Rating: 
Summary: Robin William' s best role yet.
Review: I really liked him in this one. It is a great movie and in my opinion very worthy of 5 starts. The star I subtracted was for the neverending stream of foul language that could have been reduced while still getting the movies point across.
Rating: 
Summary: A brilliant film.
Review: This is one of the best films I have ever seen. Matt Damon does full justice to his 'troubled genius' character, with Robin Williams giving him excellent support. Ben Afflect is good too, as Damon's friend. Gus Van Sant's direction is flawless, as he builds up Damon's character. The movie is touching and meaningful, with the ending being the icing on the cake. If you want to see a truly inspiring film, this one is for you!
Rating:
Summary: Great hunting
Review: This is a great movie featuring a young up-and-coming star in Matt Damon. Damon is one of those very few good-looking, youthful male actors who has a credible screen presence and can actually act! In that way, he might be the antithesis of Keanu Reeves. Anyway, aside from Damon, we also get Robin Williams in perhaps his greatest mentor role since "Dead Poets Society."Damon plays a precocious (to say the least) adolescent, Will, who possesses an intellect that is advanced far beyond his modest age. Williams portrays a psychologist who is trying to steer Damon in the right direction. As intelligent as our Good Will is, it becomes readily apparent that his emotional state needs help to catch up to his mental prowess. In the meantime, there is an MIT mathematics professor (played by Stellan Skarsgård) who is a kind of counter-balance to Williams' character. Here is a brilliant, accomplished pedagogue who teaches at one of the most prestigious academic institutions on the planet. He's a man who has earned the Fields Medal (Mathematicians version of the Nobel Prize) and is used to looking at people with an aloof air of superiority. Enter Will, and all of a sudden he is humbled, realizing that his cerebral aptitude is dwarfed by this youth who seems to have come out of nowhere. Throughout the movie, the mathematician & the psychologist play this game of tug-of-war, attempting to pull poor Will in two different directions. The scene in the bar where Will shows-up the snobby Harvard sociology student is an absolute all-time classic. And I mean a classic of ALL movie history. It is especially hilarious & poignant as all of us have known people like the Harvard snob. Although the rest of the movie is well-worth seeing, this scene by itself is worth the price of renting (or even buying) this DVD. The one flaw in this movie is that the script is a bit weak @ times. They seem to rely on the "F" word too much for dramatic effect. Now, I have no problem with them using the "F" word. It's just that it gets a bit redundant after the 500th time. However, as flaws of movies go, this is very mild. If you want to see a truly profound movie of a genius learning that there is more to life than smarts, then this is the movie for you.
Rating:
Summary: Good Movie Hunting
Review: Please skip this movie if you do not like Robin Williams or think Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are just pretty boys. Although a little sappy at times, this movie lets you see that it is never too late to follow your true destinay and that we alone control our lives, even if it takes someone elses guidance to show us. Robin Williams plays, masterfully, in his Oscar winning performance as the psychiatrist who is more like Will then he would admit. The characters are at times complete opposites of what they start out as or what they offer to the other characters. A true gem of a film. Did I mention Damon and Affleck wrote it?
Rating:
Summary: Symbiotic Healing
Review: I do not love this film, but I like it. Many viewers are so offended by the profanity that they either did not view the movie or went away angry/offended. Either they don't believe lowbrow individuals such as the Southies exist, or they wish they keep the hell away from them. I like movies/art that creates controversy and forces viewers to deal with unresolved personal issues. GWH is one of these films. Profanity is used to define the world they live in manifesting frustration felt knowing they will be in the "same" place 50 years from now!? Profanity is common among poor people, especially males needing to "prove something." Who doesn't know this? However, I did not like GWH for the first 1-hour 45-minutes because I couldn't relate to any of the characters. But the last meeting between Williams and Damon found relevance within me. To quote the Bible: Iron sharpeneth iron, so does a man the countenance of his friend. This metaphor uses the analogy of metals rubbing against one another to achieve sharpness like the awakenings in the professor/therapist/patient/best friend. Even viewers are sharpened by GWH, especially those who hated everything about this film. You can say they were "rubbed the wrong way," and now have to resolve whatever inside them that bristled against this movie, or allow it to fester and continuously cloud objectivity necessary to really enjoy any art. GWH redeems itself by ending predictably by way of a very interesting screenplay associating memorable interpersonal communications that anyone able to finish the movie should find enlightening. Williams telling Damon "It's not your fault," is appropriate as the key that unlocks the pain that has come to the surface. Some viewers are bothered by this seemingly trivial approach to psychoanalysis. But this is the point: after hours/days/months/years of analysis, it is always one thing (that repetitive clause) among everything that works as a catalyst and constitutes the bridge that allows the patient to cross over into wellness. In GWH, the screenplay uses this symbolically as a transititional key. Dare to look inside you.
