Not So Good Will Hunting

Rating: 1/10 (7 February 2009)

Good Will Hunting is a story about a genius who for various reasons has not been able to take advantage of this and, when we are introduced to him in the film, is working as a cleaner at a university. This guy's name is Will Hunting and he is played by Matt Damon. He solves a ridiculously difficult maths problem and is found by a maths teacher at the school played by Stellan Skarsgård. And it goes from there.
I think that if I had watched this movie when it was released, prior to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's careers, I would've been able to enjoy it much more. Since they have both written the script and play leading roles in the film it's hard not to judge it with this in mind. Neither Damon nor Affleck appear to be people who would pick fights, rather they appear to be people who would avoid something like that to a large extent in order to not danger their good looks. They are very much cast against type, but that ties in with the fact that most likely one of the main reasons they wrote this script was to shape roles for themselves to launch their respective careers. I would have no problem with this, if this was a good movie, which unfortunately, it is not. Minnie Driver also is not good looking enough for her part to be believable.
Gus Van Sant is one of my favorite directors, although I find his later more "experimental" movies - like Elephant, Paranoid Park and Psycho - much more rewarding as opposed to his earlier work which is more conventional and main stream. The main problem with this film though lies within the script, so I suppose he did what he could with what he was given in this case. For a movie to be entertaining, gripping and interesting, you need a conflict. I fail to find such a thing in this motion picture, and I did look for it the entire running time.
It is a mystery as to what you are supposed to feel for the main character in this film. It is hard to feel pity for him since he himself is the main obstacle to getting what he wants, success, money, respect and so on. Many people try to help him but he fights them with all he has got. He has the personality of a spoiled brat (funny enough that in the picture this is the very opposite of what he is supposed to be: A poor bastard who has had to fight his way to survive). It is also hard to identify with him since a very small percentage of the viewers of this film are geniuses who has not had to lift a finger to get where they are.
It's easier to understand the problems of this movie if you compare it to a film about a similar subject which actually works. In Rain Man the main character truly is pitiful. His fate is a sad one since he is gifted but his disability has rendered him unable to interact normally with other people. The film is gripping since the viewer feels for the main character and his brother trying so desperately to reach him and find a place for him in this world.
In a word you can sum up this film as plastic or fake: It's a pseudo-intellectual movie of the worst sort, it tries to go deep but only scratches the surface. A positive: Robin Williams does a great job with his role, he always seems to do better when he is given a serious part to play. When I saw Matt Damon in this film all I could think of was his involuntary part in Team America: World Police. "MATT DAMON!". Even though he was played by a doll in that film, his part seemed more real than in Good Will Hunting.