A janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Will Hunting spends his free time boozing with his friends. One night, while cleaning up, he sees a blackboard with a fiendishly difficult maths puzzle and anonymously chalks in the answer. Later, he gets involved in a violent bar brawl and is sentenced to jail. By chance Professor Lambeau, having worked out it was Will who came up with the answer to the problem, makes a character plea on his behalf, persuading the judge to suspend the sentence provided Will begins studying under the professor's tutelage. One evening he's drinking in a bar when his mate Chuckie begins to chat up med student Skylar, when he is taunted by a patronising and pretentious student. Will manages to best the student with some pretty fancy verbal footwork. He goes out on a date with the impressed Skylar, but fails to follow it up with a phone call; however, a week later, he asks her out again and they start a romance. After a series of therapy sessions fail to shed light on Will's emotional turmoil and inner violence, he begins seeing therapist Sean Maguire. During their often stormy and emotionally draining sessions together, Maguire gets Will to reveal that his stepfather abused him, while Maguire is forced to face his own inner demons and reasons for his profound unhappiness.
Review:
Life-affirming, even heart-warming, coming-of-age tale from Guy Van Sant, with a cracking script written by its young stars, find-of-the-year Matt Damon and Ben Affleck; Robin Williams reins in his comedic mannerisms - well, most of them, anyway - to deliver one of his best performances for years as the emotionally-wounded therapist.
