"It's Not Your Fault...It's Not Your Fault."
A little over a year ago, the entertainment industry lost one of its most prolific stars. A fair amount of industry giants passed away in 2014, but no loss was so publicly felt as Robin Williams'. The man was an icon, and he affected the lives of many people, whether personally or through his large and varied body of work. So it seems fitting, in remembrance, to take a look at the performance that netted him his only Oscar.
It's strange, if you think about it, that "Good Will Hunting" in its current form was ever produced. Strong efforts were made to populate the cast and creative team with established, commercially acceptable stars (how different would this film be with Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as the leads?), but the film ended up being host to slightly more...eccentric picks: Gus Van Sant (probably the most straightforward film he's ever directed), Danny Elfman (likewise for composition), and of course the breakout stars of the project, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. And oh my God, it's so funny and weird watching them when they were young working on their passion project. It's damn inspiring, is what it is.
This film is almost 20 years old (yikes), so the question is, how well as this film aged? Does its reputation still feel deserved?
I mean, yeah. Yeah, I think it does.
It's strange, if you think about it, that "Good Will Hunting" in its current form was ever produced. Strong efforts were made to populate the cast and creative team with established, commercially acceptable stars (how different would this film be with Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as the leads?), but the film ended up being host to slightly more...eccentric picks: Gus Van Sant (probably the most straightforward film he's ever directed), Danny Elfman (likewise for composition), and of course the breakout stars of the project, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. And oh my God, it's so funny and weird watching them when they were young working on their passion project. It's damn inspiring, is what it is.
This film is almost 20 years old (yikes), so the question is, how well as this film aged? Does its reputation still feel deserved?
I mean, yeah. Yeah, I think it does.
"Good Will Drinking": The Rules
We recommend that when watching this film, you drink a good Boston lager. We decided to go with Sam Adams, because it's readily available and reasonably strong, but feel free to have some fun.
It is also LITERALLY the only thing that comes up when you google "Boston beer".
Easy Mode
1. Drink for Title Drops. That's the full title, "Good Will Hunting".
2. Drink when they drink
3. Drink for daddy issues. Hahahahaha.
4. Drink for monologuing. For the purposes of this game, "monologuing" should be defined as 30 seconds or more of uninterrupted text.
5. Drink when someone drops the name of a class or a piece of academic text
Medium Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Title drops: Drink whenever someone says "Will Hunting".
2. Drink for shouting
3. Drink when someone writes on a chalkboard. Or a chalkboard equivalent.
Hard Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Title drops: Drink whenever someone says the name "Will".
2. Drink at the start of each therapy session
1. Drink for Title Drops. That's the full title, "Good Will Hunting".
2. Drink when they drink
3. Drink for daddy issues. Hahahahaha.
4. Drink for monologuing. For the purposes of this game, "monologuing" should be defined as 30 seconds or more of uninterrupted text.
5. Drink when someone drops the name of a class or a piece of academic text
Medium Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Title drops: Drink whenever someone says "Will Hunting".
2. Drink for shouting
3. Drink when someone writes on a chalkboard. Or a chalkboard equivalent.
Hard Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Title drops: Drink whenever someone says the name "Will".
2. Drink at the start of each therapy session
They don't start until halfway through the film, but then they fly hard and fast.
The Players
Our players for this game are...
Krissy Pappau: Has a friend at Hahvahd. (Medium)
Dame Poppy Middleton: Probably would have been on the receiving end of the Boston Tea Party (Easy)
Champjagne Austgin: Used to live near Stanford (Medium)
Levi: Thinks it's hilarious this film was directed by a gay man (Hard)
Vicky the Raptor Queen: Knows these accents all too well (Hard)
The Bishop: In Grad School, so they're wicked smaht (Hard)
Krissy Pappau: Has a friend at Hahvahd. (Medium)
Dame Poppy Middleton: Probably would have been on the receiving end of the Boston Tea Party (Easy)
Champjagne Austgin: Used to live near Stanford (Medium)
Levi: Thinks it's hilarious this film was directed by a gay man (Hard)
Vicky the Raptor Queen: Knows these accents all too well (Hard)
The Bishop: In Grad School, so they're wicked smaht (Hard)
Acting!
So that this doesn't turn into a maudlin love letter to Robin Williams, let's address his performance right off the bat: he's great. It's a solid, nuanced performance. I love how slight his Boston accent is compared to the rest of the cast, like he's spent his entire life trying to get rid of it but can't seem to do so. I love how grounded he feels, and how fresh and ready his emotions are without being accompanied by the sentimentality that sometimes erks its way into his dramatic performances. He's a sincere, yet tired, man who's one step away from giving up on his life's purpose.
