MovieChat Forums > Good Will Hunting (1998) Discussion > I can't believe I was impressed by his '...

I can't believe I was impressed by his ''intelligence''...

posted 6 years ago by kellycallie (728)
33 replies | jump to latest

It's only a film of course, but i remember seeing the bar scene especially with him arguing with the Harvard brat and thinking ''wow, he sure showed him''. I'm sure other audiences had a similar reaction. But he was an absolute idiot. All that time reading books, speed reader or not, and he was still working construction and starting fights on the street instead of putting the information to good use. Arguing with a man in a bar was a waste of time.

Why didn't Will head over to Wall street and throw his weight around there if he was so smart? you don't need a college degree for that and he would have gotten rich before he was 25. Very peculiar

[–] PaladinNJ (21510) 6 years ago

He was brought up in the slums. Opportunity never presented itself to him.

[–] kellycallie (728) 6 years ago

Bus ticket.

[–] scarlit (50) 5 years ago

you obviously don't understand what lack of opportunity means. but your post made me chuckle, so you've got that going for you.

[–] snepts (11123) 5 years ago

Indeed. As a corollary, I've heard people say about living in bad areas -- Why Don't They Just Move?
Egads, talk about being clueless ! It's not easy to leave your surroundings and start up somewhere else. Maybe for some people it is, but most of us don't know what's on the other side of that fence. This is what we know, so we work with this reality.

[–] liscarkat (18388) 2 years ago

We moved sixteen times when I was a kid. I guess my dad and mom didn't have that hangup about starting somewhere else.

[–] moviechatterer (15586) a year ago

how'd that affect your schooling?

Thays one reason some people stay put

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Did you miss just about everything Sean said about Will's mindset? He was very intelligent but he had terrible trust issues so he padded himself with a small group of lifelong friends and stayed in their circle (more or less). Had his friends went on to be investors/lawyers/businessmen he would have likely followed. He didn't want to excel, he wanted to be in a "safe place."

[–] PaladinNJ (21510) 6 years ago

Didn't Affleck's character threaten him if he didn't take the offer the professor gave him? He knew he was too good for his current situation.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

He threatened him if he was still around in 20 years. I think Will was trying to navigate a minefield there. I'm sure there was some level of conflict in himself at what Affleck was getting at in that scene.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 2 years ago

Had his friends went . . . “ You’re the perfect audience for this twaddle.

[–] dl4060 (58) 6 years ago

Where would he get the money to throw around on Wall Street? He didn't have any. Do you think top investment banks would simply allow him to manage hundreds of millions of dollars? That is not the way Wall Street works.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

I don't really have a problem with him having a greater intellect than what his job implies. There's lots of people like that in real-life. Rather, my problem is how we never find out what fuels his thirst for knowledge yet, his disdain for school at the same time.

[–] Hans-Wilhelm (1356) 6 years ago

Yes, he was full of knowledge but he lacked wisdom.

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 6 years ago

Will becoming responsible with his intelligence and growing out of his closed-off existence and anger issues is the whole point of the movie.

[–] scarlit (50) 5 years ago

*imaginary upvote*

[–] davodikum (6197) 4 years ago

Spot on.

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 4 years ago

Thanks!

[–] NitroHangover (1142) 3 years ago

Well said, Ace.

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 3 years ago

Thank you.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

What got me about that scene was that in the end he didn't beat the guy intellectually. He challenged him to a fight and the other guy, having far more to lose if he were arrested or hurt badly just walked away.

I would also argue that Minnie Driver isn't worth fighting over.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7699) 5 years ago

Will did bring up a good point in that the guy was plagarizing stuff from a book instead of using his own words. He even said he would plagarize to get his degree. Which is wrong and he's a complete disgrace of a scholar for doing so.