15 Best Movies Like Good Will Hunting – Top Picks

Even though Good Will Hunting came out in 1997, its story is still relevant today. It’s about a caretaker at MIT who is a self-taught math genius and was just let out of jail. It was directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The professor, Gerald Lambeau, played by Stellan Skarsgård, sees Will Hunting’s ability and hires him. Robin Williams plays Dr. Sean Maguire, the counsellor who can connect with Will and help him deal with his urges to hurt himself.

At the 1998 Academy Awards, the movie won Best Original Screenplay and Robin Williams got Best Supporting Actor for his role. A lot of people think it’s one of the best films ever made because of its great acting and very moving story about working-class grit, mental health, and the importance of a guide in a young person’s life. Even though it’s not based on a true story, Good Will Hunting is inspired by real events and feels like a real story, even though it’s been sped up. Once you know all of this, you can see that other great films share many of the same traits.

As of December 9, 2024, Arthur Goyaz said, “Good Will Hunting” is a modern classic about having a guide and getting over a traumatic event. This list was updated to include more suggestions for movies like Good Will Hunting, both ones that were based on it and ones that were based on it.

The Top 15 Movies Like Good Will Hunting:

The Iron Claw

The Iron Claw is based on the true story of the Von Erich brothers, who were wrestlers who made a big splash in the 1980s. In a way, the movie is less about life in the ring and more about a moving family tale. It shows how each brother dealt with personal problems and tragedies in their lives. The movie is led by Zac Efron, who plays Kevin Von Erich, the oldest and last brother. He goes through his own hell.

The moving lesson of Good Will Hunting is to not let your inner demons win. In The Iron Claw, this idea is shown in a more sad light by the stories of people who were very strong and very good at what they did. The Von Erich boys didn’t have the mental strength to handle the stress of fame, the fear of failing, and the misunderstandings that split up their family. Kevin finally lifts his head and gets over his pain, but his brothers unfortunately die in sad circumstances.

The Spectacular Now

The Spectacular Now is a sweet coming-of-age story about Sutter, a famous high school party animal who falls in love with Aimee, a shy girl he meets by chance. Sutter often drinks to forget about his problems and doesn’t see the quiet pain that’s been eating him up. On the other hand, Aimee is excited about what she wants to do after school.

They could become closer because of the difference in how they feel, or they could move farther apart forever. The Spectacular Now is mostly a movie about paying attention or not paying attention. There’s a lot of good in Aimee’s future, but she’s getting caught up in someone who can’t face his fears and lives on lies and cheap distractions. At the scary end of the movie, the relationship between the two main characters is in danger. The Spectacular Now is also about coming to terms with changing instead of growing up, like Good Will Hunting. If you want to enjoy and understand life, you have to be honest with yourself.

A Beautiful Mind

Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind is the first movie on this list, and it has won four Academy Awards, including the Best Picture award in 2001. Russell Crowe does a great job as the real-life scientist John Nash, who is shown in the movie working on his works on Game Theory. Like the movie Good Will Hunting, this one is about a lot more than just school. Nash has a lot of problems in his personal life, such as having near-death experiences and being diagnosed with schizophrenia.

These scenes are what make the movie a classic; they let a truly gripping story be told, which is made even more interesting by the fact that it is based on real events. The movie is brought to life by Ed Harris and Jennifer Connelly, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. It is a true modern classic that all movie fans should see.

The Passengers of the Night

When it comes to moving stories about a teacher and a student, Good Will Hunting does it for found-family films. It takes place in Paris in 1981, just as people are getting ready for big changes. Elisabeth is also going through big changes. Her marriage has ended, and she is now all by herself with her two teenage kids. In the dark of Paris, she feels lost and alone until she comes across Talulah, a girl who is having trouble. When she takes the girl home, a new circle starts for both of them.

The Passengers of the Night shows us that even if it doesn’t seem like it at first, everyone we meet has a big effect on us. The movie is about how relationships can help people feel better. Many people do normal things like make mistakes, fall in love, go through pain, and find peace. Elisabeth and Talulah’s relationship is like Will and Sean’s in Good Will Hunting. It’s not just about giving advice; a real friendship grows as a result.

