So unrealistic that it hurts

Rating: 6/10 (9 April 2009)

Good Will Hunting is a story about a 20 year old MIT janitor named Will Hunting (played by Matt Damon). The not-so-flashy hobbies of Mr. Hunting include hanging out with his friends, telling jokes, drinking beer and starting fist fights. But you know what? He's also stupefyingly gifted at mathematics. Will seems to know math better than anyone else in the world, including a Field-medal awarded professor with whom he talks in the movie, just because he has heard some MIT lectures and read a couple of books.
Sounds realistic? No it doesn't. What the movie loses in it's realism, it aims to gain in it's emotional power. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote this story of the hardships of a mathematical genius the way they did to make a typical moviegoer identify him/herself with the main character. At it's core, Good Will Hunting is a collection of very finely executed drama: romance, violence, fight against authorities. You name it, GWH has it. The level of acting offered by Damon, Affleck, Skarsgård and Driver is good. Robin Williams is excellent.
The movie contains a reference to Srinivasa Ramanujan, a mathematical prodigy from a poor Indian background, who astonished the world with his unconventional theories in the early 20th century. This real life genius received a big book about advanced trigonometry from his teacher at age 10, came to understand it fully by the age of 13 and dedicated the rest of his life to mathematical research.
If Hunting was portrayed as an eccentric like Ramanujan and if his mathematical abilities were an integral part of the character's way of seeing the world, this movie wouldn't probably have had as much viewers as it ended up having, but it could have had some depth and believability.
Sadly Hunting's mathematical/logical abilities are only portrayed in scenes in which he draws some diagrams on paper or chalkboard. It's understandable that creating a superbly talented mind entirely from scratch is hard for writers who are not mathematical geniuses. You might ask then, why did Damon & Affleck choose to write a story about a mathematical genius in the first place? Had they chosen any other type of talent, they would very probably have been able to create a more convincing character. My guess is that they did that simply because mathematical abilities are often seen as something mystical and mystical abilities draw in crowd to theaters.
I had high hopes for Good Will Hunting. Sadly this movie is embarrassingly childish and sentimental collection of audience luring issues with very little credibility.