A janitor nobody noticed solves an equation scientists failed to crack for years. But it’s not luck… he soon discovers he has hidden mind abilities beyond anything he imagined. In minutes, he changes everything they thought they knew.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

A math professor at MIT named Lambeau finishes his class and informs his students that he has written an equation on the main hallway chalkboard, which he expects one of them to prove by the end of the semester. He adds that if any one of them is able to do it, the person will not only be in his good graces but will also get featured in the prestigious MIT magazine. He also tells the students that if they have any questions, they can ask his assistant, Tom.

After everyone leaves the class, some students check the chalkboard to see the difficult equation Lambeau wrote on it. A young janitor named Will sees the equation while he’s at work, and he can’t seem to take his mind off it. After closing hours, Will spends some time at a bar with his friends, Chuckie, Billy, and Morgan. While he’s there, Will can’t stop thinking about the math problem he saw in the hallway earlier that day. He eventually leaves his friends at the bar and decides to head home earlier than normal.

When he gets there, Will goes to his bathroom and tries to solve the problem on the mirror. The next day, at work, Will waits until everyone leaves the hallway before he writes the solution to the equation on the board. As usual, he leaves the school and spends some time with his friends. He also plays baseball with Chuckie before heading home.

The next day, at an MIT alumni reunion party, some students approach Lambeau and tell him that they’re from his math class. Lambeau says he doesn’t want to talk about work because it’s a Saturday, but one of the students says that she and the others didn’t want to wait till Monday to find out who proved the theorem on the chalkboard. Lambeau finds this surprising, and he heads to the school to check out the board.

When he gets there, he looks shocked to see that the equation has been solved correctly. He then asks who solved it, but no one seems to know. Few days later, Will and his friends hang out at a local baseball game. After a while, they leave the field and see some guys harassing an innocent girl on the street. Will and his friends seem to know who the guys are, and they leave the car to fight them.

Will appears to be really pissed, and he beats up one of the guys until his friends drag him away. Two cops also arrive at the scene, and as Will attacks one of them while they hold him, he gets knocked to the ground. The cops eventually take him to the station, but he’s able to leave that same day.

As he meets Chuckie waiting for him, his friend asks when his arraignment is, and Will says it’s next week. Elsewhere, Lambeau gets to the school and sees that he has a full class for the day. He then mentions that he knows the new students are there to find out who the mystery math magician is.

As he calls for the person who solved the problem to come outside for their prize, no one stands up, and Lambeau says that the person is probably not around. He then says that he has spoken with his colleagues and put up a new problem on the board that took them two years to prove. The next day, Lambeau and Tom see Will writing on the chalkboard.

As Will notices that they’re headed toward him, he says sorry for writing on the chalkboard and walks away. Since he’s a janitor, Lambeau thinks he was drawing on the board, but Will insults him and walks away. As Lambeau stops following him, he sees the solution on the board and realizes that Will is the mystery math genius.

Later that day, Will’s friends joke about how he has lost his job even though all he had to do was clean the floors. They eventually decide to hang out at a bar where Havard students usually spend their time. While they’re inside, Chuckie sees a girl named Skylar talking to her friend, and he decides to approach her to see if he can get her number.

As Chuckie gets close to her, he lies about seeing her in his history class. Before he can say much, though, a boy named Clark shows up and tries to make Chuckie look stupid by talking about historical things he has no idea of. Will doesn’t like this, and he goes to defend Chuckie.

Interestingly, Will seems to know everything Clark talked about because he has read it in a book. He then insults Clark for quoting a book to try to humiliate Chuckie and earn some cheap points in front of Skylar, who seems impressed with Will’s confidence. Clark then jokes about how he’s the one who will eventually get a degree from Havard, while Will is someone who might end up doing petty jobs.

Will finds this funny but asks if Clark would like to come outside to fight with him. Clark looks scared and says he’s not interested, and Will walks back to his seat with his friends. After a while, Skylar gets ready to leave the bar, but she goes to meet Will first. She then says she was waiting for him to come and talk to her, but he left her disappointed. Will looks confused, but Skylar properly introduces herself and gives him her number while saying that she hopes they’ll be able to get together for coffee soon.

