5 Best Movies Like Good Will Hunting To See
Good Will Hunting is an American drama film released in 1997. It was directed by Gus Van San and produced by Lawrence Bender. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wrote the film. Good Will Hunting is one of the most beloved films of the past 20 years.
The film features Robin Williams, Matt Damon Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgard. Good Will Hunting has Robin Williams’s outstanding performance, the one he had won an oscar for. Matt Damon plays the role of the title character Will Hunting. The movie is praised for the excellent performance given by all the actors.
The movie is about a 20-year-old boy, Will Hunting. He is a janitor in South Boston. He is an unrecognized genius who as a part of a deferred prosecution agreement and after assaulting a police officer becomes a client of a counselor. Through his sessions with the counselor, he finds his hidden and real potential. The sessions helped him reassess his relationships with the people he loved, his best friend, girlfriend, and even himself. With this, he was able to confront his past and think about his future.
5 Movies Like Good Will Hunting
- Finding Forrester – 2000
Finding Forrester is an American drama film released in 2000. Gus Van Sant directs this film. Mike Rich writes it. This movie bears some similarity with Van’s Good Will Hunting as both stories are about young genius boys.
Finding Forrester stars Rob Brown who plays the role of a teenager, Jamal Wallace, and Sean Connery who plays the role of a writer William Forrester.
A unique friendship develops between a young and gifted scholar, Jamal Wallace, and a novelist, Sean Connery when they meet. When Connery realizes that Jamal is an excellent writer, he takes him on as his protege. Through their journey together, as they learned more about each other, they learned more about themselves. This helped Jamal in choosing the right path.
This movie inspires people to follow their hearts. It also teaches us the true meaning and the value of friendship.
- A Beautiful Mind – 2001
A Beautiful Mind is an American biographical drama film released in 2001. This film is based on the life of an American mathematician John Nash. Ron Howard directs this film. The film is inspired by the best-selling book named “A Beautiful Mind” by Sylvia Nasar. Ron Howard directed the film.
A Beautiful Mind stars Russell Crowe as Nash. Nash was a great mathematician and a person living with schizophrenia. Nash suffered from hallucinations of seeing non-existing people. Despite trying several treatments to overcome them, he was not able to. He instead tried to ignore them. He just learned to live with hallucinations.
This movie teaches us to try to find ways to cope with our problems.
The movie grossed over $313 million worldwide and won four Academy Awards.
- The Paper Chase – 1973
Released in 1973, The Paper Chase is an American comedy-drama film. The movie stars Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, and John Houseman. James Bridges direct it.
The movie is based on the novel The Paper Chase by John Jay Osborn Jr.
The film shows the life story of James Hart, a character played by Timothy Bottoms. He was a first-year law student at Harvard Law School. The film shows Hart’s experiences with Professor Charles Kingsfield (John Houseman) and his relationship with Kingsfield’s daughter.
John Houseman won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his Paper Chase performance as the professor.
- Dead Poets Society – 1989
Dead Poets Society is an American Teen Drama film. It was released in the year 1989. Tom H. Schulman writes the film. Peter Weir directs it. The film features Robin Williams who plays the role of an English teacher, John Keating. He is a progressive teacher who tries to encourage his students to break free from the norm and live their life unapologetically. He inspires his students from his teachings of English poetry. The professor teaches us “It is not who you are but what you do that defines you”.
The film was commercially very successful, and it received several awards including three Academy Award nominations.
- The Shawshank Redemption – 1994
The Shawshank Redemption is an American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont. This film was released in 1994. The movie is adapted from Stephen King’s novel named Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The movie features Tim Robbins who plays the role of Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd Red, a friend of Andy.
The film tells the story of Andy Dufresne, who was sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for committing the murders of his wife and his lover. However, only he knew that he did not commit the crimes. While being in prison, he becomes friends with Ellis Red. They bond over the years and experience the brutality of prison life together.
The Shawshank Redemption is considered one of the best movies ever made.
Conclusion
Who doesn’t love Cinderella stories? Good Will Hunting is one such story with two of them: one on screen and one off-screen. God Will Hunting received many positive reviews from the critics, and it grossed over $225 million. This movie was also nominated for nine Academy Awards.
Movies like Good Will Hunting can act as mentors in our lives and help us through bad times, and they show the good in us. Such movies also help us through various life lessons.
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