History Film / GoodWillHunting

* [[CareerVersusMan Career Versus Woman]]: Sean and Gerald are shown on the opposite sides of this. Gerald is an award-winning mathematician with a prestigious tenure, but he also is shown to have meaningful relationships with other people outside of his workplace. Meanwhile Sean had the opportunity to pursue a far more prestigious career in his field, but he teaches basic psychology at community college because he settled down with his wife. Of the two Sean is by far more content with his life.

Set in UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}, 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. Moody, prone to violence, and extremely loyal to his friends Chuckie (Affleck), Morgan (Creator/CaseyAffleck) and Billy (Cole Hauser), Will has pushed away everyone else who's tried to get close to him due to his abusive past and introverted personality.

After solving a complex mathematical equation on campus, Will is discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau (Skarsgård), a Fields Medal-winning math instructor who sees a lot of potential in him, and sends him to psychiatrist Dr. Sean Maguire (Williams). At the same time, Will strikes up a relationship with Skylar (Driver), a beautiful Harvard undergraduate who's confronting her own personal problems. With Maguire's help, Will gradually learns to overcome his deep fear of abandonment in order to trust and love the people who care about him.

* CatharticCrying: Having suffered abuse as a child, the titular character has learned to effectively suppress and cover up his true emotions. In the end, he finally allows himself to open up and breaks into tears when the psychiatrist makes him realize it was not his fault.

* {{Jerkass}}: Will is not a nice person. The film has him get better with Sean's guidance.

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Something Sean goes out of his way to point out in his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Will is that, while he may have a lot of book knowledge on a wide range of topics, he has no practical experience with ''any'' of them, and as such doesn't really know what he's talking about.

* {{Forgiveness}}: Lambeau and Sean were friends once, [[WeUsedToBeFriends but now are barely on speaking terms. Late in the film, they finally reconcile their years of differences.

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* HisOwnWorstEnemy: It becomes increasingly apparent that Will's own actions are what keep him stuck in his dead-end lifestyle. While he is a prodigy who secretly prides himself on his genius, he constantly sabotages any opportunity he gets to truly make a change in his life, culminating in him viciously dumping Skyler even though she genuinely loved him (and he genuinely loved her).

* JerkassHasAPoint: Clark, the snotty Harvard student that Will outwits at the bar, does bring up a legitimate point in that he was still going to earn a degree and set himself up for future success while, at the time, Will was doing nothing with his life and wouldn't be successful in the future (a sentiment shared by pretty much every other character in the film.)

* JustThinkOfThePotential: Lambeau makes the argument that pushing Will to contribute his genius to mathematics could be as huge as [[UsefulNotes/ScientistsAndInventors Jonas Salk or Albert Einstein]]. Sean retorts that the [[MadBomber Unabomber]] was also a child prodigy who went to Harvard.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Lambeau feels this way about Will. In an interesting variation, he agonizes over it not so much because he's jealous but more that he feels Will might just throw it all away.
* PhotographicMemory: Played for Drama. Sean talks with Will about his ability to memorize books and analyze information quickly, but not to know the feelings, emotions and sensations that come from a lifetime of personal experiences.

* {{Forgiveness}}: Late in the film, Lambeau and Sean reconcile their years of differences.

* EyeContactAsProof: Defied when Skylar asks Will to move to California with her. When Will refuses, Skylar demands he look her in the eyes and tell her he doesn't love her, and if he does she will break up with him. Though Will is in love with her, he looks her directly in the eyes, tells her he doesn't love her, and leaves. Skylar is left in tears.

* HappinessInMinimumWage: Presumably, Will makes a little more than minimum wage in construction and janitorial work, but it's much less than he could be making with his math talent.

* SingleIssuePsychology: Will resists several psychotherapy methods throughout the film, and doesn't contribute at all to his own healing. Near the end of the film, he and Sean exchange graphic memories from their abusive childhoods. Sean tells him "it's not your fault" repeatedly until Will breaks down, and seemingly all of his issues go away at once.

* DidntSeeThatComing: Will decides to rill Sean over his wife during their first meeting, expecting to easily play him like the previous therapists. As expected, Sean gets defensive, but when further pushed, he instantly puts Will under a choke-hold and makes it clear he ''will'' kill him if he ever again disrespects his wife. Will is not only shocked by such reaction, but clearly panicked.

Nominated for nine UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning for Best Supporting Actor (Williams) and Best Original Screenplay (Damon and Affleck). See also ''Film/FindingForrester'', another Gus Van Sant film about the discovery--and self-discovery--of an intelligent but alienated young man.

