Unreality Companion: Good Will Hunting

Since today is my official debut on Unreality, I thought that I would try something a little different - a little beyond the expressed scope of this blog (reviewing randomly-selected movies) that might turn out to be awesome.  On Fridays, I will post two articles: one on Unreality, one here.  Unreality will be a more deliberate, purposeful, kairotic review - something planned out in advance and chosen because of what's going on in the world.  The one for this blog will be a companion piece: something chosen to pair with and build upon what I wrote for Unreality.  You can certainly read either article in isolation and not miss anything.  However, I do believe that there is something to be gained from reading both articles: a greater truth in the juxtaposition.  Since my article on Unreality this week is a review of Good Morning, Vietnam, I thought that I would pair that with a review of what I believe to be Robin Williams' greatest film: Good Will Hunting.

Harvard's greatest mathematician isn't a tenured professor.  It isn't even a student.  It is Will Hunting (Matt Damon): a young janitor with a criminal history and a troubled past.  After starting a fight following a little league game, the court wants to throw him in Jail.  But Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), who caught Will solving one of his high-level math problems, speaks on his behalf.  On the condition of attending therapy, the court agrees to remand Will into Lambeau's custody.  Will's contempt for his court-appointed therapists, however, leaves him with only one option to stay out of jail: Lambeau's estranged colleague from Will's side of the tracks - Sean Maguire (Robin Williams).

Good Will Hunting is the perfect storm of excellent writing, direction and acting.  The emotionally riveting script about a blue-collar savant who closes himself off from the world was written by then-unknowns Matt Damon and Ben Affleck while Damon attended Harvard.  Their Oscar-winning script seamlessly transitions between Boston's neo-Cockney streets and the reserved recesses of Harvard's ivory tower.  What is truly astounding, though, is the depth and sophistication that these novice writers were able to give to Will, whose deflections, evasions and anti-social behavior are the highlight of the film.

But it's not what he says that defines Will Hunting.  It's not even how he says it.  It's the things that he doesn't say, that he adamantly refuses to say.  We don't learn who Will Hunting is because he screams "You don't want to hear that I got fuckin' cigarettes put out on me when I was a little kid!  That this isn't fuckin' surgery, that the motherfucker stabbed me," but in the mischievous, crooked smirk when he figures out how to get to Maguire - by suggesting that "maybe [he] married the wrong woman" - and his stunned, cow-eyed silence when Maguire finally confronts him about it.

The film's real revelation, however, is Robin Williams.  His performance is the culmination of the promise that began with The World According to Garp and continued with The Dead Poet's Society.  Williams' Maguire leads a life of quiet desperation: a subtly layered, even-handed man who can connect with the real Will Hunting not because he is a brilliant psychologist, but because he sees shades of himself reflected in the "cocky, scared shitless kid" sitting across from him in his office.  Williams deftly plumbs the depths of his character, keeping the still-fresh pain of a widower just behind his eyes - almost, but not quite, visible.

Beyond Damon and Williams, the film features a remarkable supporting cast.  Ben Affleck gives an incredibly promising performance as Will's friend Chuckie Sullivan.  While it is not quite the breakout performance that Damon had, nor the scene-stealing brilliance of Williams', he does lay down the foundation of what was to come later in his career - of Argo, Hollywoodland and State of Play.  Minnie Driver gives the performance of her career as Will's girlfriend Skyler.  She is earnest in her attempts to break through Will's defenses and is heart-breaking to watch when Will rejects her for it.

Stellan Skarsgård gives as brilliant a performance as the ambitious Professor Lambeau as either of the two leads.  While he cares for Will and does everything in his power to help him succeed - including getting him an interview with the NSA - he does it not because he cares about Will the person, but because he cares about Will the mathematician - the genius who can usher in a golden age of mathematical understanding.  He is exactly the kind of person that Will rejects out of hand - aspiring, self-serving and consumed with what will "owe['s] to [him]self."

In fact, the only fault that I can find with the film is the romantic subplot between Will and Skyler - a story line which is far more necessary to Will's therapeutic development than it is entertaining to watch.  She exists purely because serves a function to the narrative, not because grew organically out of it.  While Minnie Driver delivers an excellent performance, her character is generally annoying and unimpressively developed.  

Good Will Hunting is a truly exceptional film - marking both the career highs of its veteran players (Williams, Skarsgård and Van Sant) and the emergence of an energetic new crop of creative talents (Damon, Affleck and Casey Affleck).  The material is deftly handled and beautifully rendered in its final form.  I would give the film a solid 9/10.