Sophomoric and over-rated

Rating: 4/10 (10 November 2002)

"Good Will Hunting" was written by and stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in 1997. At the time, Matt was 26 and Affleck, 25. Their young ages are reflected in the movie which is "sophomoric" and totally lacking in depth.
WARNING: THERE MAY BE SMALL SPOILERS
Will Hunting is a twenty year old mathematics genius who works as a janitor at M.I.T. in Boston and has severe psychological problems as a result of abusive adoptive parents. In one scene at the beginning of the movie he almost beats a former high school student colleague to death. At this point I wanted to stop watching the movie. The beating was disgusting.
Will solves mathematical problems with the same ease that the average guy solves crossword puzzles but his psychological problems are an obstacle to utilizing his genius. I shall say no more about the plot except that, as expected from a sophomoric project, the ending is predictable and even banal.
The movie won a number of awards including the Oscar for Best Screenplay (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Robin Williams). In my humble opinion, the awards were a reflection of the appreciation by the movie industry that two inexperienced guys, Damon and Affleck, could pull off a full-length feature film and were not a reflection of any inherent quality in the movie. Robin Williams was much better in "Dead Poets Society" and in "Fischer King" but didn't win any oscar for these performances.
Further evidence of the immaturity that so typifies this movie is the fact that the supporting cast were all chosen from family and friends: Skylar, Will Hunting's girl friend, is played by Minnie Driver who he was dating at the time. Furthermore, Hunting's screen-friends are played by Casey Affleck, Ben Affleck's brother, and by a personal friend, Cole Hauser. Neither of these screen-friends add anything to the movie.
The production crew of Will Hunting is professional and the final product is slick. If you need to spend a quiet afternoon or evening watching a thoroughly forgettable movie then this is for you.