Good Will Hunting

Pros: Honest, great acting, phenomenal screenplay.
Cons: The movie didn't spend enough time on the romance.

This movie is one of my favorites to this very day, not just of 1997. I didn’t really hear much about this movie, except for the fact that it was fantastic. I saw posters and such, and I guess that’s where I first heard about the movie, but I didn’t...

Pros: Wow, wow, wow to the dialogue. Flawless execution by Damon and Williams.
Cons: It's all in your head.

Almost any movie, no matter how far away from serious it may be, has at least one good profound moment. The great thing about Good Will Hunting is that the entire thing feels like one big long profound moment. I may be ahead of myself in saying ...

Pros: Van Sant's Direction, Script, Locations, Cinematography, Editing, Production, Music, & Cast.
Cons: Some Predictable Moments in the Film.

In the film industry, it's always hard to get discovered and sometimes it can take years. Two examples in recent years have been the case for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Two young struggling actors trying to get acting gigs when in 1992, Matt Damon ...

Pros: Acting, dialogue, Morgan is really funny, music!
Cons: Not the most original story in the world...but you'll live...

Elliott Smith, folk-rock singer/songwriter wrote the brilliant song Miss Misery for Good Will Hunting which was nominated for an Academy Award (though "My Heart Will Go On" won. How f*cked up is that?). This all happened when Gus van Sant ...

Pros: Story, acting
Cons: Profanity over-done, at times

Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is a tough kid (age twenty or so) from south Boston, who is prone to fighting and not being able to open up in his romantic relationships. He's also extremely bright and a mathematical genius. He gets a janitor's job at MIT and, ...

Pros: ...
Cons: ...

You certainly don't expect a story to be so enjoyable when two relative unknowns put pen to paper, but with Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon & Ben Affleck did just that.  Then they compounded the deal by staring in the lead roles, bring even ...

Pros: Great script, good performances, witty and wise
Cons: Overstuffed, somewhat scattershot

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to watch Good Will Hunting and forget about the last seven years of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in the tabloids? No Bennifer, no Reindeer Games, no Armageddon. Okay, I'm mostly pissed at Ben Affleck ...

Pros: Performances. Direction. Story.
Cons: Script can be tad 'eh.'

Think back to the times of Good Will Hunting. It was 1997. Matt Damon hadn't yet achieved the title of World's Cutest Boy (Other than Brad Pitt). Ben Affleck was almost a respected actor. There was even a connotation of achievement ...

Pros: Solid theme, most of the acting...
Cons: Didn't connect with me on an emotional level, over long

In 1997, Good Will Hunting came out. It proved to the world that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon actually had talent, in not only acting but writing as well. The film went on to be very successful and won some academy awards, and is generally beloved by ...

Pros: unique and intricate plot, good acting, thought-provoking dialog
Cons: a little less polished near the end

Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Starsgard) is a renowned mathematician and respected teacher at MIT who has just posted an extra credit problem for his class, one that he expects will take them weeks if they can figure out how to solve it at all. But ...

Pros: Writing, acting, music, lighting, directing, setting, costumes, relationships...you name it!
Cons: it ends!

Writing
“Good Will Hunting” survives with its astonishing writing. As with any movie, the writing is the lifeblood. It can make a great idea sour, or a mediocre idea the most admired film ever created. Either way, if the writing’s good you’re...

Pros: Robin Williams can do something besides comedy
Cons: Matt Damon as a genius/thug? One or the other perhaps. Not both.

The premise of this movie seems to have been borrowed from a TV sitcom of the 60s. I can't recall the name of it, but it centered around a guy who was a college drop-in. He snuck into classes without enrolling and made his living selling ice-cream on...

Pros: Great acting, very well written script, great score
Cons: A little to silly at times.

This was a very nice surprise. After watching the excellent documentary Tough Guise, in which this film was mentioned, I was suitably impressed by the acting to pick it up for the weekend. I wasn't expecting much when I found out who wrote it, no less ...

Pros: good acting, some funny scenes
Cons: not enough character development, pat ending

People around Boston, by and large, adore "Good Will Hunting."

I'm not one of them.

In my (humble) epinion, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck should stick to acting, and leave screenplays to someone else.

As much as I would like...

Pros: Outstanding performances; brilliant screenplay and concept; beautiful direction; genuinely emotional.
Cons: Some might find it melodramatic or overly vulgar (it's really not, though).

Most genres use story as a device, backdrop, or a convenience, but drama is a genre all about story. In its most basic form, "Good Will Hunting" is as classic a drama as they come, but like its hero, it manages to exceed well beyond the standards to the ...