Oh God I'm going to cry again.
I am surprised that he never won an Oscar after this. This performance is not what I think of when I think of his career, and this might have something to do with the rest of the cast. In many of his films, Williams pulls a lot of the weight, or else the project was created for him to showcase his talents. In "Good Will Hunting", there is no weak link.
You got Ben Affleck, who is doing a wonderful job as the role he inhabits best: a schlubby, affable jerk who gets the chance to do some wisecracking. Except for the one moment where he shows he's a person with feelings, which makes you settle on liking him.
Oh God I'm going to cry again.
I am surprised that he never won an Oscar after this. This performance is not what I think of when I think of his career, and this might have something to do with the rest of the cast. In many of his films, Williams pulls a lot of the weight, or else the project was created for him to showcase his talents. In "Good Will Hunting", there is no weak link.
You got Ben Affleck, who is doing a wonderful job as the role he inhabits best: a schlubby, affable jerk who gets the chance to do some wisecracking. Except for the one moment where he shows he's a person with feelings, which makes you settle on liking him.
"Oh God, all I see is Gigli!" -Dame Poppy Middleton
You got Matt Damon, who STEALS this movie, hands-down. As I said earlier, they were planning on casting Leonardo DiCaprio in this role, and that would have been a mistake. Damon has an intrinsic understanding of the role, and he's eons more approachable and truthful than DiCaprio. Plus, now Matt Damon's a star, and that might not have happened if he didn't play the role he helped write.
"Why isn't he using paper?" "He just wants to look at himself while he does math." -Champjagne Austgin and Vicky the Raptor Queen
And of course Minnie Driver, who is charming and hilarious. This could have been a really boring performance to watch, and she gave it life and specificity.
"Minnie!" "Oh yeah, she looks hot." -Levi and Champjagne Austgin
So props all around to the actors, and to Gus Van Sant for getting such good performances out of them! They should have all gotten Oscars! Guess the name brand helps in that department.
"Is that how you get an Oscar? By talking really slow?" "The trick is to talk really fast during your previous career..." -Dame Poppy and Vicky the Raptor Queen
Foster Daddy Issues
"Good Will Hunting", while a fantastic movie, still doesn't avoid being problematic (a lot of great works of art are problematic. But still). These problematic elements are easy to overlook, not because they're small, but because they're present at the heart of the movie, its soul. Specifically, the relationship between Will and Sean.
"I had a college professor who was like, this is an example of terrible therapy," said Dame Poppy Middleton.
Yep. This is kind of the point of his character I guess, but Sean is an awful therapist. He's overemotional and easily baited by Will, and obviously still too wrapped up in his own personal demons to deal with anyone else's. Sean and Will are constantly blurring the lines between a proper doctor-patient relationship and...something deeper.
"I had a college professor who was like, this is an example of terrible therapy," said Dame Poppy Middleton.
Yep. This is kind of the point of his character I guess, but Sean is an awful therapist. He's overemotional and easily baited by Will, and obviously still too wrapped up in his own personal demons to deal with anyone else's. Sean and Will are constantly blurring the lines between a proper doctor-patient relationship and...something deeper.
NO TOUCHING.
I'm talking more along the lines of a surrogate father/son type thing. Will hasn't had an adult he can trust in his life in a long time, and he's particularly lacking in the "good dad" department (drink), and Sean comes from a similar background. What the film's trying to tell us about Will is that he doesn't need psychoanalysis; he needs a friend, someone he can relate to on an intellectual level. All his friends are morons, and his social status bars him from the kind of academic discourse he can get from adults. Sean is a person he needed to meet, if only to know that there's another person like him in the world.
But Will STILL needs a therapist.
Will is a loose cannon. He's a pathological liar, has deep anger issues which coupled with his mistrust of authority lands him in jail ALL the TIME. We see him later on in a fight with Skyler lose his temper completely and I think he clocks her at one point, I can't remember, we'd been drinking for a while when we got to that scene, and while he feels remorse he doesn't take responsibility for his behavior until it's too late to do anything about it. Will is in serious danger of hurting himself and the people he loves CONSTANTLY.
Sean is not qualified to deal with Will's behavior, as evidenced by HIM HITTING WILL IN THE FACE during one of their later sessions.
But Will STILL needs a therapist.