Will looks happy about this, and as he leaves the bar with his friends, he sees Clark and shows him that he got Skylar’s number. Days later, Lambeau goes to meet the campus maintenance staff to ask about Will. One of the officials there then tells him that Will didn’t show up for work that day. He also mentions that Will got the job through his parole officer, and that Lambeau can call his number to get more details on the boy. Lambeau finds it surprising that Will has a parole officer, but he still takes the phone number.

After contacting the parole officer, Lambeau finds out that Will is currently in court for another crime. Lambeau then heads to the court and sees Will defending himself in front of a judge. After a while, the judge says he has read Will’s file and discovered that he has had several cases of assault and grand theft auto, probably due to his troubled childhood.

He adds that even though Will has been able to get his old cases dismissed, he can’t escape this one because he hit a cop. Just then, he announces that he has denied the motion to dismiss the case, and that Will has to pay a bail of fifty thousand dollars. Shortly after, Will is taken to prison, and Lambeau visits him there.

Will wonders what the professor wants, and Lambeau explains that he has already arranged a deal with the judge for Will’s release. It then turns out that the judge agreed to let Will leave prison as long as he sees a therapist and visits Lambeau once a week to solve math problems. Will says he doesn’t need a therapist, but Lambeau tells him that seeing one is better than having to serve time in jail.

Following this, Will leaves the prison and starts going to Lambeau’s office to spend time working on math problems. After a while, Lambeau tells one of his colleagues, who happens to be a therapist, to meet Will. During their first session, Will frustrates the therapist and makes him quit.

Lambeau then gets Will to see a hypnotist, but he uses the same trick to also get the man to quit. Lambeau doesn’t seem to understand why Will keeps refusing to get help, and as Tom asks what they’ll do, the math professor says he has an old roommate who might be able to help. Following this, Lambeau heads to a community college to meet his old roommate, Sean.

As Lambeau enters Sean’s class, Sean looks surprised and introduces him to the students as a great math professor who has won the prestigious Field’s medal for his work on combinatorial mathematics. After he dismisses his students, Sean and Lambeau head to a bar to talk. Lambeau then asks why Sean didn’t come to their reunion party, and he says he was really busy.

Lambeau also mentions that it has been a while since they last saw each other, and Sean says he hasn’t really been around since his wife’s death. Lambeau then tells Sean about Will, who he calls a math genius. He adds that Will is quite defensive, and he just needs someone to get through to him.

Sean asks why Lambeau wants him to see Will, and he says it’s because his old roommate might be able to understand him better since they come from the same place. Sean finds this interesting, and he agrees to see Will. The next day, as Will arrives at Sean’s office, Sean tells Lambeau and Tom to go outside.

As he then tries to know more about Will’s background, Will stands up and walks around the office while talking about how Sean buys expensive books for no reason. He eventually sees a painting in the office and asks if it’s Sean’s work. Sean says it is, and Will insults the painting. He then mentions that Sean likely became a psychologist because his life was miserable.

As Will asks if he married the wrong woman, Sean tells him to watch his mouth. Will realizes that Sean is pissed, and he decides to frustrate him by insulting his wife again. Sean immediately grabs Will’s neck and tells him never to disrespect his wife like that again.

Will then looks scared and says that their session is over. As he leaves, Lambeau enters the office and tells Sean that he’ll understand if his old roommate doesn’t want to take Will as a patient. However, Sean tells Lambeau to make sure Will gets to his office early for their sessions on Thursdays.

Later that night, Will hangs out with Skylar, and she talks about her plans to attend med school after she graduates from Harvard College. Will finds it amazing that her parents don’t mind paying her huge fees, but Skylar says she pays by herself because she has inherited their money. They eventually have dinner together and enjoy their first date.

