Shenanigans, Tomfoolery, and Ballyhoo – MMU 27
Good Will Hunting was released in 1997. It was the screenwriting debut of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. It also stars the duo, along with Robin Williams, Stellan Skarsgard, and Minnie Driver. Despite being their first screenplay, the duo of Damon and Affleck were nominated and actually won the Oscar for best original screenplay. How’s that for a debut effort?
The story follows Will Hunting (played by Damon) who is a janitor at MIT (not Harvard, despite what we say on the episode, just know we meant MIT), but is smarter than everyone else there. He is struggling to find his place in the world. Socially awkward because of his intelligence, and finding himself constantly in trouble for getting in fights, Will Hunting begins to benefit from his relationship with his new therapist, Sean (played by Robin Williams).
Join our team as they discuss the amazing success of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with this film and because of this film. They also talk about finding your way in the world, finding someone you can be yourself with, and how being weird is really ok. And, most importantly, we learn the origin of Val’s use of shenanigans.
So, join Movies That Make Us in celebrating Val’s birthday by discussing Good Will Hunting. Have feedback for this episode? Or for a previous episode? Have a suggestion for the show? Send us an email at podcast@moviesthatmakeus.com.
