Having just looked up the actor who played him - John Mighton - I can see that he's a real life Mathematics professor. So maybe they put him in to add a bit of authenticity to it?
Problem is, he adds nothing to the story.
It's possible he was initially supposed to be a consultant on the film and they gave him the role to show their appreciation, but surely a cameo as "himself" for a few seconds would have sufficed for that.
He was Prof Lambeau’s favorite until Will came along. He represents the cream of the crop at MIT, a guy who got to do his phD with a superstar professor. That is until Will comes along and makes him appear like an ordinary hack. You need characters like for comparative purposes, or else it is hard to measure the scale of Will’s genius.
shareHe also served as insight into Lambeau's self-serving ego, a trait that his psychiatrist friend Sean lacerated him with repeatedly throughout the film. Tom worships the Fields Medal winning Lambeau, Lambeau knows that, and Lambeau exploits the idolatry and has him doing all sorts of menial academic tasks (not that being a teaching assistant and so forth is lowly, but I wouldn't be surprised if Lambeau had him pick up his dry cleaning). A more comedic caricature of Lambeau and Tom can be found in the film "Real Genius" (Jerry and Kent, respectively).
shareI didn't know that about the "Tom character"...I think that's awesome! 😃
I think Tom does add to the movie/story. In addition to the two previous excellent responses, I think Tom's character also showed somewhat how Will took his genius for granted and how unappreciative he was of the opportunity he was provided. Tom was very smart, but he really had to work at math to get his results...while everything came so effortlessly to Will.
As an aside, I've always felt like Tom with respect to my username. I've played guitar for 40 years now, but it never came "naturally" for me. The greats played for a much shorter time and they just "got it" so much faster and easier than I did. Same with golf...I've spent over 30 years trying to figure out how to hit a golf ball and only in the past two years does if feel like I've really "gotten it." Meanwhile, some of these young men and women today can really belt a golf ball and play golf so well. I have a real "connection" with Tom in this movie.
thanks for the responses guys. I get it now. He's a meek and passive character, but that's the point! A guy with his brains could be working for NASA or be a quant on Wall Street, enjoying the money and lifestyle that come with it, but such is Lambeau's status in his world that Tom would rather be his lackey, just to be around him.
And then we have Will effortlessly being smarter than both of them and showing Lambeau no respect at all. It's a great contrast.
No insults. No trolling. No p*ssing matches. Just good, insightful replies. This is how Moviechat should be :)
Thanks again.