Good Will Hunting (1997)

Good Will Hunting (1997)

In director Gus Van Sant's (and Miramax's) inspiring coming-of-age drama and romance, it told about an angry, damaged, misguided, paranoid, and delusional 20 year-old who was provided direction in his life by the primary people in his life. The film's dialogue-rich screenplay (with lots of obscenities, sex-talk, etc.) was written by two of the film's actors, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

Its tagline presented the film's main plot:

"Wildly charismatic.
Impossibly brilliant.
Totally rebellious.

For the first 20 years of his life,
Will Hunting has called the shots.

Now he's about to
meet his match."

The story was about a wayward, struggling, lower-class young man in South Boston with a genius IQ, who worked as an MIT janitor, while on parole. He continued to self-destruct and sabotage himself due to his history of past abuse. He had been orphaned at a young age, and suffered abuse from his drunked and mean foster father. He began to find his way forward through the counsel and advice of his therapist, his girlfriend, and his best friend.

With a budget of 10ドル-16 million, the breakout hit film was hugely successful, with gross revenues of 138ドル.4 million (domestic) and 225ドル.9 million (worldwide).

It received nine Academy Award nominations, including: Best Picture (Lawrence Bender), Best Director, Best Actor (Matt Damon), Best Supporting Actress (Minnie Driver), Best Film Editing (Pietro Scalia), Best Original Dramatic Score (Danny Elfman), and Best Original Song ("Miss Misery" by Elliott Smith), and won two Oscars: Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Robin Williams).

• in a bar near Harvard University, 20 year-old, troubled but gifted genius and MIT janitor Will Hunting (Matt Damon) showed off his own intellect with debate words in order to humiliate a pretentious student named Clark (Scott William Winters), who bragged about his recent learnings:
  • "...Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us? Do you have any thoughts of your own on this matter? Or do you - is that your thing? You come into a bar. You read some obscure passage and then pretend - you pawn it off as your own, as your own idea just to impress some girls and embarrass my friend? See, the sad thing about a guy like you is in 50 years, you're gonna start doin' some thinkin' on your own and you're gonna come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life. One: don't do that. And two: you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a f--kin' education you coulda got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library..."
• at Boston Common on a park bench, a second meeting was held between Will Hunting and Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), a South Boston psychologist and teacher of psychology at Bunker Hill Community College; they both overlooked swan boats on the pond; Maguire counseled Will about experiencing life more than rationalizing about it - he provided advice about really living life instead of using intellectual defense mechanisms:
  • "You're just a kid. You don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about...You don't know about real loss, 'cause that only occurs when you've loved something more than you love yourself. And I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much. I look at you. I don't see an intelligent, confident man. I see a cocky, scared s--tless kid. But you're a genius, Will. No one denies that."

• Will was involved in an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with a graduating Harvard senior from Britain named Skylar (Minnie Driver), wealthy due to a family inheritance; she had plans to attend Stanford Medical School in the fall, and asked Will to join her in California; however, the non-committal Will was reluctant and turned angry when she questioned his willingness to break up their relationship:
  • Skylar: "I just want you to come to California with me...Why not?...If you don't love me, you should just tell me...Why won't you come? What are you so scared of?...You live in this safe little world where no one challenges you and you're scared s--tless to do anything else."
    Will: "You just want to have your little fling with like, the guy from the other side of town. Then you're gonna go off to Stanford. You're gonna marry some rich prick who your parents will approve of and just sit around with the other trust fund babies and talk about how you went slummin', too, once.."
• she responded by confronting him with the truth:
  • "Why are you saying this?...So don't put your s--t on me when you're the one that's afraid....You're afraid of me. You're afraid that I won't love you back. You know what? I'm afraid, too. But f--k it, I want to give it a shot. And at least I'm honest with you."
• during their emotional outburst, she professed her love for him no matter the circumstances of his abused upbringing:
  • "I love you. I want to hear you say that you don't love me. Because if you say that, then I won't call you and I won't be in your life."
• they broke up when he coldly stated back to her: "I don't love you"
• one of MIT's mathematics professors, Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgård), recognized Will's genius mind; he set up a job interview for him; Will was given the opportunity to interview for a lucrative and promising job with the government intelligency agency, the NSA; however, he refused the possibility of an offer with a scathing tirade against the organization - acting against his own self-interest:
  • "Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot....So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure, f--k it, while I'm at it, why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president"
• Will's construction worker friend Chuckie Sullivan (Ben Affleck) challenged Will to do something with his life:
  • "In 20 years if you're still livin' here, comin' over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin' construction, I'll f--kin' kill ya. That's not a threat. That's a fact. I'll f--kin' kill ya...Look, you got somethin' none of us have....You don't owe it to yourself. You owe it to me, 'cause tomorrow I'm gonna wake up and I'll be 50, and I'll still be doin' this s--t. That's all right. That's fine. I mean, you're sittin' on a winnin' lottery ticket. You're too much of a pussy to cash it in, and that's bulls--t. 'Cause I'd do f--kin' anything to have what you got. So would any of these f--kin' guys. Be an insult to us if you're still here in 20 years. Hangin' around here is a f--kin' waste of your time"
• he then added that he hoped that Will would move on with his talents, and find an opportunity for himself; he wished that one day, he might knock on Will's door and discover that Will was not at home, after departing and finding a better life for himself elsewhere:
  • "Let me tell you what I do know. Every day I come by your house, and I pick you up. We go out and we have a few drinks and a few laughs, and it's great. You know what the best part of my day is? It's for about ten seconds from when I pull up to the curb and when I get to your door. 'Cause I think maybe I'll get up there and I'll knock on the door and you won't be there. No 'Good-bye,' no 'See ya later.' No nothin'. You just left. I don't know much, but I know that"
• in the so-called "It's not your fault" scene, both Sean and Will discussed how they were victims of child abuse, and how the trauma continued to affect Will - with Sean's firm assurances that the abuse he was subjected to wasn't his fault:
  • - "It's not your fault."
    - "Yeah, I know that."
    - "Look at me, son. It's not your fault."
    - "I know."
    - "No. It's not your fault."
    - "I know."
    - "No, no, you don't. It's not your fault. Hmm?"
    - "I know."
    - "It's not your fault."
    - "Alright."
    - "It's not your fault. It's not your fault."
    - "Don't f--k with me."
    - "It's not your fault."
    - "Don't f--k with me, alright? Don't f--k with me, Sean, not you!"
    - "It's not your fault. It's not your fault."
    - "Oh, God, Oh God, I'm so sorry."

• the two broke down in tears, and embraced
• as the film concluded, on Will's birthday, Will dropped off a note in Sean's mailbox before driving out of town in his newly-acquired car - a used red, white-topped 1989 Olds Cutlass Ciera; meanwhile, Chuckie drove up to Will's place and happily realized that Will had fulfilled his earlier wish by not being there (and leaving for a brighter future): ("He's not there"); Sean discovered Will's note in his mailbox, explaining why he had left - to fulfill something that Sean had told him earlier: (voice-over) "Sean, if the Professor calls about that job, just tell him, sorry, I had to go see about a girl, well... "; under his breath, Sean quipped:
  • "Son of a bitch - he stole my line."
• the end credits began to scroll above a rear view of Will's car on its way toward California to reconcile with Skylar, to the tune of the Oscar-nominated song: "Miss Misery" (by Elliott Smith):
  • "I'll fake it through the day With some help from Johnnie Walker Red Send the poison rain down the drain To put bad thoughts in my head With two tickets torn in half And a lot of nothing to do Do you miss me? Miss Misery Like you say you do?...