A slight glibness is easily forgotten in what is often a moving film

Rating: 7/10 (6 July 2011)

Here again is a film to which an extraordinary number of IMDb reviewers react with either jubilant enthusiasm as though it heralded the Second Coming or utter disdain as though all involved should be lined up against the nearest wall and shot. And neither reaction says anything at all useful about the film (or any other these others which elicit the same kind of response) but merely indicates yet again that a sense of proportion seems to elude a frightening number of people. Perhaps I am being too much of the buttoned-up Brit, but such extremes do nothing but gradually and surely devalue the credibility of contributors. In this reviewer's humble opinion Good Will Hunting has one or two forgivable flaws, but is overall an entertaining success. I suppose almost everyone here will know that back story of how two childhood friends and aspiring actors, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, were so fed up with getting nothing but bit gigs that they decided to write their own screenplay. In fact, their determination was such that once their agent had finally managed to find a buyer, they turned him down when they realised they would not have the degree of control over the production they wanted. And judging by what was finally made, they were right to hold out as they did. It would be easier to list what I regard as the few flaws first as they are minor and can be easily overlooked in what is otherwise an entertaining and often moving story. Damon is the tearaway from South Boston who is — this we have to accept as no proof is given — a mathematical genius with a photographic memory but who as an orphan who was regularly beaten by his stepfather finds it impossible to let go and allow someone to get close, in short who has a lamentably low self-esteem. Affleck is one of three childhood buddies with whom Damon likes nothing better than hanging out, getting drunk and getting into trouble with the police. Then there is Stellan Skarsgard as an MIT mathematics professor who discovers Damon's gift and tries to help him, in the process enlisting a college friend, Robin Williams's counsellor who can relate to Damon in that he has never been able to come to terms with the death from cancer of his wife several years earlier. The story is, in fact, quite simple: Williams does, in fact, finally manage to break through Damon's shell and Damon comes good. My slight gripe is that is is all a little glib, a little easy, a little like a textbook. In the real world the Damon character might be expected to be far more of a loner and far less sociable than he is portrayed. And Williams's success in getting through to Damon seems to encounter no setbacks — well, one ever so slight one — before Damon is 'healed' and takes off to claim the love of a good woman who also tried to help him. Given how entertaining the film is and, as I say, even quite moving, my gripes are perhaps a little harsh, for there is a great deal which is outstanding. Even though Damon and Affleck wrote the script, this is in no way a vanity project and it feel more like an ensemble production than anything else. Damon makes his character likable and sympathetic, and you root for him to come good (as, this being Hollywood, you always know he will). Williams shows once again that beneath the manic clown is a rather good actor (he was especially good with Al Pacino in the remake of Insomnia), and he, too, convinces as the psychologist (I think) who gains as much from his encounter with Damon as Damon does. Good Will Hunting is more than credible and the subsequent success of Damon and Affleck (and Casey Affleck, Ben's brother who plays another of the gang) shows this was no flash in the pan. From me it gets a seven.