Good Will Hunting

"Some people can never believe in themselves, until someone believes in them."

1997 2h 7m EN

🙌

8.2

BANGER

🔥

97%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

8.4

IMDB

★8.2TMDB · 14,385🍅97%Rotten Tomatoes●71Metacritic★8.4IMDB · 1,213,877

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Will Hunting is a headstrong, working-class genius who is failing the lessons of life. After one too many run-ins with the law, Will's last chance is a psychology professor, who might be the only man who can reach him.

“Some people can never believe in themselves, until someone believes in them.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Matt Damon
Will Hunting
Robin Williams
Sean Maguire
Ben Affleck
Chuckie Sullivan
Stellan Skarsgård
Gerald Lambeau
Minnie Driver
Skylar
Casey Affleck
Morgan O'Mally
Cole Hauser
Billy McBride
Vik Sahay
MIT Student

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Gus Van Sant
Writers: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $226M — a 22.6× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

324+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Gus Van Sant, shot by Jean-Yves Escoffier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Pietro Scalia shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Matt Damon and Robin Williams and Ben Affleck carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Some people can never believe in themselves, until someone believes in them.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Gus Van Sant directs. Jean-Yves Escoffier behind the camera. Danny Elfman scores. Pietro Scalia cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $226M — a 22.6× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
229 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3324+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Gus Van Sant, shot by Jean-Yves Escoffier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Pietro Scalia shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Matt Damon and Robin Williams and Ben Affleck carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Some people can never believe in themselves, until someone believes in them.".
9IMDB entry: tt0119217 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1014,385 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
11Classified under 21 themes, including "boston, massachusetts", "mathematics", "genius", "male friendship".
12Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jean-Yves Escoffier
Original score: Danny Elfman
Editing: Pietro Scalia
Production design: Missy Stewart
Makeup / hair: Leslie Sebert
Sound: Gus Van Sant
Stunt coordinator: Jery Hewitt
Runtime: 127 min · 2h 7m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $225,933,435
Return: 2259% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Good Will Hunting (1997)
Rotten Tomatoes: 97% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 71/100
IMDB rating: 8.4/10 · 1,213,877 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Won 2 Oscars. 25 wins & 61 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
European Film Academy Achievement in World Cinema Award

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Gus Van Sant

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

tmdb400113702019-11-24
★ 8/10
Will Hunting, is a working class 20 year old mathematical genius, and yet chooses to shun a university education, preferring instead to be a janitor at Harvard university. At a social level he is headstrong, arrogant, likes getting into fights as well as ending up in police cells for his regular anti-social behaviour. Despite having friends, they are not shining beacons leading him into a better light. He is happy with his lot, shuns commitment and his best form of defence is attack both physically and verbally against those who want to impose their will on him for better or worse. At the same university a professor of mathematics throws out a complex mathematical challenge to his students, asking them to complete the formula on a blackboard in the hall outside of his classroom. Will is cleaning floors one morning, comes across the blackboard and within seconds he has completed the formula before carrying on his duties while the professor wonders who it was! It turns out Will was abused in his youth, and has moved on from one foster family to the next, but none of them were seemingly any better, and never reached out to his needs leaving him feeling bitter and angry. A psychology professor (Robin Williams), spends various sessions with Will, and slowly, ever so slowly, Will begins to open up his darker side until both Will and the professor find a bond. Make no mistake the premise is original but predictable. However, the acting performances are terrific, especially from Damon, whom I never really had much time for up until this film. I was also impressed by the performance of Will's girlfriend, played by Minnie Driver. She soon fell in love with him, only to find that he never reciprocated and pushed her away just as had done to other people who tried to get too close to him in the past. It is very much a feel-good film with a nice satisfying ending. It pulls at the heartstrings sometimes, but you just know everything will work out right in the end.
r96sk2022-09-12
★ 9/10
So great! <em>'Good Will Hunting'</em> is a film I had heard many a great thing about but had never actually seen it so didn't know anything about the plot - so much so that I genuinely thought it was about the good will of hunting or something... and certainly not about a character named Will Hunting! The poster makes it look like a film of that sort, in my defence. I also didn't realise, aside from the lead two, that the cast list was so stacked until the credits came up at the start. The names didn't let me down either, as the acting is superb across the board. Matt Damon and Robin Williams are truly outstanding together, I already rate them from other productions so I'm glad I can add another cracker to their respective filmographies. Even away from Messrs Damon and Williams, you've got very good displays from the likes of Stellan Skarsgård, Minnie Driver (emotionally, particularly, excellent) and Ben Affleck. Pretty impressive that it was written by both Affleck and Damon too! The plot is great, the way the friendship builds between Will (Damon) and Sean (Williams) is so beautifully done. Both characters are very interesting, even if I didn't buy the genius of Will at all at first but I quickly let that go as the film does such a grand job at crafting everything together around it. In short, it's ace! Glad I finally checked it out.
CinemaSerf2023-07-24
★ 7/10
"Will" (Matt Damon) is a rudderless character who works as a caretaker. He's an attitudinal pain in the neck whom, aside from his best friend "Chuckie" (Ben Affleck), is pretty much shunned by everyone. "Professor Lambeau" (Stellan Skarsgård) spots some potential in this wayward lad, especially when he realises that he has an amazing ability to solve mathematical problems. To that end he sends him to see the eccentric psychologist "Sean" (Robin Williams) who proves remarkably adept at cutting down the young man's defences and at beginning to rebuild the character of the man in a more positive and life-affirming fashion. The film combines some excellent performances from all four men, but especially a bang on-form Williams as the penetrative, but flawed, route to salvation for an equally flawed and angry almost younger version of himself in the genius "Will". Damon is entirely convincing as his temper and his prodigious nature are juggled adeptly and aided by a powerful script that allows the actors to take and keep centre stage as the potency of the plot becomes more and more focussed, we are presented here with a ground-breaking and thought-provoking look at what makes a great teacher as well as what makes a human being tick, what makes one happy and fulfilled - and what makes one the opposite! For my money, Gus Van Sant's finest interpretative work and well worth watching a few times, for more detail emerges to appreciate each time you see it.