Good Will Hunting [DVD + Digital]

And I’m from Boston! Great movie about friendship and dreams with some PG-13 romance thrown in. Lots of cuss words, but the accents are spot on, with Robin William and Matt Damon doing a fantastic job in their roles. Of course, filmed in Boston, the scenes were very realistic (and beautiful).

Great acting ! Great actors ! Touching story ! Real life and gritty . Will make you cry a lot .

Robin Williams a truly gifted actor. May he rest in Eternal peace.

This movie will always be great.

One of my all-time favorite movies on so many levels, and the soundtrack music is splendid. This is a powerful story of a troubled young, lower-working class man (Matt Damon) who is a natural math "savant" and a voracious reader, without ever having gone to college. At one point, well into the movie, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) compares Matt Damon's character (named "Will") to the extraordinary Srinivasa Ramanujan--historically known as "The Man Who Knew Infinity." Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician who made great leaps of contributions in the field of math, without any formal training. The professor who made this comparison, played by Stellan Skarsgard, becomes the "Salieri" to Matt Damon's "Mozart." In this movie, "Good Will Hunting," Will works as a janitor, pushing a broom through the halls of MIT, where all around him, young people of greater economic means are getting a top-knotch education. Will is "discovered" by the MIT professor, soon after the professor puts a difficult math problem on a chalkboard in the hallway, which he hopes one of his students will be smart enough to solve by the end of the semester. I don't want to spoil the fun by telling you what happens next, but let's skip to the fact that Will--due to his "wrong side of the tracks" roots, is not "ready" to participate in society the way we wish we could bring the poor into better economic circumstances. He is on parole for assault and battery, he has the attention span of a hummingbird, and he abhors authority and decorum. Enter Robin Williams, as the "last-chance" psychotherapist brought in to try to help young Will, after a bevy of more "high class" psychotherapists fail to make headway and wind up bruised. The interactions between Williams and Damon will have you, by turns, laughing out loud and then crying and then laughing again: very compelling cinema. Add to all of this the beautiful "pre-Med," highly-educated coed, played delightfully by Minnie Driver, whom Will falls in love with, but tries to push away like everything else in his mixed-up life; and Will's best friend, played by Ben Affleck, who turns out to be the surprise "pivot" around which Will makes his most important decision of the movie. The soundtrack to this movie is haunting -- I bought the CD after seeing this movie for the first time when it first came out. I am reviewing it now, after watching it a third time, years and years later. My love for the film held up, and I noticed new subtleties this time around. Let me list three compelling reasons to see this movie: 1. Watch it for the story: This is character development at its finest, and the story is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally heart-rending and heart-warming. The movie does not stoop to cliche developments, like "poor boy makes it big." The characters will each surprise you in their own way. 2. Watch it for the science: This movie will awaken you to the truly fascinating minds of natural "savants," and how they are not determined by anything related to "nurture." Will had a childhood that could have left him mentally incapacitated. There are other movies about savants: Think "Rain Man," or "Little Man Tate," but neither of those movies treat this issue as seriously as this one does. This movie is on a much more sophisticated level -- more like the movie, "A Beautiful Mind," about the inimitable and recently-deceased Princeton mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. 3. Watch it for the social philosophy: With no partisan leanings whatsoever, this movie will leave you convinced of the need to increase educational opportunity in this country, while reminding the viewer that "giving a man a fish" (to "eat" for one day) is not the answer. Unless you can teach a man how to fish for a lifetime, any "charity" is essentially wasted on him, like the professor's early attempts to "provide" for "poor Will" shows us, in sharp delineation. At the end of this movie, you will find yourself asking how many others like Will might be out there, but will wind up in jail, instead of in college, because they did not pass a chalkboard in the hallway, while pushing their broom. The movie makes clear that throwing money at the problem is a disaster. The world, and the people in it, are more complex than that. You will still be thinking about this movie, LONG after you watch it. Oh, one caveat: My socially-reserved neighbors tell me they could not watch this movie through to the end because of the liberally-sprinkled cuss words in it. So alert-alert that some of the very real characters in this movie speak just as they would in South Boston. But, for heavens' sake, let's forgive them that, so that you don't miss one of the most compelling "coming of age" movies of all time.

