Good Will Hunting

A closer look at the story

Will Hunting is a headstrong young man from a working-class background with a phenomenal intellect, yet he spends it mopping the corridors of MIT. One evening he quietly solves a nearly impossible mathematics problem written on a classroom blackboard, without anyone seeing him do it. The professor who set the problem soon tracks down this mysterious genius. Will's life, however, is a string of fights and run-ins with the law, and his final hope is a psychology lecturer who may be the only person able to get through to him. Directed by Gus Van Sant from a screenplay by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the 127-minute 1997 film stars Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck and Minnie Driver in a moving drama.