Will is a loose cannon. He's a pathological liar, has deep anger issues which coupled with his mistrust of authority lands him in jail ALL the TIME. We see him later on in a fight with Skyler lose his temper completely and I think he clocks her at one point, I can't remember, we'd been drinking for a while when we got to that scene, and while he feels remorse he doesn't take responsibility for his behavior until it's too late to do anything about it. Will is in serious danger of hurting himself and the people he loves CONSTANTLY.
Sean is not qualified to deal with Will's behavior, as evidenced by HIM HITTING WILL IN THE FACE during one of their later sessions.
"Things not to do in therapy." "He NEEDED to be slapped!" -The Bishop and Levi
Probably the most famous scene in the film is near the end, when Sean repeatedly tells Will that his abusive foster-father's behavior and all the shit that followed it wasn't his fault, until Will drops his tough-guy act and cries like a child in Sean's arms. Emotionally resonant, yeah. Powerful, definitely. Flagrant abuse of power? Possibly.
It's tough, because in the context of the film, Will and Sean needed to meet and this was the only way it was going to happen. It's possible that Will wouldn't have grown to respect Sean if he hadn't been forced into a room with him twice a week, and it's possible that Sean wouldn't have given this kid the time of day if he'd met him in passing. So this informal teacher/therapist (teacherpist) arrangement worked for them.
But this is fiction. I kind of get the feeling that a lot of people who've never been in a therapist's office think it's like this, and it's not. Or it shouldn't be.
Like I said. Hard to say. Makes for a good movie, though.
It's tough, because in the context of the film, Will and Sean needed to meet and this was the only way it was going to happen. It's possible that Will wouldn't have grown to respect Sean if he hadn't been forced into a room with him twice a week, and it's possible that Sean wouldn't have given this kid the time of day if he'd met him in passing. So this informal teacher/therapist (teacherpist) arrangement worked for them.
But this is fiction. I kind of get the feeling that a lot of people who've never been in a therapist's office think it's like this, and it's not. Or it shouldn't be.
Like I said. Hard to say. Makes for a good movie, though.
Relation-Shit
Let's talk about the romance plot for a second. I have nice things to say about it. A lot of serious films try to throw in a love story just for kicks, or they want to give the main character a reason to try harder. "Good Will Hunting"'s love story ALMOST veers off into one of those directions, but because Will's relationship with Skylar is tied directly to him handling the rest of his issues, it feels very much like a necessary element of the story. The boy can't get close to anyone, and setting him up with this beautiful smart woman who is, on paper at least, way out of his league, makes for a good gauge to track his emotional progress.
We all had a good time with it. Except for Dame Poppy. She had some issues with Skylar, which I shall now address.
We all had a good time with it. Except for Dame Poppy. She had some issues with Skylar, which I shall now address.
"No he is not going to California with you, you crazy bitch!" -Dame Poppy Middleton
In summary, Dame Poppy believed that Skylar got way too attached to Will WAY too quickly. The movie only takes place over the course of a few months, and Skylar and Will meet and fall hard for each other in half of that time. When she announces she's continuing her studies at Stanford and invites him to make the move with her, he completely freaks out and pushes her away. It's an understandable response, especially with the intimacy issues Will's built up over the years.
I don't believe that Skylar is being nuts by asking Will to come with her across the country, but I do think it says a lot about her character. Of the two of them, Skylar is easily the most driven. She's studying organic chemistry for god's sake, she has a plan in place. And now she's met this guy who makes her feel amazing, but doesn't have a lot going on himself. When she asked him to come with her, she probably thought he'd say yes because she didn't see what else was keeping him here. In fact, for Will to get her to stop he had to act aggressive and cruel.
Dame Poppy also took issue with the fact that Skylar still wants to stick around Will after her verbally abuses her, which she chalks up to an instinct to mother him. "She's just like 'Let me fix you!'" she said at one point.
"She's just acting on some whims," Champjagne Austgin put in. "She's a child."
And that's really the important thing to keep in mind, not just about Skylar but about Will. Will is not old enough to purchase alcohol legally during most of this movie. Skylar isn't much older, and she's been spending her life in a rich girl bubble since she was born. They are not emotionally mature enough to handle the feelings they're having. And in my opinion, they're too young to be asked to think about their futures. But this was 1997, a very different time with a different set of expectations for young people.
I had this same feeling while watching "Clerks" for the first time. Dante is 22, and everyone's telling him he's wasting his life. Meanwhile it's 2015 and I'm 25 and nobody I know has a decent job. I can't imagine being Will Hunting, pressured from all sides to use an inborn talent with a big scary world all around him and no clue what to do with himself. And I can't imagine being Skylar, thinking she's found "the one" right out of college and not knowing how to make him commit.
