Synopsis of Go

Set in South Boston, Good Will Hunting is about Will Hunting (Matt Damon), a young man who immerses himself in books, drinking and friends to escape his anger and frustration stemming largely from his past experiences with abusive foster families. Will and his best friend, Chuckie Sullivan, who is practically like a brother to him, live, work and hang out together with their small group of friends in impoverished areas of Boston, drinking and occasionally fighting down in Southie. Will works as a janitor, construction worker, auto mechanic, and other such menial jobs, hiding his incredible genius, his talent for memorizing facts, solving complex math equations, and his incredible knowledge of a dizzying array of subjects including law, psychology, history, and even art. However, it will be while working at one of these jobs that Will sets off a series of events that reveals himself and changes his life. While Will is working as a janitor at MIT, one of the professors there, Gerald Lambeau, a Fields Medalist and combinatorialist, posts a difficult problem for his graduate class on a bulletin board in the hallway, hoping, (although he does not seem to be expecting), that someone may be able to solve it by the end of the term. Will, unable to resist a challenge, solves it overnight, (by memorizing the problem, going home and working on it by writing on his mirror, then going back the next day), and secretly posts the answer the next day. This throws the classes and professors into confusion, wondering who could have solved the equation. At some point during the next few days Will meets Skylar at a Harvard bar and she gives him her phone number. Meanwhile at MIT Lambeau and the other professors decide to put up a much more complicated problem, one that had taken him and his colleagues two years to prove. Lambeau and his assistant exit into the hallway soon after they have put this second problem on the board, and turn to find Will, in his janitor's suit, writing on the chalkboard. As they begin walking towards him, he makes a last few marks, then starts to walk away, saying "sorry." Lambeau is incensed, assuming that Will has just been defacing or doodling over the problem, shouting at him, "That's people's work!", to which Will replies, "Hey, fuck you." He turns the corner, and by the time Lambeau gets there, Will has vanished. He returns to the board to find his astonished assistant staring in awe at the correctly solved theorem. At this point, Lambeau, accompanied by his assistant, begins trying to find Will. They go to the janitorial quarters, and after receiving sarcastic remarks from the janitors in charge, they find out that Will isn't a student, and that he can be reached through his parole officer. While Lambeau is in the process of trying to track Will down, Will and his friends pick a fight with a group of men, one of whom "used to beat the shit out of [Will] in kindergarten". Will continues brutally beating the man who once picked on him, even when police sirens draw near and Chuckie implores him to stop and escape. Will is arrested, and during his arrest hits a cop in an attempt to escape, which seems to guarantee that he will be facing jail time. Lambeau attends Will's criminal hearing, and is clearly impressed with his self-defense speech, citation of old laws, and the judge reading about how Will has argued his way out of numerous prior offences. However, because of the fact that Will hit a cop during the process, the judge refuses to let him off the hook. Lambeau meets with Will after the court hearing, and lays out his options: either he can go to jail, or can he be released under Lambeau's personal supervision, as per a deal that Lambeau worked out with the judge privately. The latter option comes with two conditions: one, Will must work on advanced mathematics with Lambeau, and two, that he must see a therapist. Will does extremely well in the math sessions with Lambeau, and Lambeau apparently grows to like Will, including doing such things as giving him an elaborate high five after solving a problem together and affectionately mussing Will's hair. However, Will is adverse to seeing a therapist, and quickly drives off several well known therapists that Lambeau has arranged for him to see. Lambeau, on the verge of giving up, takes Will to meet his former college roommate, a psychologist, Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), who teaches at Bunker Hill Community College, to mostly uninterested, uninspired students. Lambeau believes Sean may have an important edge on all the other therapists that Will has been seeing; Sean too is from the rough area of South Boston, and shares many of the same painful childhood experiences that Will has. After a rough start (Will is still highly cynical and sarcastic, and nearly succeeds in driving Sean off in their first session until Sean gives Will some of the same treatment in the second session), Sean concludes that Will's defensiveness is the result of years of physical and emotional abuse, (as well as intense isolation), and that his hostility, sarcastic, cynical attitude, and evasive behavior are all defense mechanisms. The two work together to break through Will's considerable barriers and to get at the heart of the problem, dealing with Will's complex emotions. The two begin to relate to each other more, with Sean telling Will about his past and his happiness with his now deceased wife, which makes an impression on Will, particularly how Sean gave up a pair of World Series Red Sox tickets to meet and spend time with a stranger in a bar who would later become his wife. This encourages Will to try to establish a deeper relationship with Skylar, whom he has gone on a few dates with after nearly having failed to ever call her. At the same time however, the well-intentioned Lambeau is attempting to push Will to excel in his direction, not seeing or perhaps not comprehending just how sensitive Will is, what a fragile stage he is in, and how he could snap in a second if pushed. Tensions eventually boil between Lambeau and Sean at a bar, resulting in a public argument that has Lambeau walking off. To make things worse, Will blows off several lucrative interviews that Lambeau has arranged for him, or in one case, sends his friend Chuckie in his place. (Who succeeds in managing to con the men at the interview to give him most of the money they have on them as a "retainer"). After he and Skylar have been involved for some time, she eventually asks Will to move to California with her, as she will begin medical school at Stanford University. Will panics at the thought of disrupting his life so greatly and shrinks from the emotional closeness that would be involved. After angrily giving her reasons why he shouldn't, (and continuing to insist that he is nothing more than a fling to her, one that she'll get laugh about with