Date: Fri 16-Jan-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Hunting-Playing-Alexander

Full Text:

(rev "Good Will Hunting" for Now Playing)

Now Playing--

"Good Will Hunting" Is Just Like Movie Popcorn: Salty & Satisfying

By Trey Paul Alexander

Will Hunting (Matt Damon), a scrappy lad from the poor streets of South

Boston, is a mental wunderkind. He reads incessantly, quotes Shakespeare,

Chomsky and Freud, and easily solves vexing math questions that stump all the

geniuses at MIT, where he works as a janitor. Yet this brainy giant also has a

lengthy rap sheet and a rough streak, one that threatens to marginalize him

and his giftedness.

Good Will Hunting , currently playing at Bethel Cinema, is an engrossing drama

featuring a little character with echoes of Raymond Babbit, the autistic hero

of Rainman . Just as Raymond's autism made him a whiz with numbers but a

societal outcast, Will's mental prowess could put him in elite company but is

offset by misanthropic feelings towards nearly all but his beer-swigging,

brawling Boston buddies.

An ambitious MIT professor (Stellan Skarsgard) hopes to change that by taking

Will, again in trouble with the law, under his wing as a math prodigy. Will

agrees to the terms of his probation, which include sessions with the prof and

counseling with one of the prof's old friends, therapist Sean Maguire (Robin

Williams). Will, who has scared off many a psychologist, mentally spars with

Sean, expecting to be rebuffed, but this time finds a therapist who will not

back down from him nor dismiss him.

Among the several things that become apparent during the course of this film,

which has been advertised by Miramax as a sort of Dead Poets Society redux,

one that leaps out early is the peppering of the screenplay with a host of

crude references, four letter words and profane chatter. In retrospect, this

should not be surprising: despite the Dead Poets connection, Good Will Hunting

is rated R (for salty language) and comes from the same studio that gave us

Quentin Tarantino and his bleep-this, bleep-that sensibility. However,

Tarantino's knack for capturing piquant, unformulaic dialogue is undeniable

and co-screenwriters Damon and Ben Affleck (who also plays Will's dimwitted

best buddy) have echoed his method and crafted a script that seems to

truthfully convey the lives of these Bostonians.

Also impressive are the performances, which crackle with chemistry amongst the

cast, spurred on by the palpable rapport between Damon and Affleck, real-life

best friends (since grade school) from Cambridge, Mass. Their passion for

their script and these characters is infectious, and extends to their fellow

castmates, including a charming turn by the winning Minnie Driver as a Harvard

co-ed who catches Will's eye, and a wonderfully nuanced portrayal by Williams,

who channels his high-wattage energy into one focused characterization.

Even with the wealth of acting prowess on display, what is perhaps most

intriguing about Good Will Hunting is its fearless exploration of the

complexity of male relationships. Nearly each of the men at some point voices

his passions without inhibition, and it is rare that a film in today's

cultural climate, in which numerous TV characters are coming out of the closet

or exploring homosexuality, seeks to capture the richness of relationships

between guys without it becoming a treatise on homoerotic feelings on

homosexual awakening (though there is no doubt that some will doubtless read

homosexual subtext into all these male bonds).

Good Will Hunting dares to probe into the relationships and conflicts between

Will and his best friend, Sean and Will, the prof and Sean (former college

roommates) and it gives Will and Sean opportunity to verbalize their feelings

towards their beloveds. By unselfconsciously following these complexities and

not glossing over them, Good Will Hunting becomes all the more satisfying.