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100Intimate, heartfelt and wickedly funny, it's a movie whose impact lingers.
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100First and foremost, Good Will Hunting is a film riding young, exuberant energies.
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91With its sweet soul and sharp mind, it's one of the most heartening films of the year.
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90Intelligently written, sharply directed, and beautifully played.
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90The script's bare bones are familiar, yet the film also has fine acting, steady momentum, a sharp eye and a very warm heart.
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90Director Van Sant, who made the lyrical "Mala Noche," "Drugstore Cowboy" and "My Own Private Idaho," returns to his favorite hunting ground -- the subworlds of grimy, poetic lost boys -- and pulls us right in
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88Damon convincingly matches Williams recrimination for recrimination in this portrayal of mutual tough love, even with the latter giving what may be the best performance of his career.
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80The script also happens to be quite literate and laceratingly funny, and Damon -- no big surprise here -- turns out to be the perfect actor to deliver Will's zingers.
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80Gus Van Sant, working from the tangy, well-written script, gets so much humor, grit and emotional truth out of this tale that the familiar formulas behind it simply fall away.
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80This beautifully realized tale is always engaging and often quite touching.
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75It's the individual moments, not the payoff, that make it so effective.
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75Presents a few too many hugs and arguments over what's best for Will. But ultimately, the movie, like its protagonist, boasts an integrity and intelligence that are tough not to admire. [25 December 1997, Tempo, p.1]
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75You'd never guess this just-off-center movie was directed by indie hero Gus Van Sant. Maybe, like Will, he's casual about his gifts and feels no need to trot them out.
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75An ordinary story told well. Taken as a whole, there's little that's special about this tale -- it follows a traditional narrative path, leaves the audience with a warm, fuzzy feeling, and never really challenges or surprises us.
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75Both smart and shrewd -- it wraps that same comforting message in a thoroughly entertaining package.
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75Fairly bursts with the exuberance and youthful energy that must have attended its creation.
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75Stuffed--indeed, overstuffed--with heart, soul, audacity, and blarney. You may not believe a minute of it, but you don't necessarily want to stop watching.
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70It isn't surprising that the film was originally based on actors' improvisations, since it creates a universe of tremendously enjoyable characters and allows them plenty of room to roam, but has only the most predictable notion of plot and nothing whatever to say beyond be-yourself pieties.
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70Thanks to solid performances by Damon, Williams, and Driver, the story glides by on charm.
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70While the charismatic performances of Damon and Affleck make Good Will Hunting a difficult entertainment to resist, doing just that is not as hard as the film would like to think.
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70This is good, solid work that never achieves either the art or poignance of Van Sant's earlier and more personal projects.
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70Damon benefits greatly from a director like Gus Van Sant ("My Own Private Idaho") who understands quiet, funny moments, intricate relationships and beautiful young actors.
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67Part character study, part redemptive drama, and all cheesy heart, it's Boston-baked melodrama, a little too gooey at times, but still pretty delicious.
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50Matt Damon and Robin Williams give touching performances, but Gus Van Sant's filmmaking is surprisingly ordinary.
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50Hearts sinking, we are obliged to endure much pseudo-serious gabble as we head toward another painfully predictable triumph of the human spirit. There must be some better way of hunting our--and Oscar's--goodwill. [Dec. 1,1997]
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40The acting is top-notch and some scenes are authentically well-observed.
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40Van Sant's direction is surprisingly static and conventional, which doesn't help this earnest, underwhelming misfire.
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Damon--as actor, not as co-screenwriter--is the best thing about Good Will Hunting.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 33
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Mixed: 3 out of 33
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Negative: 4 out of 33
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