‘Good Will Hunting’ is Good to Watch for Mental Health Month

It’s Metal Health Awareness month and it’s important, especially during this time, to watch over our health and check in on those who’re down. Even if you don’t know if someone is down, it’s still good to check in on them. It’s been stressful these past few months, and it’s also stressful to not know when this’ll be over. With that said, I’ve been meaning to watch this movie for a while, and thought it would be appropriate to talk about it.

Good Will Hunting stars Matt Damon as Will Hunter, a mathematical genius who works as a janitor at a prestigious school. One day, he gets into a fight with a police officer, but instead of gong to jail, he gets therapy from Robin William’s character, Dr. Sean Maguire.

This is a poignant, character-driven movie as we follow Will who struggles with his inner demons. He gets angry easily, avoids getting attached, and lies to hide what really troubles him. Will’s first resentful of having a therapist, but over time he learns to open up more.

The relationship between Will and Sean is the best part of the movie. It’s always a delight to see Robin Williams on screen, and with his tragic passing back in 2014, it was bittersweet. I even got teary-eyed when he first appeared. While Will himself is an interesting character to follow, I thought Sean was the most compelling. During one scene he talks about the day that he met his wife, which was exceptionally sweet. Sean is an overall great character, though a therapist definitely wouldn’t threaten a client’s life during a session. Granted, Will did insult Sean’s dead wife so, yeah, he had that threat coming.

If I have to nitpick something, and I know it’s bad to do so since this is a classic, I will have to say the film’s a bit predictable. I know predictable isn’t always bad but I dunno, I guess I expected a little more. Regardless, it’s fine the way it is. It’s a nice, feel good movie that has a lot of heart to it, and that’s what mattered.

As far as diversity, there’s only one important female character. Will meets a girl named Skylar (Minnie Driver) who’s studying to go to medical school. She’s exceptionally smart, and falls in love with Will. The two have a realistic relationship as they have their ups and downs, and they have engaging dialogue.

Besides her, there’s no one else really. It’s mostly a male cast, but it doesn’t do any harm to the movie. This is mainly a charecter-driven story after all, so we’re primarily focused on Will and his problems. There’s a lot of moments with no dialogue, just Will and his thoughts. Some scenes simply show Will on a train and nothing else. Guess you could say it’s a train of thought.

Overall, Good Will Hunting is a good film (pun was definitely intended). Again, it has heart, and it has Robin Williams. He definitely carries the film with his touching monologues, and I don’t think the film would’ve been as known without his character. It’s not a perfect film, but I’m glad that I got to watch it, especially during this time.

Originally published by Lauren Massuda on May 23, 2020