Good Will Hunting is a 1997 American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

At the 70th Academy Awards, it received nominations in nine categories, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won in two: Best Supporting Actor for Williams and Best Original Screenplay for Affleck and Damon.

Will is particularly struck by Sean's story of how he met his wife, who later died of cancer, by giving up his ticket to the historic game six of the 1975 World Series after falling in love at first sight.

Sean points out to Will that he is so adept at anticipating future failure in his interpersonal relationships that he deliberately sabotages them to avoid emotional pain.

Chuckie likewise challenges Will over his resistance to taking any of the positions he interviews for, telling him he owes it to his friends to make the most of opportunities they will never have, even if it means leaving one day.

Will leaves a note for Sean asking him to tell Lambeau that he had to go "see about a girl", revealing he passed on the job offer and instead is heading to California to reunite with Skylar.

[5] At first, it was written as a thriller about a young man in the rough-and-tumble streets of South Boston who possesses a superior intelligence and is targeted by the government with heavy-handed recruitment.

[5] Castle Rock Entertainment bought the script for $675,000 against $775,000, meaning that Damon and Affleck would earn an additional $100,000 if the film was produced, and they retained sole writing credit.

[citation needed] Castle Rock Entertainment president Rob Reiner urged them to drop the thriller aspect of the story and to focus on the relationship between Will and his therapist.

Terrence Malick told Affleck and Damon over dinner that the film ought to end with Will's decision to follow his girlfriend Skylar to California, not them leaving together.

[8] Affleck and Damon proposed to act in the lead roles, but many studio executives said that they wanted Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.

All of the studios that were involved in the original bidding war for the screenplay turned the pair down, taking meetings with Affleck and Damon only to tell them this to their face.

Weinstein read the script, loved it, and paid Castle Rock Entertainment their due, while also agreeing to let Damon and Affleck star in the film.

Damon and Affleck chose Gus Van Sant, whose work on previous films, like Drugstore Cowboy, had left a favorable impression on the fledgling screenwriters.

[23] The Au Bon Pain, where Will and Skylar discuss the former's photographic memory, was at the corner of Dunster Street and Mass Ave.[24] The Boston Public Garden bench on which Will and Sean sat for a scene in the film became a temporary shrine after Williams's death in 2014.

[25] The film's end-credits roll over a since-famous, continuous shot of the car Hunting is driving to California, with the songs "Miss Misery" and "Afternoon Delight" playing on the soundtrack.

A limited-edition soundtrack album featuring Elfman's complete score from the film was released by Music Box Records on March 3, 2014.

Damon based it on his artist brother Kyle visiting MIT's Infinite Corridor and writing "an incredibly elaborate, totally fake, version of an equation" on a blackboard, which lasted for months.

The website's critical consensus reads: "It follows a predictable narrative arc, but Good Will Hunting adds enough quirks to the journey – and is loaded with enough powerful performances – that it remains an entertaining, emotionally rich drama.

"[44] Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle was equally positive, writing, "The glow goes well beyond a radiant performance by Matt Damon ... Intimate, heartfelt and wickedly funny, it's a movie whose impact lingers.

"[45] Owen Gleiberman, writing for Entertainment Weekly, gave the film a "B", stating, "Good Will Hunting is stuffed – indeed, overstuffed – with heart, soul, audacity, and blarney.

[46] Janet Maslin of The New York Times called the screenplay "smart and touching", and praised Van Sant for directing with "style, shrewdness and clarity".

She also complimented the production design and cinematography, which were able to effortlessly move the viewer from "classroom to dorm room to neighborhood bar", in a small setting.

[47] Quentin Curtis of The Daily Telegraph opined that Williams's performance brought "sharpness and tenderness", calling the film a "crowd-pleaser, with bags of charm to spare.

"[48] Andrew O'Hehir of Salon stated that despite the "enjoyable characters", he thought that the film was somewhat superficial, writing, "there isn't a whole lot of movie to take home with you ... many will wake the next morning wondering why, with all that talent on hand, it amounts to so little in the end.

"[49] Writing for the BBC, Nev Pierce gave the film four stars out of five, describing it as "touching, without being sentimental", although he felt that some scenes were "odd lapses into self-help speak".

Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera observed that the residual Catholic–Protestant tensions in Boston are an important backdrop in the film, as Irish Catholics from Southie are aligned against ostensibly Protestant characters who are affiliated with Harvard and MIT.