Movie Review Good Will Hunting

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Spoiler alerts. 1997 Written by its stars, Matt Damon (Will Hunting) and Ben Affleck, this beautiful story tells of a young genius at Harvard University. Unlike the students there, Hunting is working as a janitor. No one there know how bright he is until he amuses himself by anonymously completing extremely challenging mathematical puzzles left for the students by their professor, played by Stellan Skarsgard. The Professor finds Hunting just as the young man faces a prison sentence for punching a cop who was trying to stop a street gang brawl Hunting got caught up in. The Professor gets Hunting parole on condition that he helps with his course work preparation and undergoes psychotherapy. After Hunting drives a string of therapists to refuse to deal with him when he psychoanalyses them and touches on too many raw nerves in their own lives, he finds himself in the charge of Robin William’s Sean Maguire, who allows Hunting to psychoanalyse him despite Hunting finding many raw nerves to play on, but in doing so, Maguire begins to crack him open and reach him. Hunting is insecure, fearing failure if he reaches too high, and ethical enough to see the negative consequence of his potential career choices. He is also afraid to offer commitment to his girlfriend, Skylar (Minnie Driver). It is Maguire’s willingness to sacrifice tickets to a major baseball game for a love at first site love affair with a young woman, and not regretting being with her when she died young that finally inspires Hunting to take more chances and accept the opportunities life offers him, though he rejects a high calibre career to try to reconcile things with Skylar. Great performance, especially from Williams, Damon and Driver, and a pitch perfect soundtrack really lift this movie above the norm. Arthur Chappell