One of my closest friends in college is a brilliant man. He dropped out to become a baggage handler at United Airlines. He wanted a job he could keep at the job. 8 hours a day and out. He did that for 20 years then decided he wanted to become a lawyer. So he did. I always respected him for doing what he wanted to do.

I love stop-start reactors, because it means you won't miss things. It's a reaction, not a watch-along. If people want to watch the movie, buy/stream the movie. I absolutely adore this movie, and your reaction to it. Bravo 👏

I also love that the film parallels Will calling out the Harvard guy for unoriginal thinking with Sean calling out Will for his understanding of life coming from reading rather than experiencing. We see why Will was afraid. In the context of the film the Harvard guy is a bit of an antagonist, but had the film been about him we'd probably understand whatever background stories are influencing his need to hide behind others work. It's really simple but really good character work.

I'm so happy to see you reacting to this. I love how you do reactions, btw. It is more academic than most channels. I watch reactors to get reactions. I'm not going to disparage how others react, but too many wait until the end and seem to have forgotten so many things worth commenting on. Sending love and respect from Los Angeles. PS. the money is 5 bucks in appreciation for the reaction and 5 bucks for putting up for commentors :)

GREAT REACTION. Tyler is the Will of reactors. EDIT: Tyler is also the Robin Williams therapist of reactors.

Imagine writing a movie like that when you're 25... I don't know if they had other writers with them or what, but damn, that's impressive! Great movie, brings up great thoughts about life choices and all that too!

"A mind like that only comes around so often" was great commentary. If you push those minds too hard, you will break them. If you want to spend 8 hours going to really dark rabbit holes on youtube about all the brilliant/savant kids who were pushed to hard a wound up with severe addictions/self-harm/relationship problems from 20+ year old. I've been hooked on your channel since BB, keep up the good work.

I was a big fan of Goodwill Hunting before deciding to go to school for counseling, but now that I've had to use Will as a case example for discussing psychological testing and documentation it adds a different layer of appreciation. A major discussion in school when it came to this film was centered around how isolated Will is, not just because of his trauma and fear of vulnerability, but also because of his intelligence. Its easy for us to see him as gifted and have all this potential that we may actually get distracted from the actual experience of what it means for him. Interestingly much like individuals significantly below the bell curve, geniuses, like Will are also just as disconnected from those around them and struggling because of it. The second piece that stands out to me about using Will as a case example in school was how many students were comfortable dx Will with antisocial personality disorder. Which is characterized by a lack of morality and history of crimes among other things. Technically, he may meet the criteria but what does that say? Is it wrong or should we broaden our view? For myself at the time I went with PTSD, but this was much harder to make a case for. I wasn't comfortable slappying Will with such a stigmatized dx (the official dx for sociopathy/psychopathy). Now, whenever I was this movie, I wonder all over again, Did I make the right choice?

"She's perfect right now, I don't want to ruin that." "Maybe YOU'RE perfect right now, maybe you don't want to ruin that." BINGO. My favorite line in the whole film.

Matt is from the Boston area. One might think that would make the accent a layup for him, but the east coast US accents have a significant class divide to a degree that Damon (the son of a professor and stock broker) does significantly worse at it than Affleck (the son of a schoolteacher and janitor at Harvard -- huh, that's weird...) does. On a related note, I don't think it's an unreasonable take to read this film as *primarily* about class. (The trauma is just set dressing)

What a timely conversation about this brilliant film. With the recent leaps in artificial intelligence, we as a people should be asking what do we want to do? And how will we take care of the jobs that will be displaced in the next ten years. When I was in middle school we had a class assignment where everyone had to chose a career. The kids who chose actor or sports player were told to chose something else- the odds were too low for success they were told. I wanted to be an astronaut. I was told another kid had chosen that and statistically it wasn't realistic that two of us would be given that opportunity. Doctors, lawyers, and bankers had no such restriction. I think back at what a toxic exercise that was and it says a lot about my country's priorities. I found this film because Bernie Sander's 2020 campaign press secretary had done a podcast where she referenced the "It's not your fault scene" and said that Bernie's politics were telling the masses the impact of neoliberal capitalism wasn't their fault in the same way.

