Good Will Hunting satisfies the witty romantic

The new recipe for success: take one orphan, his three sidekicks, a beautiful and intelligent foreigner, the city of Boston, Robin Williams (no, really), a non-traditional filmmaker, and bake (don't fry). Serve with an indie-rock soundtrack, and even Martha Stewart's wetting herself with anticipation as she is presented with the movie Good Will Hunting.

Puzzled? I'm not surprised. Whoever was in charge of marketing this film is the same guy in charge of making the public believe Clinton is a faithful husband. Don't let the cheesy photographs and frilly trailers fool you. You want to see this movie. Yes, it stars and was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Yes, the same two guys from movies such as School Ties (deemed by some anti-Semitic due simply to the fact that it is an awful movie) and Courage Under Fire (a movie about the Gulf War? why?!). Still, be not afraid of Good Will Hunting, for this is one of the best films you'll see in a long, long time.

In case you haven't heard it from Oprah yet, Good Will Hunting is the story of Will Hunting, a tough, troubled 19-year-old orphan with a supernatural knack for math. When a professor from MIT (Stellan Skarsgad) finds him out, he gets Will out of jail with two conditions: one, that he meet with him every week, and two, that he do the same with a professional therapist (Robin Williams). Throw into the mix Will falling in love with some British chick (Minnie Driver) and the pressures of his friends (Ben Affleck, Cole Hauser, and Casey Affleck), and you have a wonderful story that is guaranteed to have you emotionally invested by the time the opening credits end.

One of the most winning features of this movie is its screenplay. Though now pop-trivia, the fact that Damon and Affleck wrote the script should not be overlooked. It is obvious in their premium performances that they, too, are emotionally invested in the movie. The dialogue is sharp and realistic, witty and sad. The story is original and unmatched. The characters are frighteningly genuine. Perhaps, though, this is because the characters are not characters at all. Affleck and Damon will forever tell us that the story is completely fictional, but, come on? Two best friends from Cambridge grow up to write the story of, hmm? Two best friends from Boston! And yet we're supposed to take their acting as some sort of stretch?

Don't get me wrong. The acting in the movie is superb. Robin Williams, stepping out of the inane-comedy-rut he seemed to be in, gives perhaps his best performance in the past five years. Minnie Driver is quite believable as the kind of woman Will would fall for, and the not as well known Stellan Skarsgad is excellent as the cocky son-of-a-bitch his character is. My personal favorite, however, has to be Ben Affleck's younger brother Casey. Without his shenanigans and antics keeping things in order, Good Will Hunting might just have bordered on melodramatic.

And, yes, Gus Van Sant (To Die For, My Own Private Idaho) is a fine director. His ability to incorporate meaningful silence in a film is notable, and he has spared nothing in this department on Good Will Hunting. These scenes of Affleck and Damon walking, Driver and Damon sleeping, etc., are accompanied by the terribly catchy and undeniably indie tunes of Elliot Smith, another good move by Van Sant.

Perhaps the best things about Good Will Hunting, however, are its underlying issues. Out of the seven principal characters, Driver stands out as the only female. This is no mistake, and Good Will Hunting is as much a study of masculinity as it is a story about decisions. This is most obvious in the parallels drawn between the friendship between Damon and Affleck's characters and Williams and Skarsgad's, which show us how the inadvertent success of one member of a friendship can put a strain on the entirety of the relationship. (Interestingly enough, it's easy to see how this theme may become yet another jump from the "fictional" screenplay into the real friendship of it's authors, as Matt Damon has gotten considerably more press than his pal Ben).The relationship between Will and his therapist Sean is based on the macho-walls Will has built around him, for good reason, and the most powerful scene in the movie comes when these walls come down. All this, not to mention the issues Hunting has with the woman he loves, obviously stemming from the classic male syndrome known as "fear of commitment."

While Good Will Hunting has its flaws, some of which may include its slightly predictable ending, these flaws are no more than human. And that's okay, for where this movie really gets you is in its realism, and who expects perfection?