The following week, Will goes to see Sean again in his office. Sean then takes him to sit outside, and Will wonders what’s going on. Sean mentions that he thought about everything Will said to him and realized that he’s just a kid. He adds that Will only knows things from books but has no real-life experience of them. He says that Will wouldn’t know what it means to love someone and be with the person even when they have cancer.

He also mentions that he sees Will as a scared kid who has never let himself love someone. As Will keeps listening to him, Sean tells him that he can only help him if he’s ready to talk about himself and who he is because that’s not something he can read in a book. The next day, Chuckie goes to Will’s house as usual and knocks on the door to get Will to come outside so they can head to their workplace at a construction site together.

That night, Will decides to call Skylar to talk about how he liked spending time with her. However, as he calls her, he just ends the call because he doesn’t know what to say. A few days later, he heads to his meeting with Sean and spends the entire session staring at the clock without saying anything.

After the session ends, Sean tells Lambeau what happened, and the math professor wonders why Will would do something like that. Sean says that Will just wants to prove that he doesn’t have to talk to him. Lambeau wonders why Sean won’t talk instead, but he mentions that Will is the one who is supposed to talk first.

The next day, Lambeau gets Will to show a fellow math professor an easier way to solve a problem he spent years working on. The professor seems embarrassed by this, and Lambeau just smiles as he leaves the office. During Will’s next session with Sean, he initially refuses to say anything, but after a while, he tells the psychologist a joke.

He then mentions that he was recently on a date, and Sean asks how it went and if he has called the girl. Will says the date went well, but that he hasn’t called her again. Sean thinks he should’ve done that, but Will says he doesn’t want to rush things because Skylar is currently perfect, and he doesn’t want to ruin that.

Sean finds this interesting, and he says that Will might be the one who is trying to stay perfect for Skylar so she won’t see who he really is. He then talks about how his wife used to fart when she was nervous. He says she sometimes didn’t even know when she farted.

Sean and Will laugh about this, and the psychologist mentions that even though people often refer to such things as imperfections, he sees them as the little things we show people when we choose to allow them into our weird worlds. Will then asks if he has thought of getting married again, but Sean says that his wife is dead. After this, Will jokes that Sean also doesn’t want anyone else to know him well.

The next day, Will goes to see Skylar at her dorm. She looks surprised to see him and mentions that he didn’t call her after their date, but he says he was really busy. He then asks if he can make it up to her by taking her out again, but Skylar says she can’t leave because she currently has to learn something for her chemistry class. As Will leaves, he can’t stop thinking about Skylar, and he writes the chemical formula she needs to learn on a piece of paper. He then returns to her dorm to give it to her, and Skylar looks shocked and wonders how he got it.

Will jokes that he got it from one of her classmates, and he asks if she can now go out with him. They eventually go out to watch a horse race, and there, Skylar asks about Will’s family. Will says he has 12 brothers and lives with three of them. Skylar doesn’t believe this, but Will says he’s telling the truth. She then says she would love to meet his brothers one day, and he says they’ll do that soon.

During Will’s next therapy session, he says he recently read Sean’s book and found out that he used to counsel veterans. Sean then says he gave it up when his wife got really sick. Will asks if he ever wonders what life would be like if he didn’t meet his wife.

Sean says he has no regrets about how things ended despite the pain he still feels about her death. Will asks when he knew she was his wife, and Sean says the exact date he knew. Will finds this surprising, and Sean mentions that he remembers the date because it was the day the Red Sox baseball team played their biggest game in the World Series.

Will asks if he got tickets to the game, and Sean says he did. He mentions that while he was waiting for the game to start with his friends, his future wife walked into the bar. He then talks about how the game went and how the fans ran onto the field. Will finds this exciting, and he asks Sean if he joined them. Sean says he wasn’t in the stadium, and that he stayed back in the bar to talk to his future wife.

Will cannot believe he missed such an exciting game just to talk to a girl, but Sean says he has no regrets. Will asks how he told his friends, and Sean mentions that he gave them his ticket with a note, telling them that he wants to go and see about a girl. Will looks shocked and asks if his friends just let him go, and Sean says they saw in his eyes that he was already in love.