I honestly can’t believe you don’t have more subscribers, I love your videos! I’m sending them to my friends too 😂

Can't believe this is a first-time watch! As usual I personally enjoy the pauses and commentary. Your camera and lighting are looking really good too! It's like you keep making small improvements and it's looking and sounding really good! Keep up the progress. Kind of a funny thing I've noticed after seeing this movie a million times; but around 38:21, when Skylar says, "It's not fair..." You can tell 100% they inserted her next line. The audio is a little off and you don't see her face. I'm VERY sure they were going to have her say something about Will being so smart, but they came up with a more romantic line later :)

The main Breaking Bad nod is that Sean (Robin), is very smart, yet watched his buddies all move up in the world like Walt. Stellan's character is the same as Elliot and all his scholar friends. Walter is like a combination of Will Hunting and Sean. He went the way of the genius, that never lived up to his potential, but then fell into his own madness. Walter in true Icarus fashion, didn't know when to stop, and his pride destroyed him.

Happened across this channel today and, wow, what a fantastic ride. Quite the insightful chap. 👍

First time watching your video(s), and man, what an interesting thoughts/great insight. Subscribed! And happy that you told us in the middle that you stop and talk a lot, so it didn´t bother me ever - because your comments were 'precious'. Fantastic movie, with one "strange issue": where and when did the young Will gather ÁLL that (book)wisdom??. But hey, this film and actors deserve a 9 or 10. Greetings from Belgium

Not the biggest point here, but I 100% believe Robin William’s character when he says that he benches 285. Robin’s got that short, stocky body with short arms that’s built for putting up weight. Always figured he just used his own max.

Like Top Gun (LOL Yes I said that), this is a great movie without an antagonist. I think everyone truly and sincerely wants what is best for Will. And you're right, how many people in the world with the same natural ability as Will don't have the people around them, or the circumstance to actually discover it.

The math students assoc at my uni watched this film almost every single time they hosted a movie night.

i found your channel thanks to a shout-out from sarah (fakegamergirl) on her episode about tv/movie sets recreated in the sims (breaking bad was one of them). awesome to see that you gave your reaction and analysis to not only my favorite tv show (breaking bad) but my favorite movie as well (this one). i haven't finished the video yet but im really enjoying your reaction so far. subscribed! 💚

Haven't I seen you wearing a shirt with the same pattern as your window shades? LOL. Also, I comment on your videos like you react. I'm not gonna wait until the end :)

Great reaction mate. The themes you focused on were very good, and i agree aboit people needing to pursue their happiness.

I really like Robin Williams too - anything he is in, really, especially the drama stuff. In comedy movies or series, there is still a sadness to his characters at times. RIP :-/ Talking about potential is something that everyone struggles with in different ways. I remember in art class in the 6th-ish grade, we did perspective, architectural stuff. We were taught to do it with lines and rulers and whatnot and I was so... confused why it needed to be so complicated. I sketched without those aids and the teacher got so intense, asking me if I had help etc. I didn't want to upset her and agreed that someone helped. But what if I didn't? Weird thought sometimes. The second time is fairly recent. I got massively into dyi stuff and power tools and just... a whole world suddenly opened up. Or rather, a glimpse of it, of what might have been. Men in my family always used to nudge us kids & women away. Oh no, you might get hurt, blubedi. Well yeah, but you could teach me! Power tools are so friggin' awesome, they compensate exactly for what I don't have: strength. Who needs to labor over a manual saw if they can use an electric one? :D It's very satisfying, definitely recommend anyone to just.. try it. Doesn't have to be perfect, but at least shit gets done the way -you- want it to. I think I totally could've been a badass in the trades! :D And, of course, last but not least. Potential in regards to disability. What worth or potential does a person have that becomes disabled in their twenties? Economically, none. In fact, the numbers go into the red fairly soon down that line. Everything the government / society has invested in this person: gone. Sorry - definitely not going for "awww, you are worth somethin'" here, please don't ^^! It's just something I struggle with, of course :). (Basically, it's your fault for talking about potential and stuff in your video, so there /s)

Thanks Tyler. I like your style. Fair enough if others don't. But trying to force a one style fits all on reactors is inauthentic. Reactors should be themselves. There are many different ways to react. Ironic that people who like Good Will Hunting don't recognize that.