East of Eden

The Bible story of Cain and Abel has been used as the basis for many stories, but few make people feel sorry for Cain. This is exactly what East of Eden does by following the different lives of two brothers during World War I. Adam Trask is a charming young boy with a lot of potential who charms everyone around him. His twin brother Carl Trask, on the other hand, is quiet and seems to be lonely for no clear reason. As things get worse between them, they will never be the same again because of a scary truth about their mother.

It only took a few films for James Dean to become a hero. As Cal Trask, he gives the performance of a lifetime, catching all the worries and anger of an unhappy young man. The most important question in East of Eden is whether Cal will choose to beat his sins or give in to the darkness inside him. His hard journey is a lot like Will’s in Good Will Hunting. Will spends most of his life letting anger and stress ruin his mind. The only difference is that Cal doesn’t have anyone to help him through his pain. He has to deal with the bad parts of his thoughts by himself.

Rain Man

The movie Rain Man, which won Best Picture, is also very moving. The movie is about Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), who gets angry when his father dies and leaves his huge wealth to his other son, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman). For the first time, Charlie learns something about his bigger brother Raymond. He then sets out to find him. When he finds Raymond, he learns that he is a genius. He then breaks Raymond out of the mental hospital where he is staying and starts to use him for his own gain.

The two end up going on a trip together where they plan to use Raymond’s smarts to steal money from casinos so that Charlie can pay off his bills. The movie shows a lot of different feelings, from greed to kindness, and handles the mental health problems in a sensitive way. It shows that everyone can live a pretty normal life full of love and acceptance.

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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

The best parts of Good Will Hunting are used in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, which is a stylised, independent story set in a strange high school. It’s about Greg, a high school student who wants to be a director but is trying to avoid being noticed. All Greg wants to do is make weird movies with his friend Earl and be done with this year. But when he makes friends with Rachel, a classmate who has leukaemia, his life changes quickly.

It’s funny, but Me and Earl and the Dying Girl also deals with serious issues that people face. Its clever writing and the special bond between the main character and Rachel remind me of Good Will Hunting. They learn a lot from each other, but it becomes clear that Greg is the only one who has their whole life ahead of them.

The Intouchables

The Intouchables is based on the true story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, a noble who is paraplegic, and Driss, a rough-around-the-edges man who takes care of Philippe. After a rough start, Philippe is won over by Driss’s unusual ways, and the two become close friends. They find comfort in each other and understand each other’s different problems as they work through them together.

The Intouchables is mostly about having two sides to yourself. Their differences become the bridge that holds their unique relationship together, even though there is a huge chasm between them. Like Good Will Hunting, The Intouchables looks at different ways of healing from different points of view. The Intouchables is sad and will make you cry, but it’s also funny and easy to connect with.

The Man Who Knew Infinity

Even though The Man Who Knew Infinity isn’t as well known, it deserves to be on this list with the other big names. The movie, directed by Matthew Brown and coming out in 2015, is a historical story about the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, who is played by Dev Patel. This movie, which is based on a real story, is similar to Good Will Hunting in that it shows an unknown math genius getting noticed and supported.

Ramanujan writes to several teachers before G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons) asks him to leave his home in Madras and possible become a theoretical mathematician at Cambridge University. It’s here that his works are praised and he becomes famous in the intellectual world. Ramanujan became disconnected from his work because of health problems and the difficulty he feels being away from his family. He finally goes back home to spend quality time with his wife. The emotional depth of Patel and Irons’ performances as the two main characters makes it clear that they had a deep and important connection in real life.

Monsieur Lazhar

The ideas are the same in Monsieur Lazhar, but the setting changes from college to grade school. Bachir Lazhar is an Algerian immigrant who fills in as a teacher after one quits and kills herself. The children in the class are still upset about their loss. They don’t know that Lazhar is also dealing with a terrible loss. Like Robin Williams’s character in Good Will Hunting, Lazhar is an outsider, but he doesn’t let what other people think stop him from reaching his goal. The most important thing is that Lazhar is hurt just like the people he’s paid to help and comfort, which makes his goal even more personal.

