It never veers off that steady outline which other films have produced.
Critics have some nasty thing against films which rehash the same storyline from another film.
However, as with the aforementioned horror film, when done well, I don't like to focus on what films it has copied from. Call it more of a homage to those previous films. I try never to dock a film for unoriginality, especially if it does it well. Good Will Hunting has been done before, many times. However, this version is also one of the best coming of age stories I have seen in a long time.