About the life choices and pushing people and all that: I think that while the answer is seemingly obvious to everyone ("we should let people do what they want to do!"), I think it's possible to have a nuanced take on it. And no, I'm not saying we should enslave people to force them to do what they don't want to do just because we think we know better than them, but... Say, to take an extreme example: What if a natural disaster or giant meteor or a big pandemic happened, and the only person who could stop it was a brilliant mind who would be able to find the solution if he put his mind to it, BUT he didn't feel like it because this field of study didn't interest him, he was an addicted gambler who just wanted to make it as a professional poker player. Would it be fine to push THIS guy to do the thing he doesn't want to do, for the benefit of all humanity? Or should we shrug it off and say "Well, if playing cards is what makes him happy, who am I to try to convince him to change?" And if we go with "Well in THIS case of course we should try to push him, because humanity's at stake!", then we can go to less extreme examples... What if that brilliant person would find a cure for some disease that kills 1 million people every year, then are we allowed to push THIS one too? What if he could find a way to extend people's life by 50 years (50 good years, not like laying in an hospital bed)? What if he could find a new energy source that would not only be cheap and help everyone on the planet, but also wouldn't pollute? Which of these guys are we allowed to try to push to do what they don't like, because it's good for everyone else? Where do you draw the line, do you push the guy who can save the entire human species, but let the one who could save 1 million people every year do whatever he wants? Or to go at it from another angle: We make laws for assistance of people in danger/life threatening situation. Like, if you see someone dying on the street (in some countries, anyway) you're legally forced to do something to help him, at least calling 911 or doing CPR or what not. Some people might not want to do CPR on a stranger, and some people might prefer watching a funny video on their phone rather than call 911, but we as a society decided that no, they need to do the thing to save a person, even if they'd rather do something else. So again it's the question of where the line is drawn. Like, if you can force someone to call 911 and spend 15 minutes with a stranger to save his life, then can't you force that same person to work on something for a few months to save a MILLION lives? And now I used "forcing" which of course gives a different vibe to it, but we can use "pushing really hard" and the same question applies. So that's how I think about it... And I'm not saying I have the answer, like both sides feel wrong, it's wrong to try and force people to do things they don't want, but it's also wrong to let minds who could eventually save tons of people/improve our lives, just do something else, at everyone's detriment.

As a person who didn't live up to the expectations of "greatness" from those around me, I appreciate your analysis. While life is still what it is, with all its complications, and I still occasionally feel shamed for not doing more, I live a better life than I thought I could have, and fuck anyone else who thought it was their choice to make for me. Long live Robin Williams

damn even had a tear at the hug scene even though you oviously had to cut the movie down. A real masterpiece movie that leaves an impact on your very soul

(Spamming you with comment today hah) If you're in a mood for more 90s movies, I don't know if you watched Scent of a woman (1992)? Another great film from that same era! Just like Good Will Hunting, it has solid writing, great acting (Pacino won the oscar), bunch of other oscar nominations too.

Great job, Tyler! You made me see a different perspective Edit: I agree regarding the Breaking Bad parallels

Love this movie, great video.

I really really like your reactions, some great movies that I’d like to see you react to, shutter island, Pineapple Express, interstellar, nightcrawler, end of watch, that 70’s show, fury, hand others I’ll probably edit in or something but would love any one of those! Great reaction to this movie as well

Enjoyed your perceptive comments, Tyler. Skylar is such an unusual name the Breaking Bad thing can't be a coincidence, right?

Ramanujan is quite real.

A friend of mine has an uncle who had a philosophy degree and drove a truck so he could spend his day thinking about things. Clever concept, but it's a shitty job (i hear from a boyfriend who drove for 17 years s and hated it the whole time), I'd love to kmow how the uncle 😊felt about that choice later.

Matt and Ben are from Boston. Or are you talking about Minnie Driver's accent? LOL.

Wow, Tyler is in a fucking mood today. I compliment him below. Now he comes back with an "I saw you parrot the OP" from another comment. I deleted my comment because I did not want to be lumped in with that OP. My comment was that I needed to know if Tyler had missed the good parts. I didn't say why in that reply, but I needed to see you reacting in a moved way because of stuff I am going through. I didn't anticipate how his original comment would be seen by you and my reply had not been about you, Tyler, as a reactor, it was asking a fellow viewer for more info on what the viewed video contained. I regret ever replying to that dude. It was a practical ask, not a critique of you. But thanks for making sure I know that you saw my mistake and for pointing out how you viewed it as undercutting my credibility.

Dude , you talk too much , just watch the movie and comment later on your views on it ! You're putting me off watching your review , you interrupt the film too much !