The professor tried, the therapist tried, and even his true love tried. But at the end of the day it took the honest words of his best friend to shake him awake.
ironic how i'ts dudes like this with skills in the trades and construction who in the real world make more money and have a happier life than most college kids who do their masters in history and end up as a waiter
Joel Rowe that's cause they are idiots and probably deserve it... what kind of a job is one expecting to get by majoring in shit like gender studies...
agree but in this movie will is one of the smartest people in the world a math phd teacher at the best college in the world said he smarter then me. will could be working at the NSA for a 200,000 a year or be the next bill gates, but he want to say fuck it and hang with his bodys and he want him to go after the girl he loves.
that's really fucked up actually. That guy is a the top of his game. His kind of genius could make millions a year. Yet he chooses to be a construction worker - that's really dumb.
When I first saw this movie in 1998 this scene made me think to myself, "I wonder where I'll be in 20 years? Screw it, that's ages away. I don't need to worry about that." Well now it's twenty years later. And all I can think of now is, "fuck."
Some of the greatest movies out there have maybe 3-4 great scenes; but Good Will Hunting, has a great scene almost every 5-6 minutes... This is one of the greatest screenplays of all-time!
ben and matt were realy smart fellows as kids ans they grew up in the old mixed-class Cambridge Ma, between MIT and Harvard and the working class poor folk just like these guys they are portraying. they knew all of this stuff from living around it.
Will is smart, but Chucky is wise. You can tell by that curious look on Will's face at 2:37. He is just yearning for Chucky to tell him something he doesn't know. Ironic. A genius who can solve a calculus problem in two minutes, doesn't know what his knucklehead friend thinks about, even though he sees him everyday. Finally, something Will learned that wasn't in a book.
Odawg Kizzack Unique scene in the sense that it's Chuck who finally gets thru to him -- Lambeau sure as shit couldn't, Sean had a challenge doing it despite the fact that they're both from the same neighborhood but he still helped Will. But not even Sean could talk to Will like Chuck could.
tommyt1971 I completely agree. That is very insightful. Most people don't compare the relationships across the board like that, but it proves to be effective for a film like this. Good analysis.
The sad reality is that most friends have the "misery loves company" approach. The fact of the matter is that most of us actually need to kick our own asses to improve our lives. It's easy to choose the familiar. It takes courage to push yourself into something new, even if that new thing is a better, more prosperous life. It's incredible how many people I've seen opt for mediocrity when they were an arm's reach from a meaningful upward move in their life.
That's because we know, have learned, or will learn...that just because the grass is greener, on the other side, doesn't mean it has it's other negatives. For instance, the Colorado movie theater shooter...was how close to being a brain surgeon?
I know Will is a fictional character but people like him are incredibly lucky. All of us have very few friends on earth, if any, who literally wants the very best for you in life and will tell you things as there are and call you on your bullshit. Will was bullshitting, and most friends wouldn't bother as it isn't them or their life. So count your blessings if you have a friend like this, that's basically your extended family member or guardian angel.
Will is based on a real person named William Siddis. He had an IQ over 225 and wasted his potential. He passed an anatomy exam at 6, passed the MIT entrance exam at 8, graduated harvard at 16. And only worked in a lab because it was part of his parole. Otherwise he just wanted a normal life.
Daniel Cannata Lol. I'm an idiot and I want the simplest life possible. If I was just being paid enough to be sustained and asked to work for the rest of my life. My whole life being a simple routine with a work that I enjoy, I wouldn't complain at all. Electronics research sounds interesting, only because I have an idea that I want to work on.
This is why having real friends who give a shit about you can be brutal and incredible at the same time. Real friends will always tell you the truth regardless of how hard it might to say or how uncomfortable it may be for you to hear. Real friends care enough to tell you the truth.
Fun Fact: Director Gus Van Sant, at one point, asked Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to re-write the script so that Chuckie is killed in a construction accident. Damon and Affleck protested, but reluctantly wrote the scene in. After Van Sant read it, he agreed that it was a terrible idea. So the idea was scrapped
He's got a damn lot of good scenes too in all his films. I've always liked how he is very calm in his roles. He owns the role in every film he takes. He was incredible in The Town and Renner just bounced his energy off of stoic Affleck to a T. This movie is quite the same. Everyone of the actors/actress' in this film killed it.
Its very sobering when you realize that genuine friends, genuine people like that are beyond a rarity in the real world. In my personal experience virtually nonexistent. Top-class acting; a very powerful scene from a very powerful movie.
The conversation up until "i would give anything to have what you got" is good, but the dialogue after 2:35 until the end elevates it to the Great level
There is nothing wrong with wanting a simple normal life. The issue that I see is more often when people feel so entitled or special that they think they can just sit on their asses and patiently wait for the universe to come do them a favor. I think people who don't have to work that hard for their gifts in life, seldom appreciate the gift enough.
A line i would've added... For us, this is a way to make a living... For you... this is away to hide from living. It's an insult to us if you're still here in 20 years
That would be blatantly stating the obvious, carrying the audience by the hand; leaving it unsaid but heavily implied is a better, more natural route because 2 guys that have been friends their whole lives wouldn't have to spell out everything.
Both of their acting careers would all be downhill from here, and I don’t mean that as an insult to them but rather as a compliment to this masterpiece.
2:36 the way that Chuckie echoes Will with the "oh, I don't know that?" sounds sort of like when Will is about to checkmate the ponytail plagiarist guy in the bar. That's kind of cool: Will and Chuckie are BFFs and grew up together so they have some of the same speech patterns.
My favourite film ever, I managed to crawl out of the absolute dive I was in and make something of myself and travel the world. I ain’t no maths genius like Will but I had enough drive not to drink myself to death in my hometown like everyone else I knew.
I love how Chucky see's through all Will's bullshit throughout this scene, I think he knew Will really liked his girlfriend and when he told her she was 'gone', he knew exactly what he meant but asked "GONE.. GONE WHERE?" even though he knew already that Will had given up on a really good thing for him. He then started to ask about being hooked up with a job after the meetings because he knew Will would play it down and used it as a gateway to give him some hard truths.
Had a similar conversation with my best friend. Kid is a genius. Not like this but if he can't do it he stays up all day and all night to learn how to do it with everything. Kids got drive.
Same as I, almost. I'm an artist by trade and I've had and a very similar conversation with my own bestfriend. For the last few years I've been stuck in a rutt and given up completely on my art. Been forcing myself to relive trauma from the past and using it as an excuse to continue my alcoholic abuse as a front and throwing a pity party for myself. The conversation came up naturally between us while we we're having a drink and partying and it made me hate myself. I write this message to you not out of pity for myself or for clout, but just as someone on the other side of the conversation, please take it easy on us. We know you mean it in love but sometimes it takes us time to get in the groove and finally find our way in this wild world we find ourselves in. God bless you and friend, I hope you both find your place in this wicked life. #GOODVIBESFOREVER!
Not beneath him; that would be an unjustified condescension. There is no "beneath" or "above" in comparing any honorable work. If he remained, he simply would not fulfill himself in working to discover what his full potential could be.
Strictly speaking that demolition work not construction. Construction work you might have some satisfaction that what you build might be useful and exist long into the future. This is just breaking stuff up.
They hurt you at home and hit you at school they hate if you are clever and dispise a fool...when they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years then they expect you to pick a career you can't really function you're so full of fear a working class hero is something to be...
