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There are thousands of aspiring screenwriters out there whose biggest dream is to see their movie go into production. There are hundreds more who also dream of starring in a film that they wrote, but everyone knows the chances of that are very, very slim. The most famous example, perhaps, is the movie Rocky, which Sylvester Stallone wrote and sold on the condition that he would play the lead role.

Well, another more recent example is Good Will Hunting, co-written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. These two not only got Miramax to produce their film, but also were allowed to play two important characters. Since Good Will Hunting's release in 1997, Damon and Affleck have both gone on to star in numerous big-screen productions and are known more as leading actors than as writers. But most everyone agrees that it was their work on Good Will Hunting that launched them onto Hollywood's A-list.

Good Will Hunting is the story of a young man with the improbable name of Will Hunting. The film opens with scenes of Will (Damon) at work. He is a janitor who cleans up after privileged students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One night as Will is working, he notices a very difficult math problem written on a whiteboard outside one of the classrooms. The professor, Gerald Lambeau (played by Stellan Skarsgard), has been working on the problem unsuccessfully for many years and has offered a prize for the student that can solve the problem correctly. We get a shot of Will writing on the whiteboard before continuing on his janitorial rounds.

The next day, Lambeau comes in to find that the problem has been solved correctly, but none of his students step up to claim the prize. Completely baffled by what's going on, Lambeau decides to leave another problem up on the board. Later that night, he catches Will working on the problem, but thinks that he's just defacing the board. Once Lambeau realizes that Will was the one that solved the original problem, he becomes intrigued and wants to find out this young man's story.

It turns out that Will is a mathematical genius who never went to college. Instead, he gets his education from stacks and stacks of library books that he speed reads in his spare time. His photographic memory ensures that he retains all the information he takes in and can spit it back out at opportune moments. Will isn't interested in putting his knowledge to use, and is instead quite content to maintain the status quo.

Along with memorizing books and cleaning the bathrooms at MIT, Will's status quo consists of hanging out with his best friends Chuckie (Affleck), Morgan (Casey Affleck), and Billy (Cole Hauser). They mostly drink beer, make fun of each other, and spend time in batting cages in South Boston.

Occasionally, they also stir up trouble, which is what happens one afternoon when they get into a fight with a group of other guys. Will gets involved in the fight and stupidly hits a cop, which earns him a trip to jail. When he appears in court, he's surprised to see that Prof. Lambeau is also there. Prof. Lambeau speaks up on Will's behalf and asks the judge to turn Will over to Lambeau as a sort of probation. Though Will isn't quite sure what's going on, he's pretty sure it will be better than jail.

The rest of the film deals with Lambeau trying to get through to Will in order to direct his mathematical abilities towards something great and also to help Will come to terms with some psychological problems that have been plaguing him since childhood. Along the way, a counselor named Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) enters the picture, and his relationship with Will soon occupies center stage in the movie. The question of whether Maguire will be able to connect with Will and help him get his life on track is the main plot point from then on.

I thought Good Will Hunting was a fantastic film. Although it seems a little dated when I watch it now, I still appreciate the snappy dialogue and easy-to-follow arcs that the main characters take. I thought Damon did a fantastic job as Will, and of course Robin Williams won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Maguire. The scenes between Damon and Williams are still funny, touching, and powerful even after many viewings, which all goes back to the solid screenplay.

Minnie Driver also turns in a strong performance as Will's girlfriend Skylar. She was the one token female character in the script, and as such, could have easily become a stereotype or a caricature. But Driver didn't let that happen and brought some much-needed depth and perspective to the story.

Good Will Hunting was directed by Gus Van Sant, who prior to that movie had best been known for Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho. I thought he told this story beautifully and really created some memorable scenes in there.

If you somehow happened to miss Good Will Hunting when it came out (and all the Oscar hoopla surrounding it soon thereafter), then you'll definitely want to catch it on DVD sometime soon. If it's been a while since you've seen it, then maybe it's time for you to watch it again. It's one of those movies that will take you back to a certain point in your life and make you think about people that have helped you when you needed it most.