw Will wouldn't be very easy to get through to.

It was humorous to see Will's great sense of sarcasm show in every single one of appointments with psychologists. Will was stubborn and knew he didn't need a shrink to help him. Professor Lambeau made the right move when he decided to invite his old college buddy, Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), into the situation.

I felt that Robin Williams played his part very, very well in this movie. It was easy to see that Sean's plan was to just get Will to talk. I don't think Sean even cared what Will talked about, he just wanted to listen and see what happened from there. It was easy to see that Will hit a nerve when he mentioned that maybe Sean married the wrong woman. I was very well convinced that Sean had been deeply in love with his wife who passed away a few years before. During Will and Sean's laughing session about how Sean's wife used to fart in her sleep made me smile so hard! Sean said that those are the things he is so glad he remembers about his wife. The way he talked about his wife made me want to have a husband like him someday!

I really enjoyed the music in this movie. I also really liked certain scenes that I felt the filming was excellent. The scene when Will was looking out the window on the bus especially impressed me. I also liked that even when one person was in a room, the whole room was scanned so we could get every detail.

I really liked the scene when Sean took Will to the park. Sean spoke about love, marriage, and life in general. I could see that Sean really got through to Will as he told him about experiencing life. He explained that Will reads books upon books about everything, but hasn't really experienced those things. You could see in Will's eyes that he was starting to understand. I was glad to hear Sean scold Will for thinking he knew Sean by looking at a picture.

It was nice to see that Will wanted to go to his sessions with Sean. During this time, Will had found a nice young lady, Skylar (Minnie Driver). Will had explained to Sean that he didn't want to ruin the idea of this "perfect" girl he has met by hanging out with her too much and taking things to the next level. I agreed with Sean when he said no one is perfect. Our imperfections are what make us special. Sean told Will that the question is whether Will and Skylar are perfect for each other, not if they are individually perfect.

I could tell that Will's childhood had a part in his inability to commit to Skylar. I imagine it is very hard for those with difficult childhood's to put there heart out there for someone else to take in. Will seemed so happy when he was with Skylar. When Will told Skylar about his scars and his childhood in their argument I could see how much Skylar really cared for him. She didn't act frightened while he was yelling, she emphasized how much she wanted to be a part of his future. I cried when Will told Skylar he didn't love her. I knew he was lying.

I believe that the professor really wanted Will to have a great future, but he pushed too hard. Will wasn't ready for those meetings that Professor Lambeau set up for him. He needed to figure out what he really wanted to do. That is why I felt Sean was so important in helping Will. He wanted Will to be ready before he made any big decisions.

What I loved most about Good Will Hunting was that Sean sought to help Will, and Will ended up helping Sean as well. Will wasn't just Sean's client, he became a friend. I noticed that Sean called Will "sport" throughout the whole movie. When Will left his last appointment with Sean, Sean called him "son". I could tell Will felt loved for once in his life.

In the end, Will decided on his own what he wanted to do for himself. He fooled both Sean and the audience by going to a job interview and telling Sean about his boss. I loved it when Will left Sean a note saying he had to go about to see a girl. I really didn't think he would go back to Skylar! But I'm glad he did.

I think my favorite part of the movie was when Chuckie went to Will's house and for once Will wasn't home. That is what Chuckie had been waiting for.