The crowning achievement of Robin Williams’ storied career is not the Mork and Mindy sitcom where he was first discovered. It’s not the numerous leading roles he has received recognition with, such as Best Lead Actor Academy Awards (Good Morning, Vietnam, The Fisher King, Dead Poets Society). It was not in the numerous timeless comedies we’ll watch for ages (Mrs. Doubtfire, The Birdcage, Jack, Robots, Night at the Smithsonian, Jumanji). It’s not for his creepingly effective turns in movies like Insomnia, One Hour Photo, The Night Listener, or heartwarming dramas such as Awakenings. Heck, it was not as the voice of The Genie in Aladdin. Instead, it is a community college professor who has not been able to move on from his life after losing his wife to cancer in Gus Van Sant’s (Milk, Drugstore Cowboy) surprise 1997 hit Good Will Hunting. Nevertheless, the film earned Williams the only Oscar of his career. And he’s not even the best part of this movie.
With just a few co-starring roles very early on in each of their careers, best friends and future Hollywood A-Listers Matt Damon (Invictus, The Martian) and Ben Affleck (Argo, Gone Girl) created an original screenplay about an abused foster child turned 20-year-old man who is also a reluctant academic genius, a janitor, a loyal friend, someone who feels he has no purpose in this world, and a kid full of anger and self-hate that he not only cannot stay out of trouble; he is drawn to it. That individual is Will Hunting (Damon), who manages to create the most complex and interesting onscreen character of the entire year in his first starring role. The $10 million budgeted movie earned a cumulative worldwide gross of over $225 million while landing the movie 11 total Academy Award nominations, including wins for Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor) and Best Original Screenplay.
Having watched this movie at least five times over the last 20 years, it does stand the test of time. However, it’s one of those movies where I’ll never be able to replicate that first viewing. It was a movie that I knew absolutely nothing about when I saw it in the theater other than it was getting rave reviews and starred two of Brendan Fraser’s co-stars from School Ties (one of my favorite movies of all time at that point), including Damon, the rat in that particular movie who turned on the hero. Even the title was misleading; how perfect that title is after viewing the film.
The shocking suicide of Robin Williams less than 20 years after the release of this movie is one of the more upsetting Hollywood tragedies. Williams’ range as an actor is uncanny. He was highly successful in comedy, drama, and suspense. He could effectively play a goofball with a tender side (Patch Adams), a creep who is so slimy that you can feel your skin crawl (One Hour Photo), and a father and husband completely distraught after the untimely death of his wife and children (What Dreams May Come). He can do each of these in ways that feel effortless. But, for me, his crowning achievement was his role as Sean, the therapist who finally penetrated Will’s heart when no one else had been able to do that. Damon and Williams’s chemistry in this film was electric, and, unfortunately, the two could never team up again.
As mentioned, Damon stars as Will Hunting, the gifted mathematician who also can remember everything he reads and sees. But he chooses not to capitalize on his God-given gifts and instead works jobs as a janitor or a bricklayer, believing those are honest jobs. In contrast, he questions all ramifications of a job where entities/businesses could use his skills for evil and not good. Not only does his mind never rest, but he is always trying to forecast the future, not just his actions but also unfairly predicting the feelings of others. He is unable to stay present in the moment. It is something he has never been taught, and there is nothing in his past that has suggested that staying present in the moment can even be something that would be beneficial to him. As a result, he lacks many practical life skills and lives his world through his readings rather than experiences.
As he approaches his 21st birthday, we learn much about Will’s past. In and out of foster homes, abandoned and abused by those who should have been taking care of him, Will has developed an attachment disorder from people and has a history of violence (primarily assaults) that has led to multiple arrests. But he has gotten each of the previous cases against him thrown out in a court of law because he can defend himself and reference cases from past United States history where precedents have been set that prosecuting attorneys don’t even know about, forcing a judge to find no reason but to dismiss the case. He is the king at finding loopholes. But when he is arrested for an assault that also resulted in him striking an officer, a judge throws the book at him and sentences him with $50,000 bail.
Rewind a little bit. I mentioned that Will works as a janitor. There are many places where a janitor can get a position, but Will chooses to work at MIT, one of the most prestigious technical universities in the entire country. At MIT, we meet Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard – Melancholia, Amistad), a high-level math professor who, one day, puts a nearly insolvable math problem outside of his classroom with the promise of high recognition to the student who does solve it. One night, Will solves the math problem during his shift. However, it remains a mystery until Professor Lambeau challenges this mystery person by putting a second, equally as tricky, problem on the board. This time, the professor and his assistant catch Will as he finishes solving the problem. Lambeau gets the courts to release Will on bond under his supervision. To stay out of jail, Will must meet with him for a couple of hours a week until his 21st birthday, helping him solve math equations. And he must also meet with a therapist until that time as well. Hence, the relationship between Will and Sean.
Sean, Professor Lambeau, Chuck, and Will’s new girlfriend Skylar (Minnie Driver – Circle of Friends, Grosse Pointe Blank) all try to help Will see his potential and to help him use his gift so that he can do something more besides being a janitor or a bricklayer. But Will feels loyal to these honest professions. And rather than seeing the good that one of these other higher-paying professions or viewing them as an opportunity to affect more people, more grandly, he hides. Rather than allowing himself to be known by those closest to him, he pushes them away when they get near. Honestly, for a movie that’s as moving and affecting as this one and has you rooting for its protagonist, Will too often throws us for a loop by saying some of the cruelest things to those close to him that you will ever hear in cinema.
Ultimately, this is a coming-of-age story. But it’s not like one that you’ve ever seen before. The screenwriting is so adept. And it’s the actors playing the characters on film, so nothing gets lost in translation. While Van Sant did the directing, he had the perfect piece of material in his hands for him to stay on script. And while this movie does stand the test of time after multiple views (even 20 years after its release), this is one of those movies where you’ll never be able to replicate your initial viewing. You’ll know when and where you were when you saw this movie for the first time, how scene after scene after scene hooked you, and how some of those came out of nowhere and were so well constructed that they left your jaw hung ajar.
A perfect movie.
Plot 10/10
Character Development 10/10
Character Chemistry 10/10
Acting 10/10
Screenplay 10/10
Directing 10/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 10/10
Hook and Reel 10/10
Universal Relevance 10/10
100%
A+
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