Good Will Hunting - Movie Reviews (2024)

...a predominantly engrossing drama that benefits from its compelling narrative and superb performances...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 9, 2023

Adding moments of erudition and salty wit to a feelgood tale proves to be a winning formula.

Full Review | Mar 13, 2023

A terrifically warm, tender and entertaining story... In significant ways, the "Rocky" of the '90s.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jan 19, 2023

It’s got a lively screenplay and fine performances all around, and it consistently delivers emotional payoffs. (25th anniversary)

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 13, 2022

Good Will Hunting may follow a formulaic arc but Gus Vant Sant's direction and Robin Williams and Matt Damon's performances elevate the film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 5, 2022

Awash with emotion, but never descends in to the mawkish sentimentality that blights so many “kid with a problem” movies.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 30, 2022

Good Will Hunting is a grand coup from first-time writers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Their exploration of the life of a Genius trying to function as a normal person is quite amiable and full of great acting.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 23, 2022

The problem becomes more glaring when movies portray geniuses, characters who not only think constantly but think thoughts that are incomprehensible to the rest of us.

Full Review | Jun 16, 2022

It's writer-stars Matt Damon & Ben Affleck's childhood friendship-chemistry and the hilarious bickering between the real-life Affleck brothers that generates the magic in "Good Will Hunting." Not to mention a magical performance by Robin Williams.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 19, 2021

While Damon and Affleck clearly feel at home with each other in familiar surroundings during Good Will Hunting, their story relies on heart more than location since caring and friendship taking precedence.

Full Review | Aug 10, 2021

Good Will Hunting still holds up as a great film.

Full Review | Apr 14, 2021

What Matt Damon and Ben Affleck accomplish with such a profound, witty, inspirational and heartbreaking script is quite extraordinary. And then, Mr. Robin Williams takes it to another level. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2020

The acting is outstanding; Williams and Damon perfectly embody their roles, creating a believable, poignant, powerful partnership full of uplifting, feel-good triumphs.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Sep 14, 2020

On the surface there doesn't seem to be too much going on, but dig a little deeper and you'll find remarkably telling insights into the mind games that go with being a genius.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 11, 2020

The film offers Robin Williams the chance to show his dramatic acting skills.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 9, 2020

Good Will Hunting is lyrically directed, efficiently written, side-splittingly funny, quietly devastating.

Full Review | Jun 5, 2020

The movie... [is] surprisingly moving, though resolutely unsentimental, rites-of-passage yarn.

Full Review | May 30, 2019

It's a deceptively good performance by Williams: the schmaltzy raw materials of Maguire would seem to be a trap, but he plays it absolutely straight, in muted, dignified tones

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 2, 2018

The headline story from this slice of honestly earned sentiment is Matt Damon, who delivers the year's No. 1 breakthrough performance directly atop his agreeable high-profile turn in John Grisham's The Rainmaker.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 9, 2018

It's a movie that captures (in a way that perhaps an older screenwriter could not convey) the limitless possibilities of youth, a movie in which a character can tell another, without cynicism, "You could do anything you want. You are bound by nothing."

Full Review | Dec 15, 2017