Rating:
Summary: Brutal Beauty
Review: This film is a refreshing view of what real happiness is. It brings to light that success is not a mold one can manipulate oneself to fit. The movie strips away all superficiality and stuffiness which would have the world believe success is like that. It is the brutal reality of every scene that makes it so enlightening. For example, Will's friends are not brilliant or wealthy or gracious. They "divide their time fairly evenly between bars and batting cages" and they swear consantly, but they are friends; comrades in the most pure sense, and that is enough to nurture happiness. This is a movie that is beautiful without trying to be, intelligent without official education, and , above all, happy without luxury.
Rating: 
Summary: Juvenile, Stupid, & Profane - Why subject yourself to this?
Review: This pathetic movie, more about the hubris of the actors and producers than anything else, should appeal only the most naive or morally insensible of viewers. While the acting is at times quite good, that is more than offset by the overall bankruptcy of the plot, dialogue, and action (not to mention the underlying attitudes of those involved in its making). The central character, Matt Damon, plays a foul-mouthed, self-centered, and otherwise ethically-challenged punk (just acting?) who is supposed to be a kind of diamond in the rough, independent genius. We are supposed to be impressed and somehow moved by his radical individualism and impressive intellectual gifts as he takes on all the conventions of life. Yeah, right. Rather than go into all the depressing details of this degrading, pointless flick, I'll just say that if you enjoy being subjected to an endless stream of profanity and other juvenile behaviors and attitudes (as if there was not enough of this in our increasingly uncivil world), you might enjoy this movie, even though it is without any discernable redeeming qualities (except, perhaps, the acting). However, you'll need a cleansing of your soul and spirit after this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Good movie!
Review: After seeing this movie in the theater in 1997 I really liked it. I brought the movie when it came out and I enjoyed it enough but it gets really old and boring after seeing it a million times. However, Matt Damon and Robin Williams did an outstanding job in this movie. I think this would be great to own on DVD then video. If you hadn't seen it rent it or buy it you will love it!
Rating: 
Summary: Very Dissapointed
Review: I avoided this movie because like most males i have an aversion to all things Ben Affleck, However after seeing him in Chasing Amy - i realized he had some talent and with the strength of a strong script and compelling storyline a good movie could be had. Well, this movie had neither - what is even worse is that there is a germ of an interesting story here but its so glossed over by cliches, a poor script and easy plot lines that you could turn off the volume and follow the story without missing a beat.
Rating:
Summary: Robin Williams' best role...
Review: i think i've seen this one 4 times and it never gets old. it is one of those films that you learn something new every time you see it. ok, so ben and matt, didn't grow up or live in southie. but as they say, "you don't have to be a cow to know about milk..." i was very impressed that they wrote a script that caputured the feel and language of the area. i lived in portland, maine for 8 months, and i visited the boston-cambridge area alot; seeing parts of the city in the movie made me smile. the story is universal and timeless. in a playboy magazine article, ben affleck said that the main reason they got robin was that he was one of the most commerical actors arounds and they felt the movie would succeed with him in it...but i don't think they even knew that he was capable of giving the performance he gave...robin said when he read the script that this was the part that would win him the oscar. his acceptance speech was a classic. this movie should be watched by anyone who wants to better themselves in life and to learn that the value of knowledge without compassion is worthless
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