Good Will Hunting 

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Director: Gus Van Sant
Cast: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck

Who knew that a couple of up-and-coming Hollywood pretty boys (Matt Damon of "The Rainmaker" and Ben Affleck of "Chasing Amy") could write such an amazing script? Their "Good Will Hunting" is a wonderful mix of machismo and melodrama, a story that is just as at home making fart jokes as it is making you cry.

Damon plays Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T. who is a bonafide genius, the real deal. He solves the unsolvable math problems on the grad student hallway board, spews American history like Arthur Schlesinger, and can pick apart oil paintings like an Art History textbook editor. But he's never been out of Boston, hangs out with ne'er-do-wells at the bar and picks fights with the locals. As soon as his brilliance is discovered by the Math Department head at the University, he's thrown in jail for disorderly conduct and has to work out a deal—Will must study math and see a psychiatrist in return for his freedom. Problem is, he's smarter than all the psychiatrists. That's when Robin Williams steps in, himself from South Boston, knowing the language, the vernacular and steeped in the same history of abuse that made Will Hunting such an angry kid. Their relationship is the aorta of this film, both actors turning in the performances of the year (and for Williams, maybe his career) as they do dances around each other, each brushing by each others' hot buttons until the final scene, a catharsis that is painfully poignant.

There's so much good stuff in here that it's hard to list it all: Minnie Driver is terrific, spinning gold with the few lines she has. Ben Affleck is perfect in his role as Will's best friend, not too smart, but wise enough to give him the impetus to change the world. This film is a real winner, one of the year's best—get yourself to the theater and show Hollywood box office analysts that this is the sort of thing that makes a year of dismal moviegoing worthwhile.

—Ian Williams

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