Nominated for nine UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning for Best Supporting Actor (Williams) and Best Original Screenplay (Damon and Affleck).

See also ''Film/FindingForrester'', another Gus Van Sant film about the discovery (and self-discovery) of an intelligent but alienated young man.

!! This film contains examples of:

Nominated for nine UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning for Best Supporting Actor (Williams)

''Good Will Hunting'' is a 1997 American [[ComingOfAgeStory coming-of-age]] drama film directed by Creator/GusVanSant, starring Creator/RobinWilliams, Creator/MattDamon, Creator/BenAffleck, Creator/MinnieDriver, and Creator/StellanSkarsgard. Damon and Affleck also wrote the screenplay.

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/good_will_hunting.jpeg]]

Set in UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}, 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. Moody, prone to violence, and extremely loyal to his friends Chuckie (Affleck), Morgan (Creator/CaseyAffleck) 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 (Skarsgård), a Fields Medal-winning math instructor who sees a lot of potential in him, and sends him to psychiatrist Sean Maguire (Williams). At the same time, Will strikes up a relationship with the beautiful Skylar (Driver), who is also confronting her own personal problems. With Maguire's help, Will gradually learns to overcome his deep fear of abandonment in order to trust and love the people who care about him.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/good_will_hunting_poster_3148.jpg]]

''Good Will Hunting'' is a 1997 drama film directed by Creator/GusVanSant, written by (and starring) Creator/MattDamon and Creator/BenAffleck and also starring Creator/RobinWilliams.

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 (Creator/CaseyAffleck) 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 (Creator/StellanSkarsgard), a Fields Medal-winning mathematician who sees a lot of potential in Hunting, and sends him to psychiatrist Sean Maguire (Williams), while at the same time, Hunting strikes up a relationship with the beautiful Skylar (Creator/MinnieDriver), 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.

See also ''Film/FindingForrester'', another Gus Van Sant film about the discovery (and self-discovery) of an intelligent young man.

** The judge reads off a rap sheet as long as his arm when reviewing Will's case, and notes that everything was overturned on appeal. But will is only 20, which means he's only been eligible to be tried as an adult for two years. Trial proceedings take months under the best of circumstances. There is simply no way Will could be tried, convicted, tried again in an appeals court, and subsequently acquitted for so many crimes in such a short time. If some of the crimes took place when he was a minor, well, then you run into the issue with sealed juvenile records again.

** The conditions under which Will is released are nonsense. He is ordered to do advanced math proofs for Lambeau and go to therapy, otherwise Lambeau says he will have to serve time in jail. But Will has only just been arraigned, so is presumed innocent until he goes to trial. He is essentially being forced to do unpaid labor and submit to psychotherapy before he is ever tried for the crime, let alone convicted.

* GeniusBurnout: Will has a once-in-a-generation intellect, but grew up in a rough neighborhood with friends and family who were unable to recognize his gift. Even once he got scouted by MIT and working high level mathematics, he would fall backwards into bad behavior getting into fights at bars. Chuckie has a famous monologue near the end of the movie saying that if Will decided not to come to work at the quarry one day, he would be okay with that.

* EyeContactAsProof: Defied in ''Film/GoodWillHunting'', when Skylar asks Will to move to California with her. When Will refuses, Skylar demands he look her in the eyes and tell her he doesn't love her, and if he does she will break up with him. Though Will is in love with her, he looks her directly in the eyes, tells her he doesn't love her, and leaves. Skylar is left in tears.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Several from Sean throughout that slowly bring down Will's personal walls.

* CoolOldGuy: Sean, although he isn't quite as old as most examples of this trope.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Both Sean and Lambeau. Lambeau believes that Will should be given a sense of direction and placed in an environment where his skills are put to use. Sean believes that it's more important for Will to choose his own path even if it conflicts with his potential as a mathematical prodigy.

A 1997 drama film directed by Creator/GusVanSant, written by (and starring) Creator/MattDamon and Creator/BenAffleck and also starring Creator/RobinWilliams.

** Will's hearing bears little resemblance to any real-life court proceeding. It appears to be his arraignment, but at a real arraignment the only things that happen are the defendant enters a plea, and bail is set. The whole affair takes about 5 minutes. Will would not be allowed to argue on his own behalf until the trial proper, nor would the judge make any rulings.

* TheOner: Maguire's monologue in the park begins with a single, uninterrupted closeup of his face that lasts more than three and half minutes. Notably, though he does ask brief questions from Will and he responds, he is completely off camera at the time.