Quotes

Chuckie: Are we gonna have a problem here?

Clark: No, no, no, no! There's no problem here. I was just hoping you might give me some insight into the evolution of the market economy in the southern colonies. My contention is that prior to the Revolutionary War, the economic modalities, especially in the southern colonies, could be most aptly described as agrarian precapitalist.

Chuckie: Let me tell you something -

Will: Of course that's your contention. You're a first-year grad student; you just got finished reading some Marxian historian, Pete Garrison probably. You're gonna be convinced of that 'till next month when you get to James Lemon. Then you're going to be talking about how the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist way back in 1740. That's gonna last until next year; you're gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talkin' about, you know, the pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization.

Clark: Well, as a matter of fact, I won't, because Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social -

Will: "Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth"? You got that from Vickers' "Work in Essex County," page 98, right? Yeah, I read that too. Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us? Do you have any thoughts of your own on this matter? Or do you, is that your thing, you come into a bar, read some obscure passage and then pretend - you pawn it off as your own, as your own idea just to impress some girls, embarrass my friend?

Clark: [looks down in shame]

Will: See, the sad thing about a guy like you is, in 50 years you're gonna start doin' some thinkin' on your own and you're going to come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life: one, don't do that, and two, you dropped 150 grand on a f***in' education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!

Clark: Yeah, but I will have a degree. And you'll be servin' my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.

Will: That may be, but at least I won't be unoriginal. But I mean, if you have a problem with that, I mean, we could just step outside - we could figure it out.

Clark: No, man, there's no problem. It's cool.

Will: It's cool?

Clark: Yeah.

Will: Cool.

Chuckie: Fuckin' damn right it's cool. How do you like me NOW?

Morgan: My boy's wicked smart!

See more...

Trivia

A proposed freeway project in West Virginia has been nicknamed the "Good Will Hunting" (so called because it will be an improvement of the existing roadway between Williamson and Huntington). See more...

Movie Mistakes blog

Update alerts | Exclude type?

Mistakes

Trivia

Pictures

Quotes

Easter Eggs

Corrections

Questions

Submit

Updated this week Visible crew/equipment: During the scene where Will has his last therapy session with Shaun, he reaches up to hug Shaun. His shirt in the back rises up, and you can briefly see some sort of small black equipment/cables that look like a battery or mic pack tucked into the back of his pants.

Mistake Continuity: In the scene where Will burns the paper, a large part of it is burned (almost the right half). But when the professor grabs the paper from him, a much smaller portion is burned (just the bottom right-hand corner).

Mistake Continuity: In the university scene in the beginning the blackboard on the wall changes position in every scene - once it's pushed up, next scene it's at the bottom. Several times.

Mistake Continuity: In the scene where they are crossing the bridge to go back into Boston after leaving the bar in Cambridge, a Red Line subway train is shown and then in the next shot there are several buildings in the background as they cross the bridge. These buildings are in Boston, but this shot has them driving away from the buildings, which means they would be re-entering Cambridge.

Mistake Revealing: This refers to the scene where Matt Damon and Minnie Driver are sitting outdoors at Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square and Matt is telling her how he is able to "see" mathematical equations just like Beethoven was able to "see" the notes on a piano. At one point during the conversation a girl wearing a red backpack (possibly a Harvard student) walks by in the background, stops and looks at the camera, smiles, and then continues on her way.

Mistake Factual error: In the scene when Will is telling Gerald that he wants to meet at Sean's office instead because going to MIT was to far of a commute, doesn't make much sense. Bunker Hill Community College is much more of a commute than going to MIT, especially if you're coming from South Boston on the Redline.

Mistake Continuity: At the end of the film during Will and Sean's last meeting, there is a shot showing both Will and Sean and we see Will with his hands in his lap. It then cuts to a shot over Sean's shoulder and we see Will, but now his hands are raised and his elbows are on the arms of the chair.

Mistake Revealing: The scene where Will and Skylar are on their date and eating hamburgers, an extra in a blue jacket is seen walking by in the background multiple times.

Mistake Continuity: In the construction site scene, you will notice the length of Ben's cigarette fluctuates several times. It actually gets longer/shorter as Ben smokes it.

Mistake Continuity: In the scene "When Did You Know?" where Will tells Sean that he read his book last night, an aerial shot is looking down at them, it shows Will with his foot up on the table, very quickly, 2 shots later shows Will has his foot up on the chair instead. The chair in the first shot would also be too far away for Will to reach from his own chair so that would of been moved in the later shot for him to reach.

Mistake Deliberate "mistake": Skylar's leaving is edited together with footage of Will sitting in a park watching planes take off - including, presumably, her plane. The sun is directly overhead in his scenes, while hers were filmed near sunset. (Most obvious when you see the very long shadows during the same airport footage which is also used in the deleted scene "Pudge Fisk Card").

Mistake Continuity: In the scene where they are all gathered in the bar together Ben is telling the story about his uncle. Throughout the entire scene, Ben has nothing in his hands but as he comes to the end of the story there is a camera shot over his right shoulder showing him holding a cigarette. However, when the next shot moves to in front of him, the cigarette has gone again.

Mistake Continuity: In the scene where Ben and Matt are sitting at the construction site drinking a beer, Ben takes a sip of his beer with his right hand in a close up. The next shot shows him holding the beer in his left hand, flicking a cigarette with his right.

Mistake Continuity: A photograph is displayed of people at a 25th year MIT reunion in which they are wearing cardinal and grey jackets. Alumni do not receive these jackets until their 50th year reunion.

Mistake Factual error: Neither of the two problems that Will completed on the hallway chalkboard were actually proofs. With a "proof," you start with a specific conclusion and show the work necessary to verify mathematically that the conclusion is correct. With both problems on the hallway chalkboard, however, the objectives were simply to calculate and arrive at the answers without knowing in advance what the answers were.

Mistake Continuity: The problem on the board that Will solves changes slightly. The scene is a bit apart but you can see the huge change. Once it reaches all the way to the bottom. Other time, it only reaches halfway. One time it had (I think) 1,2,3,and 4 and other time only 1,2,3.

Mistake Continuity: They show Will taking the subway home - he lives in Southie, which would be the JFK stop, but they show him going past Savin Hill on the Quincy/Braintree train.

Mistake Other: When Gerald and Sean go to have lunch Sean asks his friend to bring them 2 sandwiches, and yet doesn't specify what type of sandwiches, nor does his friend ask Gerald what type he would like. He probably knows what type of sandwich Sean likes but he's meeting Gerald for the first time, so obviously he would have no idea what type of sandwich Gerald would want.

Mistake Continuity: The first few minutes of the movie contain classroom/lecture hall scenes - the walls are a very distinct dark brick, and the seats an uncanny orange. This decor is at the University of Toronto, not at M.I.T. where the movie is set.

You may also like: The Dark Knight | Jersey Girl | Halloween: H20 | The Faculty | Jawbreaker

Submit this page to:

reddit Facebook What are these?

Easily printable version of this page