MovieChat Forums > Finding Forrester (2001) Discussion > Black "Good Will Hunting"?

Black "Good Will Hunting"?


Pretty much, right?

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I think that Jamal and Will are very different people with different problems. If you simply mean that they're two talented students coming of age then sure, it's the same film but it's not just that.

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As a fan of both of these movies the characters have almost nothing in common except for both being poor.

Will = a genius on the level of some of the greatest minds in the history of the world, who was also very troubled due to suffering from severe child abuse and neglect.

Jamal = a smart teenager with a passion for literature and writing who also happens to be an excellent athlete and overcome racism in american culture.

Will was potentially the next Isaac Newton/Albert Einstein (or maybe if we get a GWH2 he will be lol)

Jamal might someday write an excellent book but he was nowhere near as uniquely gifted as Will Hunting

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Matt Damon even shows up at the end

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No. Frankly Will was more foolish than Jamal. He's a janitor at a university who solves a math equation for a contest meant for college students and then when being offered a good job sends his friend to the interview to do said interview badly. Jamal fell into peer pressure and vandalized someone's property which while bad he just listened to the wrong crowd. Also unlike Will he was a highschool student. Will wasn't any kind of student.

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No. Will was abused as a child by his father. While Jamal's father was absent, his mother was a good influence on his life. Jamal has the world at his feet as he approaches graduation, while Will was stuck as a janitor until he got the help he needed.

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