Good Will Hunting

It is as if Matt Damon and Ben Affleck intend to share the spoils equally. At any rate, Affleck played the lead in "Chasing Amy", while Damon had a supporting role. In Good Will Hunting, whose screenplay they wrote together, it is the other way round. Here Damon plays the maladjusted lout Will Hunting, while Affleck is his best friend Chuckie.

Will is an orphan and lives alone in a rough neighbourhood. He has various odd jobs, and in his spare time he drinks beer with his mates and gets into fights. He is a thug, but a rather unusual one. This is discovered by the mathematics professor Lambeau at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Will works as a cleaner. Anonymously, Will has solved a complicated maths problem that none of the other students have been able to crack. Lambeau catches Will in the act as he stands writing on the blackboard bearing the problem. Will runs off, however. The next time they meet is at a trial where Will is sentenced to prison for assault. Lambeau, however, strikes a deal with the judge. Will avoids prison if he takes lessons with Lambeau, who believes Will is as intelligent as Einstein. At the same time he must see a psychologist, because Will finds it hard to open up. A hard childhood with various foster families has made him a tough nut that no one can get through to.

Another change in Will's life occurs when he meets the sweet and funny Harvard student Skylar, who falls in love with him. He is also very fond of her, but the relationship founders because Will neither can nor dares to give himself fully. Progress is gradually made, however, when Will starts seeing the psychologist Sean McGuire. In fact Will opens up McGuire's traumas just as much as the other way round, but the main thing is that McGuire helps Will a good deal along the way.

The film ends on a rosy note, really Hollywood-style indeed, with Will leaving the good job he has only just pulled himself together to take, in order to follow Skylar, who has started studying in LA. Good Will Hunting thus falls into the category of a proper Hollywood film, even though it makes more serious moves along the way, not least in its portrayal of Will while he is still a cold-hearted sod. Damon and Affleck are almost too clean-cut to play loutish working-class lads, but Damon is nonetheless convincing as Will. For my part, the film could have been a little more unconventional and lively, which was really to be expected from director Gus Van Sant, but for the first time in his career he has truly kept himself in check. Apart from that, the film has many qualities which all in all add up to a good cinema experience.