Directed by Gus Van Sant in 1997: Good Will Hunting

My favorite movie of all time is Good Will Hunting starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Robin Williams. This great film was directed by Gus Van Sant in 1997. This movie won the academy award for the most original screenplay and was nominated for countless other Academy Awards and other awards. The budget of the film was 10 million dollars. The movie is very uplifting and inspirational. The story of how the movie came to fruition is really what I love about the movie the most.

In the movie, Will Hunting (played by Matt Damon) is a genius who chose to work as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His high intelligence is discovered when he anonymously completes a problem on the board outside a math classroom that none of the MIT students could complete. The professor who put the problem on the board is fascinated by Will Hunting's level of intelligence. When Will Hunting is arrested for attacking a police officer, the professor makes a deal with the judge to keep Will out of prison if he sees the therapist Sam Maguire, who is excellently portrayed by Robin Williams. With the help of his therapist and the professor, Will ultimately finds a job and puts his intelligence to good use. I am inspired by Will in the beginning of the movie because it showed me that intellect can't always be recognized with merit or by the standard ways that IQ is measured today. He showed me that even though I'm not the Valedictorian or a merit scholar award winner, that I have great potential and I can still do great things. Will just needed a little help to push through his stubbornness. All I need is a little financial help to make it through college and achieve my goals. The movie also showed me that how you make it to the top of the mountain isn't nearly as important as the fact that you made it to the top of the mountain. Will was also an orphan as a child which makes his triumph that much more impressive and uplifting.

Matt Damon excellently portrayed Will Hunting. He became the perfect embodiment of an orphan rebel that is Will Hunting. Robin Williams took the role of a therapist who worked to help Will Hunting. This was a big change as I am used to seeing Robin Williams in more comedic and light roles. Although, this wasn't the usual Robin Williams performance, I consider this to be his best role yet. He pulls off the role of a mentor perfectly as seen in Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society.

The origins of this movie is really what I am fascinated by. Matt Damon was at Harvard and was assigned the task to write Act 1 of a play. Instead of writing the play, he wrote the first 40 pages of Good Will Hunting. With the help of Ben Affleck, Matt Damon finished the script and the movie eventually made it to the big screen. This taught me, just like the movie also did, that it doesn't matter where you are going, it just matters where you end up. Matt Damon wasn't famous and in Hollywood when he started writing this movie but after the movie came out, he ended on the mountaintop of motion picture by winning an Oscar. It didn't matter in the end that he didn't finish Harvard or that he wasn't a childhood actor. None of that matters when you achieve your goals.

The movie was very well received by all as it was nominated for so many awards. Good Will Hunting lifted the acting careers of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck off of the ground. These two actors won the award for most original screenplay. Good Will Hunting is still one of the most famous movies 19 years later and has made a valuable impression on anyone who has seen it.

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