So in short, I like the love story, and Skylar's not crazy. She's just young, and allowing herself to be impulsive for the first time in her life. Young women should be allowed to do that.
I don't believe that Skylar is being nuts by asking Will to come with her across the country, but I do think it says a lot about her character. Of the two of them, Skylar is easily the most driven. She's studying organic chemistry for god's sake, she has a plan in place. And now she's met this guy who makes her feel amazing, but doesn't have a lot going on himself. When she asked him to come with her, she probably thought he'd say yes because she didn't see what else was keeping him here. In fact, for Will to get her to stop he had to act aggressive and cruel.
Dame Poppy also took issue with the fact that Skylar still wants to stick around Will after her verbally abuses her, which she chalks up to an instinct to mother him. "She's just like 'Let me fix you!'" she said at one point.
"She's just acting on some whims," Champjagne Austgin put in. "She's a child."
And that's really the important thing to keep in mind, not just about Skylar but about Will. Will is not old enough to purchase alcohol legally during most of this movie. Skylar isn't much older, and she's been spending her life in a rich girl bubble since she was born. They are not emotionally mature enough to handle the feelings they're having. And in my opinion, they're too young to be asked to think about their futures. But this was 1997, a very different time with a different set of expectations for young people.
I had this same feeling while watching "Clerks" for the first time. Dante is 22, and everyone's telling him he's wasting his life. Meanwhile it's 2015 and I'm 25 and nobody I know has a decent job. I can't imagine being Will Hunting, pressured from all sides to use an inborn talent with a big scary world all around him and no clue what to do with himself. And I can't imagine being Skylar, thinking she's found "the one" right out of college and not knowing how to make him commit.
So in short, I like the love story, and Skylar's not crazy. She's just young, and allowing herself to be impulsive for the first time in her life. Young women should be allowed to do that.
She also gets points for taking Will's cheap-ass date and making magic out of it.
The Results
"Good Will Hunting" is a classic that should be watched for its stellar performances and compelling story. The game, like the film, is slow and leisurely. We all got a little quiet near the end of the film, not because we were drunk but because we were paying attention.
So maybe the first time watching this film should be done sober. For the other times? I've got some new rules for you.
Drink whenever someone smokes.
"I am dying for a cigarette because of this movie," Levi moaned about halfway through the film. This rule seems like a safe bet.
Drink when someone talks about Will when he's not in the room.
Adults have the right to do this, I suppose, but they should make sure to do it when they know the kid won't be around for a while.
Drink for unfortunate fashion choices.
"Stop wearing dark lipstick!" shouted Dame Poppy at one point. When I asked her why, she responded "Because I hate the past!"
So maybe the first time watching this film should be done sober. For the other times? I've got some new rules for you.
Drink whenever someone smokes.
"I am dying for a cigarette because of this movie," Levi moaned about halfway through the film. This rule seems like a safe bet.
Drink when someone talks about Will when he's not in the room.
Adults have the right to do this, I suppose, but they should make sure to do it when they know the kid won't be around for a while.
Drink for unfortunate fashion choices.
"Stop wearing dark lipstick!" shouted Dame Poppy at one point. When I asked her why, she responded "Because I hate the past!"
"God, he looks like a fucking greaser." -Vicky the Raptor Queen
Friends, we're about to take a detour from our regularly scheduled programming. I've been bringing up a lot of films I dislike in the shooter reviews, as well as the larger ones. So I think it's only fair to talk about a thing I love, just so you know I'm not a cynic.
I just have one question for you...do you know where the truth ends, and the lies begin?
I just have one question for you...do you know where the truth ends, and the lies begin?
Anime. It exists.
Like what you see? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, at For Your Inebriation and @KrissyPappau respectively. You'll get weekly updates, behind the scenes drunk talk, and other chatter!
For Your Inebriation is written by Krissy Pappau (Hollis Beck). All "Good Will Hunting" images are owned by Lionsgate.
Special Thanks to my patrons, Caroline Kittredge Faustine, Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin and Antonia Beck! Your support helps me keep this blog up and running. Join their ranks today and donate to my ongoing Patreon campaign!
For Your Inebriation is written by Krissy Pappau (Hollis Beck). All "Good Will Hunting" images are owned by Lionsgate.
Special Thanks to my patrons, Caroline Kittredge Faustine, Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin and Antonia Beck! Your support helps me keep this blog up and running. Join their ranks today and donate to my ongoing Patreon campaign!
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