Moving film with a great script and outstanding performances by Damon and Williams.

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2007)

Will Hunting is part of the elite of the intellectual class: a true genius. He's one of those people who can go from step A to step C without even having to bother with step B. Unfortunately for Will, he's also just a janitor. Not having had the privilege of the right education, he struggles to get by in life, even with his intellectual potential. Growing up as an orphan and raised in the lower class neighborhood, he has a lot of issues which cause him to have a violent and rebellious nature. The story of 'Good Will Hunting' begins when Will is discovered by a prestigious Math Professor at the Harvard University. He promises to work with Will if he in turn goes to see a psychiatrist every week to help him with his problems. We see how everyone deals with the changes in Will's life and how this affects Will himself. Will he be a blatant success? Or will his rebellious nature and his internal struggle keep him from reaching his potential?
This is pretty much the main storyline. What makes GWH so good is that there are also a lot of smaller plot lines that are almost as interesting to follow. They are well written and never feel like filler (they do in a lot of other movies). What everyone probably knows is that this film was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck themselves. I always found it odd that two people who are (I assume) unexperienced writers can come up with such a wonderful, fresh and well constructed script. When there are so many full-time writers out there who are not able to produce a decent script. Anyway, Matt and Ben got the Oscar for the script and they deserved it too. It's one of my favorite scripts of the nineties and that was a great decade for movies.
Now enough about the script. How about the performances, you say. Well, they are great. Robin Williams gives (maybe) his best performance ever and Matt Damon is also very memorable. I still think his performances in The Talented Mr. Ripley was better, but this is a close second. Minnie Driver was also good, as she usually is. Ben Affleck and the rest of the cast deliver a decent performances. He has failed to impress me even a single time I'm afraid.
Besides the acting and the script, there were several other things that stood out for me. The music for instance. No big theatrical things but sober and modest. It fitted very well with the overall tone of the film.
As for it's ranking on IMDb. Why is it not in the top 250? It should be. I hope it will soon take his righteous position back.
9.1/10