189 - Good Will Hunting

    Will Hunting is a blue-collar janitor who solves a publicly posted math problem, making his mathematical genius known to MIT.  As the professor tries to take him under his wing, he finds that Will has some personal issues to work through.
    I have no idea why this is 129 on IMDB’s top 250.  It’s an enjoyable movie, but it feels like something’s missing.
    I felt like the movie was opening with a caricature of Boston.  I lived there for four years.  I didn’t grow up there, and I wasn’t nearly the blue-collar type that is focused on, but I felt like this was a strangely dated picture of Boston.  It was released in 1997, but something feels like a relic from the 80s.
    The good things are out there.  Matt Damon is a pleasure to watch, although he isn’t as charming as some of his later roles.  The script is fun, but it also feels a bit padded.  There are scenes that are there solely to add flavor, and they become a little conspicuous.  Sometimes I can like these kinds of things, but when they show up around the middle of the movie, they tend to drag the pacing down a little.
    After the setup has gone through, it seemed like a pleasant movie… something inoffensively good.  Like Shawshank Redemption, which also has a strangely high ranking.
    It’s hard for me to point to specific problems, but I guess it might be that I expect really good movies to be a little conflicting.  There should be a sense of mystery to the proceedings, something that would reward multiple viewings and cause you to recognize genius.  I just don’t get that with this one.