kaila1949

Good Will Hunting is a realistic movie that has a message about people and life. It works on many levels - the characters and plot are interesting as a well told story, the interactions between Will and the psychiatrist are revealing and compelling, and the questions it raises about life and lifestyle choices are deep and complex. I also really appreciated the relationship between the two friends. The conversation they have while working, when Will's friend tells him about his hope that Will be able to break free of this life, is so real and so beautifully done that I can't think of many film moments that come close. Robin Williams does a great job of creating a character who is flawed, yet incredibly capable of reaching Will and helping him to change his life. To add to the realism, the psychiatrist is also changed for the better because of his interactions with Will. Finally, the photography, attention to detail, and the incredibly good choice of settings and background helps to make this movie believable and great. Everything just comes together so well, it should be considered the best movie of the year. I give it 5 stars, the highest rating available.

This is one of my all-time favorites except for the last couple of seasons. The early years were great, funny, insightful, and pretty original. Ann dealt with some pretty heavy problems with her kids, found work she liked, and became an old pro at the dating game. It was neat to watch the character mature along with her daughters.

However, like a lot of shows with children/teenagers, they had to come up with a way to keep things going after the kids had grown too old for the story lines. In this case, they brought in a little boy with a pretty contrived plot line to be the new "son". It didn't work well.

This movie was extremely powerful on a visceral level - it is almost impossible not to be rooting for the mother and daughter as she scrabbles to get out of the country with her daughter. However, there are two seriously weak areas that keep it from being a really successful film. First, the husband's character is never fully developed so that when he undergoes such a radical change it is hard to believe or understand. A little more time spent on this and on their relationship would have made a difference. Second, the writers seem almost racist in their portrayal of the Iranians - a little depth and variety here would also have helped. The whole population couldn't be so monolithically controlling and evil.