Good Will Hunting: Difference between revisions

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Set in Boston, Massachusetts, the film tells the story of Will Hunting (Damon), a troubled Irish-Catholic young man who is gifted with extraordinary mathematical skills (as well as being a prodigy and an autodidact), but works in a menial janitorial job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Prone to violence and extremely loyal to his friends Chuckie (Affleck), Morgan (Casey Affleck) and Billy (Cole Hauser), Will has pushed away everyone else who's tried to get close to him because of his abusive past and introverted personality.

After solving a complex mathematical equation at the campus, Will is discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), a Fields Medal-winning mathematician who sees a lot of potential in Hunting, and sends him to psychiatrist Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), while at the same time, Hunting strikes up a relationship with the beautiful Skylar (Minnie Driver), who is also confronting her own personal problems. Will must learn to overcome his deep fear of abandonment (with Maguire's help) in order to learn how to trust and love the people who care about him.

 

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Almighty Janitor]]

* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]:

{{quote|'''Gerald:''' Where will you go?

{{quote|'''Will:''' How do you like ''them'' apples?}}

* [[Award Bait Song]]: "Miss Misery".

* [[The Big Board]]: In Lambeau's classroom and the hallway at the college.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Will's back story.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Morgan among his friends.

* [[California Doubling]]: Toronto stands in for Boston in a handful of scenes.

* [[Critical Psychoanalysis Failure]]

* [[Delusions of Eloquence]]: Chuckie when he poses as Will in the job interview.

* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: Will is an advanced student of them and pulls several off successfully. He also tries using one on [[Robin Williams]], to avoid talking about his own feelings. {{spoiler|This is a subversion, though, as despite the words cutting Williams' character at first, the next time the two are together, Will gets a Lecture thrown right back at him that is something of a combination of [[Shut UP, Hannibal]], [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]], and a [[Hannibal Lecture]] itself}}.

* [[Hollywood Hype Machine]]: Affleck and Damon won an Academy Award for their script, and promptly became the biggest stars in Hollywood. They've parlayed that success into different avenues over the years, with Damon appearing to be much more critically and commercially consistent than Affleck (whose career petered out for a period of time in the mid 00's).

* [[Hollywood New England]]

* [[Improv]]: Much of [[Robin Williams]]' monologue about dating was ad-libbed.

* [[Overshadowed by Awesome]] / [[Can't Catch Up]]: Lambeau, by Will. Agonizingly lampshaded by Lambeau himself.

* [[Photographic Memory]]: Played with. Maguire talks with Will about his ability to memorize books and analyze information ridiculously fast, but not know the feelings, emotions and sensations that result from a lifetime of personal experiences.

* [[Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic]]

* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: Several times, including Chuckie's speech to Will, where he explains that Will is an idiot if he gives up the opportunities he's been handed.

{{quote|'''Chuckie''': Let me tell you something: if you're still here in twenty years, breaking brick with me, I'll fucking kill ya. And that's not a threat, that's a promise.}}

* [[Single-Issue Psychology]]: Will (who has successfully fended off helpful and unhelpful psychotherapy throughout the movie) turns a corner (and successfully changes his outlook on relationships) at the end of the film by exchanging graphic memories with Sean about their respective abusive childhoods, then crying as Sean repeatedly tells him, "It's not your fault." It was cited by some critics as the one thing in the movie that seems like it was written by people as young as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were at the time.

* [[Southies]]

* [[Therapy Is for the Weak]]: Will's attitude at the beginning of his court-mandated therapy sessions.

* [[You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You]]

 

[[Category:Academy Award]]

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]