Liked

I have what I would consider to be an always-changing tumultuous relationship with this film.To understand why I say this, I guess there’s only one way for me to logically start: The beginning.When I was younger - I’d say barely having entered into my teenage years - I recall this being one of my all-time favorite movies. In hindsight I think I was hypnotized by the young Matt Damon and in some ways I still am.As I’ve gotten older my perception about certain elements of this story have changed while others have stayed relatively the same.‘Good Will Hunting’ has one of my most favored catalogue of characters. They all mostly have some core features about them that makes the interactions they have with one another realistic, but they still manage to have special quirks and mannerisms that make them unique; as a result of this ‘GWH’ feels like a number of pieces to a puzzle finding out how they fit in the bigger picture. It’s only natural to mention that this has one of my favorite performances by Robin Williams - he in particular is rather endearing as Sean - and I miss him so much.Where my feelings start to get complicated and develop schisms is in my thoughts about the ending. You know who I feel sorry for the most the older I am when I watch this? Chuckie. Here we have this character that tirelessly supports a friend of his (that seems unwilling to make changes in his life) who is left in a position where someone else might feel abandoned (Hold this thought for now, because I will be coming back to it) or like their friendship was taken for granted. Further, it seems all too convenient that Will’s transformative choices seem intertwined with a budding romance. . . .and in some ways, that draws out this rarely cynical part of me that I usually have an easy time ignoring. I find myself scoffing at the idea that a woman’s existence can influence someone to just. . . .basically start their life over, and it leads to wildly hyperbolic assumptions about how Will is essentially running away from his problem under the guise of a potentially intimate rendezvous.Here’s where I apply the brakes. Because the truth I have to remind myself of consciously is that ‘Good Will Hunting’ isn’t meant to be a love story - and my tendency to try digesting it as such says more about me than I think it does about the quality of this film.When we meet Will he isn’t portrayed as some scrub that has no intention of doing anything productive with his life. On the contrary - he seems more like someone that is struggling with a crippling self-image and isn’t motivated to give himself room to heal and grow. Not only this, but it’s tactfully revealed over time that he is struggling to cope with some trauma that has had some repercussions of its own. I will say that the presentation of therapeutic interventions is a bit “cookie-cutter” like in my opinion, but this is a commendable effort in letting audience members know that needing these kinds of services at any time isn't a sign of weakness and shouldn’t be viewed as such. Things that can discourage someone from getting treatment - like the montage of professionals that Will almost deliberately self-sabotages his sessions with - are touched on in a gentle (but impactful) way. The “It’s not your fault” scene still manages to give me the chills as I’m sure is a sentiment that other audience members can easily empathize with. Will - a flower that has wilted to the point of its own extinction - is slowly brought back to life by the sun that is his therapist and the water that is his network of unconditional support.Enter: My earlier point about the circle of friends that Will surrounds himself with.There is something quite exquisite about this film that doesn’t get brought up often - and I think it’s due to the fact that this is my praise in regards to something that is 𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 from this film as opposed to included. ‘Good Will Hunting’ has endless opportunities to take shots of toxic masculinity to the point of inebriation, and yet it doesn’t lift a finger once to entertain or even take a swig of it. The ways in which Will and his friends bond with one another are at times a bit immature, but they are mostly harmless shenanigans and aren’t inappropriate or riddled with condescendence. While they never really say it out loud there is a clear amount of love shared between all of these characters...and to me that is just disgustingly wholesome.So. Yes. Sometimes I do feel myself getting a little overprotective of Chuckie and pose with anger on his behalf. But this quickly dissipates when I remind myself that he is truly happy for his friend that is finally just giving himself what is even simply a 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 at thriving. What an absolutely beautiful message to take to heart or store somewhere that is readily accessible.I can’t remember how the post goes, but a while ago I saw one where it boiled down to the idea that films never change, but our perspectives always can.I think ‘Good Will Hunting’ is one of the best examples of this notion coming alive in practice. It sits on this delicate cusp of maturity - touching on themes that both adults and youth can understand - and develops alongside viewers as opposed to separate from them.Maybe tomorrow my feelings will be significantly different from they are now. Perhaps my thoughts - whether with mainly adoration or snideness - will remain entrenched in this hole of ambivalence I have unexpectedly dug and buried myself inside of.Whatever the case, I find comfort in knowing that I will continue moving forward.Sincerely,Your insistently optimistic and pleasantly perplexed host.

Watched it multiple times

Awesome film with great actors !

Not enough can be said about this film. Easily one of the best films to be ever made and probably one of the few films.

Nice addition to my DVD collection. Classic movie and always great to re-watch, so it's nice to have a hard copy of it.

The story is quite shallow for upper aged people. I couldn’t share the kid’s backgrounds.

Matt Damon plays a mathematical genius with a troubled past. But in order for him to reach his full potential he'll need help from someone who can get through to him.Many therapist come and go but none of them is a match for Matt Damon's character. He drives them all away. He'll need some who's not quit by the books, unconventional & bit of a rebel. Enter Robin Williams in his very well deserved Academy Award winning performance.The Oscar that he never got for Dead Poets Society, he got for this film.This movie is worth the watch. If you've never seen it. Then put it on your to do list, cause its a must see.