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Good Will Hunting (**********10/10)
Year: 1997
Genre: Drama
Country: United States
Language: English
Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Robin Williams, Stellan Skarsgard, Minnie Driver, Cole Hauser, George Plimpton
Director: Gus Van Sant
Run time: 127 minutes
DVD distributor: Alliance Films
Good Will Hunting remains one of my favourite films of all time. It achieves a stunning balance between drama, romance, comedy and genuine badass intellectualism. Has there ever been a more badass intellectual scene than the one on the video included in this review? The writing in this film is remarkable – maybe the best written scene in the whole movie is one between Robin Williams and Stellan Skarsgard at a pub, a scene all about Ted Kaczinski.
It’s really two things that make this film great. The writing and the acting. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won an Oscar for their screenplay, and there’s no question it was well deserved. And Damon is flawless in the film as Will Hunting, a young man with incredible intellectual gifts who just doesn’t want to live the life of a professional Brain. He hangs out with his friends, gets into fights, boozes it up and works menial jobs, partly because that’s all he has ever wanted to do, and also because he is scared to do realize his full potential.
Soon, he is discovered by a math professor (Skarsgard), who sees in this boy an untapped genius who could change the world. But he needs, somehow, to get through to the troubled Will. Enter the other sensational actor in this film, Robin Williams. He plays a psychiatrist who is entrusted with Hunting, and he’s expected to bring the full potential out of the rebellious kid. It isn’t an easy task. But it sure is a fun one to watch.
Also terrific is Minnie Driver, as the Harvard student love interest who, in her own way, helps Will change his perspective on his gift and on the world. Good Will Hunting is simply a fabulous movie, and a magnificent addition to any DVD collection.
Rounders (*******7/10)
Year: 1998
Genre: Drama
Country: United States
Language: English
Starring: Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Malkovich, Gretchen Mol, John Turturro, Famke Janssen, Lenny Clarke, Martin Landau
Director: John Dahl
Run time: 125 minutes
DVD distributor: Alliance Films
Coming right on the heels of Good Will Hunting was Rounders, which traded off Matt Damon’s sudden popularity and the fantastic teaming of two incredible young actors – Damon and Norton – to elevate what could have been a rather silly and cheesy B-movie to one that was more than worthwhile. Yes, there are some silly scenes. For example, the oreos – anyone think that wasn’t going to factor in the end somehow?
But Norton and Damon are so good as the compulsive troubled gambler and his poker prodigy buddy that I forget the silliness. And although John Malkovich, the Ultimate Bad Guy Poker Player, is a bit of a cartoon, he’s such a fun cartoon that it doesn’t matter. I’ll still enjoy The Cincinnati Kid more as the ultimate poker movie, but I will always hold a soft spot in my heart for Rounders. As the second-best movie in this double feature, out March 2nd from Alliance Films, Rounders makes this single-disc bargain purchase that much better. It’s a must.