Good Will Hunting. Coming-of-age story.

Rating: Null/10 (4 October 2013)

The skeleton of the movie Good Will Hunting is predictable but the scenes have great dialogue and character development. This is specifically concerning scenes with Sean and Will. The first scene with Will and Sean shows Will with all of the power as he disrespects his new psychotherapist, Sean. Sean quickly resumes power by the next scene they share together, as Sean sits Will down and tells him that he is willing to work with him but only if Will stops hiding behind his knowledge in books and exposes who Will Hunting really is. One of the final scenes between Will and Sean ends with Will crying in Sean's arms, showing Sean as a father figure. So, although this may seem quite predictable, Good Will Hunting still contains scenes between the two main characters, Sean and Will, that are captivating and something viewers are not used to seeing.
The first scene Sean and Will share together starts off with them making small talk. Will's motive is to have Sean hate him, so he does not have to see a therapist. So, Will starts to dissect a painting that Sean has in his office that, coincidentally, Sean painted himself. Will says the painting must represent Sean's loneliness and postulates that he and his wife are distant in some way. The second Will disrespects Sean's wife, Sean pushes Will against the wall and chokes him while telling him to never talk about her again. We see character development with Will during this scene, as he lets his mouth go and expects no consequences. The second he receives a consequence – Sean choking him – Will does not know what to do or say. We see character development with Sean as well. The viewers now know how important his wife is to him. This scene is also shocking. During a first meeting, viewers wouldn't expect a therapist to choke his patient. The viewer, therefore, knows immediately from this moment that Sean and Will's relationship is far from ordinary.
The second scene Sean and Will share together is Sean giving Will a speech about how Will lives his life through books and because of that, he hides behind them. The speech is very compelling because of Williams' acting. He is quite inviting towards Will but at the same time he is teaching him a lesson. Williams expresses this through the tone of his voice – it is very soft and he hardly raises his voice. During the scene, Will takes in everything that is being said to him. He knows not to cross Sean and that is shown through Will not interrupting Sean the entire time he is talking. This speech is one of the pivotal points of the movie because it is an analysis of the main character, Will.
One of the final scenes Sean and Will share together starts with Sean telling Will that it is not his fault that he was beaten as a child. Sean says this as a father figure, which confuses Will because he never had that growing up. Will shrugs Sean off but Sean keeps insisting that it was not his fault. As Sean repeats these lines, Will begins to break down and pushes Sean out of the way. Sean continues and eventually Will gives in and cries in Sean's arms. This is out of the ordinary for a normal therapist-patient relationship. Sean and Will have broken that relationship standard and have entered a friendship level, something both of them need.
The screenwriters, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are actors who coincidentally are both in the movie, so their vision for the characters they play are very clear throughout the movie. This is great for Damon's character, Will, because the movie revolves around him. Having the screenwriters participate as actors in the movie very much enhances the scenes and the character development because it is indeed their vision. However, there are many parallels to the lives of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to the lives of their characters, which one could argue would obviously create good dialogue. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck grew up together and most likely participated in these actual dialogues in reality. Therefore, it would be very easy for them to create and become these characters because, in some aspects, they are these characters. Nonetheless, the scenes with Will and Sean together make the movie worth watching because, as it stands, character development happening before one's eyes is entrancing.