Product Description: Will Hunting is a headstrong, working-class genius who's failing the lessons of life. After one too many run-ins with the law, Will's last chance is a pyschology professor, who might be the only man who can reach him. Genre: Feature Film-Drama Rating: R Release Date: 4-MAR-2003 Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com essential video: Robin Williams won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck nabbed one for Best Original Screenplay, but the feel-good hit Good Will Hunting triumphs because of its gifted director, Gus Van Sant. The unconventional director (My Own Private Idaho, Drugstore Cowboy) saves a script marred by vanity and clunky character development by yanking soulful, touching performances out of his entire cast (amazingly, even one by Williams that's relatively schtick-free). Van Sant pulls off the equivalent of what George Cukor accomplished for women's melodrama in the '30s and '40s: He's crafted an intelligent, unabashedly emotional male weepie about men trying to find inner-wisdom.
Matt Damon stars as Will Hunting, a closet math genius who ignores his gift in favor of nightly boozing and fighting with South Boston buddies (co-writer Ben Affleck among them). While working as a university janitor, he solves an impossible calculus problem scribbled on a hallway blackboard and reluctantly becomes the prodigy of an arrogant MIT professor (Stellan Skarsgård). Damon only avoids prison by agreeing to see psychiatrists, all of whom he mocks or psychologically destroys until he meets his match in the professor's former childhood friend, played by Williams. Both doctor and patient are haunted by the past, and as mutual respect develops, the healing process begins. The film's beauty lies not with grand climaxes, but with small, quiet moments. Scenes such as Affleck's clumsy pep talk to Damon while they drink beer after work, or any number of therapy session between Williams and Damon offer poignant looks at the awkward ways men show affection and feeling for one another. --Dave McCoy
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Brand: Disney EAN: 9786305216087 Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC ISBN: 6305216088 Label: Miramax Languages:EnglishOriginal LanguageDolby Digital 5.1 Manufacturer: Miramax MPN: 717951000552 Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Miramax Region Code: 1 Release Date: December 08, 1998 Running Time: 126 minutes Studio: Miramax Theatrical Release Date: January 09, 1998
Customer Reviews
Must see
This movie is a must see. Its so hard to believe that the entire movie was made on such a low budget. This was Matt Damon's big start into movies, along with Ben Afflect. Ben is nothing to write home about in this movie but Damon is excellent. This movie is all about the plot; not the scenary or special effects.