Watching Good Will Hunting Again (While Drunk)
Turns out the film is not as perfectly poetic as I remember. (There may be some Good Will Hunting spoilers in here.)
It was a rare night in the house on my own, so I took the opportunity to get my bachelor on. You’d think I’d choose the raunchiest film to watch — but no. I chose a mainstream Hollywood drama from over two decades ago.
I went to see Good Will Hunting when it came out in the theatre in the late ‘90s. I remember being impressed by the film — the acting, and the script. Of course, the movie’s soundtrack was also memorable — it features the late Elliott Smith, who was nominated for an Oscar for Miss Misery.
I knew Robin Williams was putting on his most Oscar-worthy performance (which, by the way, is the only Academy Award he ever won.) Matt Damon was new on the scene, but I also knew there was something special there. Stellan Skarsgård was brilliant, Ben Affleck was… well, Ben Affleck, and Minnie Driver helped round out the cast.
I remember walking out of the theatre with a mix of melancholy and awe. Seeing it on the big screen made it all larger than life, and my memory had made it even grander, as it often does. Grander than the film really is, as it turns out.
I laughed at the wrong lines
Our newly renovated basement was the perfect setting to re-watch this classic film, which itself won numerous awards. I sprawled across our new pull-out couch, first with a high-powered beer by my side, and then switching to single malt scotch, like a real gentleman.
Our dog occasionally joined me to watch, but he spent a lot of time upstairs waiting for his mom and older brother to come home. I don’t blame him.
I found myself fairly buzzed by about 33 minutes into the movie, when Williams makes his first appearance as affable professor Sean Maguire. Perhaps he appeared before that, but at 33 minutes is when I first noticed him. (I wasn’t aiming to record this fact, but something compelled me to. Probably the alcohol.)
The things that stood out to me after a couple of drinks was the lousy Boston accents. At times Damon and Affleck nailed it, while other times it was laughably bad. I think I laughed audibly to myself a couple of times as a result.
Minnie Driver, who is from London and has a natural British accent, sounded like she was putting on the accent at times. Like I said, I had beer and scotch, and my brain may just have been exaggerating her words, adding an extra bit of Englishness.
Her character does lend some sophistication to the film. But in my semi-drunken state, I couldn’t help but scoff at the cliché of the British girl studying abroad, falling for an American hunk for a short-lived romance.
I pondered her screen name, Skylar — it doesn’t seem to suit her character. I would have named her something safer for a Brit, like Emma. I also learned that the name Skylar’s roots mean “noble scholar” — like, really? (She of course goes off to Stanford to complete her doctor training.)
It turns out Minnie Driver hates parts of the film too, including its most famous line: “How do you like them apples?” The line was delivered by Will Hunting, taunting another man about getting Skylar’s phone number after delivering a long diatribe in her and his friend’s defence.
The scene reeks of the “good guy wins the girl over from the douchebag,” which of course seldomly happens in real life. But we all love to cheer for the underdog, Will Hunting — a blue-collar worker with a rough upbringing, but not a noble scholar.
A beautiful cliché
Hunting makes us cheer again in another scene when he tackles his childhood bully, punching him nearly to death. The scene depicts a blatant assault on the bully, which temporarily turns Hunting into the douchebag. No doubt Damon — who co-wrote the screenplay with Affleck — was living out a revenge fantasy.
If he did what he did in the film today, he wouldn’t be considered a hero. He’d be a typically over-aggressive male getting himself into a brutal fight, creating contrast with his other side, a brilliant mathematician. He does get arrested for the attack in the film, but somehow still comes out as the winner.
I get that this scene was necessary for being sent off to therapy, led by Williams’ character. It’s during these scenes that he bonds with the court-ordered therapist, revealing his abuse as a child. The audience’s heart aches for this misunderstood genius who is trying to figure out his life.
But this punishment is also unlikely (in my opinion.) I think Hunting would have spent more time in jail for assault causing bodily harm, not “rescued” by a wealthy mathematician (played by Skarsgård) and then paired with one of the area’s leading talk therapists to lead his healing journey (Williams.) But I suppose if you’re a handsome young white man with perfect hair, you get these kinds of bailouts.
Hunting’s relatively dim-witted best friend (Chuckie Sullivan) is played by Affleck pretty convincingly (although I don’t buy his rough demeanour that much. It’s like he was trying to convince us he’s a bad boy with his smoking and spitting.)
However, the scotch made me think that a hard labourer like Sullivan would not have had the emotional intelligence to be happy when Hunting doesn’t come to his front door one morning for his ride to work.
You see, Sullivan wanted nothing more than for his best friend’s beautiful brain to be discovered, and to go on to riches and fame while he and the other buddies toss bricks all day.
When Hunting fails to appear to get his daily drive to the job site, Sullivan smiles to himself unconvincingly. But in real life, my moderately intoxicated brain tells me, he would angrily cuss at Will Hunting for selling out, for leaving his fellow construction labourers behind to chase a cushy living. As singer Morrissey says, we hate it when our friends become successful.
In a twist that surprises no one that has ever watched a Hollywood film, Hunting heads off to California to chase after Skylar instead of immediately following his academic path to stardom. It drips of the perfect romantic ending, which is probably in no way realistic.
I can only imagine her face when she sees him on the campus — “what the hell are you doing here? We’ve had our time together, go home Will! There is no sequel!”
Except we don’t ever get to see how that really goes. The movie ends with him driving solo to his future, Elliott Smith’s haunting voice crooning in the background. But not before he leaves a sort of “thank you” note in his therapist’s mailbox, delivered in the shitty-looking car his broke friends fixed up for his new life.
I still have goodwill toward the film
Do I think Good Will Hunting is a bad movie after watching it half-drunk? No, at least in the way successful movies are made. It has all of the elements that get movie lovers wet — wit, romance, heroism, self-discovery, fighting, and a (presumably) happy ending. The script nails all the keywords.
But that’s just the thing. It’s a movie that couldn’t fail. It didn’t just tap into the zeitgeist of the time — it ripped it open and camped out there.
However, while a solid film that I enjoy overall — if just for the nostalgia — a couple of stiff drinks (and about 25 years more life experience since the original release) reduced the movie to a fairy tale that still only happens on the silver screen.
What are your thoughts on this movie? Or single malt scotch? Let me know in the comments!