Better than Good

Rating: 7/10 (12 April 2010)

According to legendary film-writer William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride), it was he who changed Affleck and Damon's treatment from something altogether more conventional into the Oscar-winning screenplay filmed by Gus Van Sant. Whoever is responsible, we should simply be glad the film was made, as it's a very well realised, emotionally satisfying, mostly original drama; from the moving performances, especially from Robin Williams and Minnie Driver, to Van Sant's camera, forever searching for the soul of the scene, this is clearly confident, intelligent film-making.
For all its truths, the film is fantastical: under Danny Elfman's twinkling, otherworldly score, there isn't a single shot of Will (Damon) actually reading one of the books he knows by heart. Indeed, we're never quite clear where Will finds the time to feed his dizzying intellect between working, fighting and drinking. Less forgivable is that Driver's Skylar is rather unfairly banished from the third act, reducing a bright character to a dull device to provide a neat ending.
For my money, in terms of Van Sant's 'crowd-pleasing' output, Good Will Hunting doesn't quite scale the heights of the more acerbic To Die For, or the more politically substantial Milk. But thought-provoking and very nicely played nonetheless.