Review
Steven Devadanam
Staff Writer
Matt Damon has all the luck.
He's already a near-household name for his work in this season's John Grisham smash, The Rainmaker.
As if that weren't enough, his new movie, Good Will Hunting, is poised to be one of the feel-good hits of the year. This is a movie that wasn't even supposed to be a movie.
Damon first wrote the story to fulfill a creative writing requirement at Harvard. Realizing he had the makings of a script, he and friend Ben Affleck worked out a screenplay that centered around a young, delinquent genius living in South Boston with his buddies.
Screenplay in hand, the two were pursuing acting when luck hit for the first time. Affleck, while working on Chasing Amy, pitched the idea to director Kevin Smith. Smith fell in love with it and passed it to Miramax. The script drew the likes of Robin Williams and director Gus Van Sant.
Damon plays Will Hunting, a bit of a hoodlum who spends his time scuffling in the streets of South Boston, drinking with his friends and solving math equations that give NASA scientists nightmares.
Landing a job in MIT as a janitor, Will runs across a blackboard problem left for students, which he solves in no time. He, in true Hollywood fashion, is discovered while solving the problem by Professor Lambeau (Stellar Skarsgard) who wants to tap into Will's genius.
As luck would have it, Will gives him the opportunity by landing in police custody after a brutal fistfight. Will is given the option of jail or counseling by Lambeau. Opting for counseling, he fells five therapists in a row with his arrogantly sardonic antics, mocking both them and their science.
About to give up, Lambeau resorts to his college roommate, Sean McGuire (Williams). Lambeau hopes McGuire, a fellow South-Bostoner, can coax him into channeling his genius into research or think-tank groups.
Meanwhile, Will takes a shine to a wealthy Harvard student, Skylar, (Minnie Driver) who in turn becomes fascinated with him. Intent on self-preservation, he hides his true self from her and Sean, the two people with the tools to save him from self-destruction.
Good Will Hunting has the makings of sap, but the performances by both principal and supporting actors make this movie shine.
Damon's job seems easiest, as he wrote the story. But perfecting dynamics with the likes of Williams isn't exactly child's play. His sense of comic timing is keen, especially with Chuckie (Affleck.) Through his rugged innocence we watch the transformation of a cocky, brainy thug to a developing adult with unlimited potential.
Williams returns to the dramatic brilliance he displayed in Awakenings. Hep plays the fatherly role cautiously, never overstepping the limitations set by a character who can only get so close to his subject. He shows us the change Will creates in him and, in the end, we're rooting for them both.
Driver and Affleck are perfect symbols of Will's life: his future and what he must leave behind. Driver's smugness is real when she lets her guard down; Affleck's Chuckie is most lovable when he tells Will to leave and never return.
All this is wonderfully woven together by Van Sant, whose living, dynamic camera delves into the middle of Will and Skylar's most heated moments and into the midst of South Boston.
Themes of bonding, finding oneself and moving on after tragedy resound in each character, keeping it believable, even if Will's split-second problem solving isn't. Damon, Williams and company do a fine job of making us laugh and making us think. You'll feel compelled to conquer your demons and the world (as long as you're good at math.)
Good Will Hunting opens Christmas Day at local theaters.