Good Will Hunting cover art

Good Will Hunting Details

1997 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 19,274 members

A South Boston whiz kid elects to clean the halls of learning rather than enter them, slumming his way through life as a janitor at MIT. But his natural ability to unravel complex equations attracts the attention of a professor who won't let him quit, a beautiful Harvard student who wants to save him, a sympathetic buddy who .. Read more

Starring Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver
Director Gus Van Sant
Genres Drama

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Good Will Hunting cover art

Good Will Hunting

A South Boston whiz kid elects to clean the halls of learning rather than enter them, slumming his way through life as a janitor at MIT. But his natural ability to unravel complex equations attracts the attention of a professor who won't let him quit, a beautiful Harvard student who wants to save him, a sympathetic buddy who wants him to escape South Boston, and a counselor who encourages him. A soundly acclaimed, homegrown effort from lifelong Boston buddies Damon and Affleck, who pushed their script through development by disguising it as a suspense thriller.

Starring Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, Stellan Skarsgard, Alison Folland, Cole Hauser, Casey Affleck, Rachel Majowski, Colleen McCauley, John Mighton, George Plimpton, Stellan Skarsgård, Harmony Korine
Director Gus Van Sant
Studio WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 1 min
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Hearing-impaired English
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 22 Jan 2001
Production year: 1997
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (6) of Good Will Hunting

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote and starred in this unmissable, moving drama directed by Gus Van Sant. Damon plays Will, a wrong-side-of-the-tracks janitor at top college MIT, who has an exceptional mind and whose mathematical genius is discovered by one of the professors (Stellan Skarsgård) at the school. However, Will is an emotionally troubled young man, so a psychologist (Robin Williams) with problems of his own is brought in to help him. Skilfully directed and stunningly performed by Damon, Williams, Skarsgård, Affleck (as Will's best friend) and Minnie Driver (as Will's intellectual girlfriend), this is mesmerising from start to finish. It deservedly won Oscars for Damon and Affleck's screenplay as well as for Williams's subtle performance.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006
  • 2 stars out of 4

    The analogue to the narrative on the screen is one about an unknown actor who dreams of being admired, and writes a script with a star part for himself about a boy who is loved by all, however he behaves; in Matt Damon's case, the wish fulfilment worked.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
    • Posted 02 Mar 2006

  • Most helpful member's review of Good Will Hunting

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  • 19 out of 25 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    An excellent movie!

    Unmissable. A great story very well acted. And for me surprisingly so, for as well as Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal, Robin Williams and Helena Bonham-Carter are two actors I avoid like the plague. The former is without doubt a great comedian though repetative in content, and manner. The latter is just 'so' affected. However on this occasion they both discover subtlety.

  • Most recent members' review of Good Will Hunting

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  • 4 out of 5 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Superb cast and dialogue

    The movie is by no means perfect, with the flaw being perhaps the inexperience of the writers, Damon and Affleck, noticeable on further viewings (and the kinda corny title). However there is plenty of excellent dialogue to see carry the film though. The cast is superb, with Williams holding back on his hitherto (largely) trademark manicness. The film is not afraid to go into very personal areas of life, including love, and the well handled therapy process. Watch out for the explanation as why not to work for the military...

    The film looks beautiful. I particularly liked the sense of setting, with fine aerial views and shots of suburban Boston contrasting with those of the university.

    A must for anyone grappling with what to do in life, whether a genius or not.

      • Duncan Toms from Cornwall, UK
      • Posted 24 Feb 2004 22:54

  • News and features

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    Barack Obama - The Power Of Change

    Affleck and Damon are related

    • 12 Oct 2009

    Genealogy experts have discovered movie pals Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are 10th cousins. The actors are childhood friends from the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts and found fame together starring alongside each other in a number of movies, and winning an Oscar each for their 1997 screenplay Good Will Hunting. New research from the New England Historic Genealogical Society has delved back through their ancestry and uncovered a common 10th great-grandfather, William Knowlton, a bricklayer who... Read more

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Rating breakdown

19,274 Member ratings
  • 100
2,807
  • 90
2,478
  • 80
4,729
  • 70
3,610
  • 60
2,693
  • 50
1,427
  • 40
710
  • 30
418
  • 20
271
  • 10
131

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      • A South Boston whiz kid elects to clean the halls of learning rather than enter them, slumming his way through life as a janitor at MIT. But his natural ability to unravel complex equations attracts ...