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"Good Will Hunting"

When you are hot you're hot. Matt Damon has hit Hollywood forest fires with a velocity that makes you wonder if the Hollywood press machines are very much alive and well. First "The Rainmaker" and now "Good Will Hunting" and not far off, Steven Speilberg's "Saving Private Ryan".

The fact that he is handsome, talented and brainy has made him the hottest commodity for top rank directors. You wouldn't know that Tom Hanks stars in "Saving Private Ryan" since all the hype is for Matt. In "Good Will Hunting", he is the Will Hunting of the title, a destructive math genius augmented by his best friend Chuckie, played by Ben Affleck (Who by the way, the two of them wrote the screenplay. That's one way of getting good parts.).

When Professor Lambeau (played by Stellan Skarsgard of "Breaking the Waves") poses a difficult problem on a blackboard outside his classroom and it is mysteriously resolved, the scene is set for the poor scrappy part-time janitor Will Hunting to start grappling with the idea of whether he wants to be a full-time roughneck or research his brilliant mind. Here comes Robin Williams to the rescue as the therapist who will nurture Will and help him find himself. Williams who tried so hard to be funny in "Blubber" tries harder to be dramatic in this flick. Where he was so enjoyable in "Dead Poets Society" and "Awakenings", here he just repeats a role too familiar to his fans. Minnie Driver, as a pre-med student provides the love interest. Matt's and her chemistry fused in such a way to have it transcend to their private lives. Ben Affleck, so effective as the buddy in this story, only makes you want to see more of him after his exciting work in "Chasing Amy". He is now linked romantically to Gwyneth Paltrow. With Matt and Ben at the helm of this project, you'll enjoy the movie despite its gaps of contrived conviviality. The current bathtub romp by Matt Damon in Vanity Fair magazine for his photo shoot and interview by David Kamp, who said of this media dream boy ,"Because of his newly minted phenomenon, it was remarkably easy to talk to him, without the usual wariness and paranoia of celebrity subjects."

Reference:
Good Will Hunting
Miramax
Produced by: Lawrence Bender
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
With: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, Stellan Skarsgard
Screenplay by: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck
Rated: R
Limited release NY/LA 5 December 1997