Good Will Hunting (DVD 2001)

Most famously known as the movie which launched the big screen careers of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, Good Will Hunting is a quietly beautiful, character driven piece. Damon is eminently watchable as the title character, portraying the mood swings and self destruction required with an engaging charm. Considering its associations with his fame, Affleck is actually little more than an extra - while he is entertaining as best friend Chucky, decked out in a Boston-ghetto uniform of tracksuits and bad hairstyles, he isn't really given much to do.
The thrust of the film is in Damon's struggle with his own genius, and his relationships with the people trying to make him see it and use it. First discovered by College Professor Skellan Skargard, he is bounced from prison by Skarsgard, who hopes to join forces with the wunderkind in order to leave his mark more indellibly on the Mathematical world. As part of the deal Damon enters into therapy with blue-collar shrink Robin Williams, who holsters his manic tendencies to move Will down the road to recovery with warmth and a much gentler good humour. The growing relationship between the two provides the best scenes in the film, from a lovely moment in which they ruminate on love and regret over memories of a baseball game, to the famous payoff of 'It's not your fault.'
William's performances so far outstrips the sap-fests of 'Patch Adams' and 'Jack', and here is almost unrecognisable as the childish Peter Pan character he has been so associated with in other films. Both impossibly wise and disarmingly humble, Williams marshalls the role with working class grit and great intelligence - its a shame he hasn't really been this good since, although he does play against type brilliantly in his recent work (see Insomnia, or One Hour Photo).
The dramatic drive behind Will's change, however, comes from his relationship with Minnie Driver's Skyla. Their growing bond is shown tremendously, managing to be touchingly sweet while also managing to be realistic in its awkwardness and uncertainty - a first kiss is arranged early as a way of getting the pressure off at the end of the evening. The depth of the bond between the two does grow a little too quickly and without explanation - their initial fumblings turn almost without warning into love, with Skyla asking Will to follow her across the country to pursue their relationship. Having said that, the on-screen chemistry between the two is palpable (possibly due the relationship blossoming between the two off it), and they do make for one of the better pairings in recent film.
It could be said that Good Will Hunting is little more than clever series of audience manipulations, and it is true that it is indeed often sentimental. However, it never slips into the kind of cloying sappiness that you might expect from this, and the result is simply pure, mainly unchallenging but extremely well-crafted drama.
This is the kind of film that could have been a best picture contender if it had come after it's stars breakouts, remaining at the same time intelligent and literary while also balancing mass appeal. With uniformly excellent performances, Williams' breakthrough as a proper actor and a script that gave its writers both the fame and the Oscar they deserved, this a film that deserves to be in everyone's collection, if only to remember a time before its stars went about the humdrum business of being regular movie stars. Top notch.

Robin Williams gives a superb performance, & would recommend it. Matt Daemon portrays the character well, loved the story.