Every once in a while, Robin Williams decides to show everyone he really is a great actor. The rest of the time, he does his stand-up routine and calls it acting. I'm happy to say Robin Williams the great actor appears in Good Will Hunting.
I had heard from many friends about Good Will Hunting. Everyone seemed to like it (even the people who disagreed with me about how good Spy Hard was. In this case, I'm inclined to agree with them. Good Will Hunting is the best film I've seen in 12 months. It's my choice for Best Picture of 1997.
The depth of the characters is at the heart of this picture. A young man, abused as a child but a genius in adulthood, is Will Hunting. He scrubs floors at MIT while solving equations on a blackboard that took the professors two years to finish.
Will's life begins to unfold before us as a professor discovers his genius, and attempts to guide Will to a better life. Will has a lot of pent-up anger. The professor takes him to shrink after shrink until they arrive at Robin Williams' couch. Williams slowly draws the young man out of his shell.
Minnie Driver is Will's love interest. Driver, who also delivered a great performance in Grosse Pointe Blank, delivers even more this time. It's Driver and Williams who become the sounding board for Will's problems. But they recognize that only Will can fix what is wrong.
When you hear that Good Will Hunting was written by two of its relatively young stars (Ben Affleck & Matt Damon), one is amazed that people so young have figured out more about life than many twice their age.
