Good Will Hunting

Question: There is a scene where they're all sitting, laughing, telling jokes etc. When Minnie Driver tells a joke - for the love of me I couldn't hear it, and I never got to see it again - could someone tell the joke and explain the punchline?

Answer: There are two versions of the joke actually. The original which is found on the DVD and then the made for TV joke. I don't remember how that one goes and it doesn't seem to appear on the DVD I've got, but the original joke is: All right, there's an old couple in bed, Mary and Paddie. They wake up on the morning of their 50th anniversary. Mary looks over and gazes adoringly at Paddie. She's like, "Oh, Jesus, Paddie. You're such a good-looking feller. I love ya. I want to give ya a little present. Anything your little heart desires, I'm goin' to give it to ya. What would you like?" Paddie's like, "Oh, gee, Mary. That's a very sweet offer. Now, in 50 years, there's one thing that's been missing, and, uh, I would like you to give me a blow job. I would like for it." Mary's like, "All right." She takes her teeth out, puts 'em in the glass. She gives him a blow job. Afterwards, Paddie's like, "yeah, geez, now that's what I've been missin'. That was the most beautiful, earth-shattering thing ever! Beautiful, Mary! I love ya! Is there anything that I can do for you?" Mary looks up to him and she goes, [Skylar takes a swig of her drink] "Give us a kiss." [And her drink comes out of her mouth, indicating what would be coming out of Mary's mouth in the joke].

Nikki

Even funnier is she has to have a Guinness or a stout so what comes out of her mouth is really dark.

Question: When Will and his friends leave the Harvard bar, he spots the "Michael Bolton clone" and approaches. He pushes the piece of paper with Skylar's phone number against the glass and shouts "do you like apples?" When the other man replies "Yes", Will says "Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples?" Can anyone please tell me what that means?

Answer: "How do you like those apples" is an expression used to denote triumph, like "told you so" or "put that in your pipe and smoke it". Will just adds his own little humorous twist to it.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Why is Sean happy that Will rejected the job interview to go to California? I know he thinks love is important, but his goal was to stop Will from wasting his potential.

MikeH

Chosen answer: Will is not wasting his potential. Sean knows that Will has overcome many of his emotional difficulties and with his exceptional abilities, there will be many other job opportunities, regardless of where he lives. Sean believes it is far more important for Will to pursue a lasting relationship with a woman for the first time in his life.

raywest

Will had multiple job offers - someone of his intelligence could pick up any job he wanted hence he wasn't disappointed.

Question: What is the make/model of the car Will's friends give him for his birthday?

Answer: I believe it's a 1971 Chevrolet Nova.

rswarrior

Chosen answer: When they left the L Street Tavern, Skylar said she wanted to meet Will's brothers and Chuckie gave him a curious look which she picked up on.

Sierra1

Question: Why did Will lie about having twelve brothers? What did he think it would achieve? And why would someone as smart as Skylar believe it?

MikeH

Chosen answer: It's just part of his personality. He had become used to keeping people at a distance and made up stories so they didn't know what he was actually like. There's no reason for Skylar not to believe him at first. Large families with ten or more children are not unheard of, particularly if the parents have been married more than once.

raywest

Answer: The judge pointed out that Will "went through several foster homes." Whether the foster parents had their own biological children and/or other foster kids, Will could have easily had twelve "brothers" who were the functional equivalent of biological brothers. Using his own operational definition of "brother", Will had twelve, so was not lying. However, using a more common definition of "brother", Will was not exactly telling the truth. Will can be said to have told her a "white lie" - only telling her what he wanted to and omitting the details. This can be a type of defense mechanism, giving her the impression that he - like almost everyone else - grew up in a family with his siblings. In a way, he was protecting himself by hiding the way in which he was raised. Because it wasn't typical for Will to become attached to whatever girl he was seeing, he saw no need to reveal his past (although, unknown to him at the time, this relationship would turn out differently than previous ones).

KeyZOid

Why would she think that he was making up something like how many brothers he has? Not only did Will go through the names of his twelve "brothers", he was able to convincingly repeat the twelve names after she asked him to. IF he had not been able to quickly repeat a sequence of twelve boys' names, it would have been a giveaway that he was lying. Common sense was more significant than intelligence in discerning whether or not Will was telling the truth. (But common sense often does not match reality).

KeyZOid

Question: When Will is discovered by the professor, he is solving a math problem using what appear to be stick figures. Is there a branch of mathematics that deals with these stick figures?

Answer: I looked at it and it seems to be a graph-theoretical problem. Graph theory is a branch of mathematics dealing with figures that look like stick figures (which can be interpreted for example as streets connecting cities, and one tries to find the shortest way from one city to another). The exact problem is to give all the possible unique trees with 10 points, without redundant connections.

nightline

Answer: If by your question you are referring to all the complicated math formulas in the film, if Affleck and Damon themselves aren't well-versed in that area, then they would have hired an advisor for the film.

Phaneron

Answer: The answer is not necessarily one or the other-geniuses sometimes do extensive research. The answer also depends on how "genius" is defined/measured. I have read several online articles asserting that Matt's [and Ben's] IQ is "as high as 160." One definition of genius is having an IQ over 160, suggesting that maybe he is and maybe he isn't! (Real helpful, huh?) But there are different tests to measure IQ and IQ scores are only based on certain factors. Many experts assert that the really high IQ scores don't exist and/or there is no known test that can accurately measure very high IQs. I wondered about the math questions/proofs in the movie and don't know if they are real examples or if they are just a bunch of symbols slapped together to give the appearance of advanced mathematics. High IQ people tend to be eccentric, socially awkward, and/or loners who "do their own thing"; Matt does not appear to fit this profile. Psychologists, such as Matt's mom, have access to IQ tests.

KeyZOid

Continuity mistake: 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.

More mistakes in Good Will Hunting

Sean: Real loss is only possible when you love something more than you love yourself.

More quotes from Good Will Hunting

Trivia: The painting you see hanging in Sean Maguire's office was painted by the film's director, Gus Van Sant.

More trivia for Good Will Hunting

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