Yes, I ashamed to say that I've never seen this film before today and yes, I watched it because of Robin Williams. But he is not the lead, though he is certainly the heart and soul of the film.
Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is a young thug from Southie in Boston. He works as a janitor at MIT which is where he gets discovered by solving extremely difficult equations. But his talent goes unnoticed until Dr. Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) gets him out of prison as Will's rap sheet is long and his past is troubled. Lambeau works with him on this great mathematical skills but Will also must see a therapist, something that he doesn't take kindly and his first five therapists don't pan out. Luckily, Lambeau uses his trump card, his old college roommate, Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) who is also from Southie. Though Will undoubtedly knows how to push Sean's buttons, Sean sticks with him and eventually starts getting through. But there is still the issue on what Will is going to do with his beautiful mind and the job offers certainly keep pouring in. Lambeau wants him to get a great job while Sean wants Will to follow his heart and the two get into an argument about the whole thing. Lambeau also believes that Sean wasted his talent, working at a lowly community college and writing a book that no one's read, but Sean regrets nothing, not even watching his wife's body waste away to cancer.
The film is also about Will's relationships with his old friends, Chuckie (Ben Affleck), Morgan (Casey Affleck) and Billy (Cole Hauser). Though they are certainly rough around the edges, they do care about him and want him to do something better with his life. And they are loyal to him, something that the former foster child undeniably needs. For his twenty first birthday, they even piece together a clunker car so he can drive himself to work because Chuckie isn't going to do it. Then there is Skyler (Minnie Driver). Will meets her at a bar near Harvard and impresses her with everything he knows. Though he truly likes her, he keeps her at arm's length because he fears that his past will frighten her. To be fair, if I were Skyler, his past run ins with the law would terrify me and the fight scene they have borderlines on physical abuse. Skyler wants him to let her in because he loves him but he can't tell her that back, even though he does.
Fortunately, in the end, he follows Sean's advice and steals his line and goes after the girl, even after he finally accepted a great job and opportunity for him. Instead, he dumps all of that and drives his clunker out to Stanford where Skyler has just started medical school.
Sure, the plot is basic and, on the whole, rather predictable but it was still quite enjoyable, mainly because of the relationship between Sean and Will which is the heart of the film. I thought the relationship between Skyler and Will wasn't as strong as it could have been, though they did have some great scenes together, including the one where Skyler begs Will not to do her homework for her as she needs to learn that stuff herself.
The best scene of the film is where Will turns down a job working for NSA, showing the domino effects of him solving some classified code could be and how something so simple could have such a ripple effect.
Williams' greatest scene is where he tells Will that feelings matter more than just spitting back information and his role is vastly effective.
I do have some problems with the film, mainly the odd camera angles and Driver's performance. She is miscast, to begin with and I feel that her role is underwritten (not her fault). No offense to Driver, she did not deserve the Oscar nomination.
Though I will certainly watch this film again, it falls just short of greatness and that makes me sad. Grade: A-
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