One of the most deeply and essentially human films ever

Rating: 8/10 (15 March 2008)

Perhaps the only thing that's beyond normal in "Good Will Hunting" is the fact that Will Hunting is a mathematical genius. The rest is about as real as a film can get while still being interesting. To be two hours about a young man and his issues and to be so good says a lot about the acting and the writing of this film: that it's very, very good.
"Hunting" stars Matt Damon as the title role, the enigma that is Will Hunting. Damon is so good at capturing the broad spectrum of his character's emotions. Hunting is written to be a psychological head case who thinks he's figured out what life's about and what people are about and Damon really shows you that. It's a role that would seemingly be played by Leonardo Di Caprio, but we all know what he was busy doing in 1997.
Hunting is a janitor at MIT and when he starts solving some of the most difficult of math equations, he gets discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard). Because Hunting is an orphan and spends most of his time around South Boston getting into trouble with his friends, the plot gets moving when the professor agrees to get Hunting out of jail time with the exceptions that he spend time on math with him and that he go to therapy. After therapy with several top shrinks fails, Hunting is taken to Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) and the two form a unique relationship. The film is in general about the psychological and social journey of Hunting as he begins to understand what life's really all about.
Just as good as Damon though are Skarsgard and of course Robin Williams, who is in a role that seems perfect for him, or at least he makes it his own very much so in this film. His character is so honest, but also very poignant and funny.
It's a simple concept really. You tell the story of a genius who was orphaned and abused as a child and you have a story of untapped potential and of letting go of the past to embrace the future. Damon and Affleck, who are responsible for the film's intelligent screenplay simply tell this in a really complex way, showing it through the relationship between Will and Sean, Sean and Professor Lambeau, and even Will and his best friend Chuckie (Ben Affleck). There's a very wide spectrum and experience there. Sometimes the dialogue does seem a bit too elitist and literary, but most of the time it's natural and just meaningful. Gus Van Sant adds some touches of his own, but this is mostly about the story and the characters, so he succeeds at his job of letting it be about them.
"Good Will Hunting" might now blow you out of the water, but it's touching because it's so human and because the characters could be any of us. Will is the extreme (lonely poor orphan math genius), but we all identify with extremes better in some way, and that's what makes this film successful.