Good Will Hunting is a 1997 American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It stars Robin Williams, Damon, Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård, and Minnie Driver, with Casey Affleck and Cole Hauser in supporting roles. Set in Boston, the film follows Will Hunting (Damon), a troubled but self-taught mathematical genius working as a janitor at MIT, whose talent is discovered by professor Gerald Lambeau (Skarsgård). To avoid jail, Will agrees to study under Lambeau while attending therapy with psychologist Sean Maguire (Williams), which forces him to confront his past and his relationships, including with Harvard student Skylar (Driver).

Plot

After being paroled, self-taught mathematics genius Will Hunting, a rebellious twenty year old man, of South Boston works as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and spends his free time drinking with his friends Chuckie, Billy and Morgan. At work, he anonymously solves a complex mathematical problem posted on a blackboard by Professor Gerald Lambeau as a challenge for his graduate students. Later, Will and his friends start a fight with a gang that includes one of Will's childhood bullies. When police intervene, Will is charged with assaulting an officer. Lambeau posts a more difficult problem to test the mysterious stranger and later catches Will writing the solution. Mistaking Will for a vandal, Lambeau chases him off but quickly realizes that he was solving the problem. At a bar, Will meets and flirts with Skylar, a student about to graduate from Harvard University, with plans to attend medical school at Stanford.

Awards