Good Will Hunting and Monsieur Lazhar both have a plot about duty and love, and they both end in the same way. Everyone is fighting their own battle, no matter where they come from or what problems they are having. All that’s left to do is grab every bit of humanity that’s still there in favour of real relationships between people. The best thing about these two films is that they make you remember that the characters are real people with feelings that need to be understood.

Short Term 12

Short Term 12 is a powerful story about two different roads that cross: self-sacrifice and self-destruction. The movie is about the lives of teens who are at risk who live in a care home and are helped by caring carers. Moving back and forth between the points of view of unhappy teens who need help and those who give it, Short Term 12 paints a delicate picture of understanding in times of trouble.

The characters in Short Term 12 are in a lot more danger than Will is in Good Will Hunting, but the ways that these dangers are dealt with are similar in both movies. Will is a lot like Marcus, who is played by LaKeith Stanfield. He lives there and has a bright future ahead of him, but the problems that come with his situation keep pulling him back. They have a hard time getting rid of their inner problems, but a new journey starts when they learn to trust the people around them.

Dead Poets Society

The 1989 movie Dead Poets Society, directed by Peter Weir, should be on everyone’s list of films they have to see. Robin Williams plays English teacher John Keating, who gets a lot of attention right away for the strange ways he teaches. Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), one of his students, finds out that Keating used to be a member of the Dead Poets Society, a club that no longer exists. He then decides to bring the club back to life.

Keating and the club both encourage people to push the limits of what they can do to do what they love. That starts a story about coming of age, but it quickly turns dark, and the characters go back to following the strict rules of their school. But the society’s unity and spirit are never lost, and people make friends for life. The movie has a great cast, with actors like Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles.

Ordinary People

Ordinary People, which won Best Picture, is underrated, and Donald Sutherland gives a great performance in it. In the movie, the grief over the death of a rich family’s older son puts a pressure on the relationships of Conrad, the younger son who feels guilty, Beth, the demanding mother, and Calvin, the loving father.

You can feel Sutherland’s hopelessness as a heartbroken father in Ordinary People who is trying to save his last son, and you can also feel Timothy Hutton’s pain as the son. The relationship that grew between Conrad and Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch) is a lot like the tense treatment sessions that Will and Sean had. At the same time, it’s a soothing contrast to the mess of family problems. Ordinary People stands out as a powerful meditation on family pain, grief, and how hard it is to let go of blame.

Finding Forrester

Find Forrester is a film released in 2000. It was directed by Gus Van Sant, who also made Good Will Hunting. It tells the story of Bronx teen Jamal Wallace, who gets a scholarship to a fancy private high school and becomes friends with the shy writer William Forrester. Forrester tells Jamal that he should follow his dream of becoming a writer, even though there will be many problems along the way. Race, mentoring, and the power of books to change lives are some of the things that the movie looks at. Sean Connery, who played James Bond for many years, plays Forrester. Rob Brown plays Jamal.

Both films are inspiring stories about finding yourself and making connections with other people. They also show how complicated mentoring and the search for intellectual growth can be. But unlike Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester looks at bigger problems in society instead of just the mind of a confused young man. Good Will Hunting is about maths and pain, while Finding Forrester is about books and social opportunities. Even though Sean Connery’s act as the young student’s teacher might not be as remembered as Robin Williams’, it is still great.

School Ties

Brendan Fraser is getting a lot of well-deserved attention in the media right now for his part in The Whale. However, School Ties, which came out in 1992, was one of his first major roles. David Greene, played by Fraser, is a 17-year-old who gets a football scholarship to the elite St. Matthews prep school. Like Charlie Dillon (Matt Damon) and Rip Van Kelt (Randal Batinkoff), Greene quickly makes friends. But when they find out he is Jewish, their lives turn upside down.

Greene feels like an outsider, and his “friends,” teachers, and fellow football players treat him badly because of what he believes. An inspiring story of self-belief and drive, Greene sticks to his guns and is happy with who he is enough to stand up for himself against the bad guys. People know that the movie helped Fraser, Damon, and Affleck get big roles in later movies, but it’s still a good movie in its own right.

Conclusion:

Movies like Good Will Hunting tell us how important it is to get to know ourselves and how strong human relationships can be. These films tell stories that stay with you long after the credits roll, whether it’s about finding your way, getting help from a guide, or getting through hard times.

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