He then mentions that he doesn’t regret the years he spent with his wife, or the years he gave up to be with her while she was very sick. Later that night, Will takes Skylar to hang out with his friends after she insists that she wants to meet them. The next day, Lambeau and Sean meet at a bar to talk about Will.

Lambeau asks how things are going with Will, and Sean says they’re progressing well. Lambeau asks if they’re already talking about the future, but Sean says they’ll get there soon. Lambeau says he needs to start talking to Will about it because his phone has been ringing with job offers.

Sean asks what kind of places are calling him, and Lambeau says they’re places where Will can work on cutting-edge mathematics. Sean says he’s not sure Will wants that, but Lambeau insists that they need to give him direction so he doesn’t end up as another wasted talent. Sean still thinks they need to ask Will what he wants to do, but Lambeau says he’s not trying to ruin Will’s life by recommending him for different jobs.

Sean believes Will can figure out what he wants by himself, but Lambeau says that the same strategy hasn’t worked out for his old roommate. Sean gets tired of Lambeau always making him feel less of himself for not being a genius professor like him. Lambeau apologizes for what he said, and he mentions that Will is already at an interview at a company named McNeil.

Interestingly, Chuckie happens to be the one at the interview, and he asks the interviewers about his retainer. The interviewers don’t seem to understand this because they’ve already hired him, but Chuckie tells them to give him two hundred dollars. After he takes their money, he says it was nice doing business with them.

It then turns out that Will skipped the interview to spend time with Skylar. Later that night, Skylar tells Will to come with her to California when she moves there for med school in a few days. Will looks shocked and asks if she’s sure, and she says she is.

Will says he’s not interested in following her because she might leave him stranded in California if she finds out something she dislikes about him. Skylar says she would never do that, and she wonders why he’s thinking like that. She then asks what he’s scared of, but he looks confused as to why she thinks he’s scared.

Skylar then asks why he’s scared of leaving a place where no one challenges him, but Will tells her not to talk about his neighborhood like that. He says he’s an orphan, and that she’s the one who will likely leave him to get married to a rich man who can spend her money with her. Skylar doesn’t understand why he’s concerned about her wealth, and she says that, even though she’s also afraid of a serious relationship, she’s just trying to be honest about giving it a chance.

Will asks if he hasn’t been honest with her, and Skylar says she knows he doesn’t have 12 brothers. She adds that she wants to help him, but Will gets pissed and says that he doesn’t need saving. Skylar looks devastated and tells him to confess that he doesn’t love her so she will stop bothering him.

Will then says he doesn’t love her, and he leaves her room while she continues crying. The next day, Will solves a math problem for Lambeau, and the math professor asks how his interview went. Will says he sent his chief negotiator there, and Lambeau tells him not to do that again if he sets him up for an interview.

Will says he doesn’t want to go for any more interviews, and Lambeau says he’ll cancel them. He then says he could’ve given Will a job in his office, but that he only wanted him to check out other options. Will says he doesn’t want to spend his life explaining things to people, but Lambeau tells him to at least appreciate his efforts.

Will says that Lambeau has no idea how easy it is for him to solve math problems, which the math professor even struggles with. As he then burns the paper he just gave Lambeau, the math professor quickly puts out the fire. Before Will leaves his office, Lambeau says he wishes they never met because he wouldn’t have to be worried about someone wasting his talents.

Days later, Will goes for another interview at the NSA, but he rejects the job offer because his work could help kill people. When he narrates this to Sean, the psychologist says that Will likes to anticipate failure before he even does anything. He says it’s how Will also treats his relationships with people, and that he will never have a great relationship if he keeps sabotaging his connections with people because he’s scared of what might happen in the future.

Sean then asks what he wants to do in life, and Will jokes that he wants to be a shepherd. Sean gets tired of his games and tells him to leave his office. Will looks shocked and gets defensive again, but Sean still tells him to leave. The next day, he calls Skylar to tell her that he’s already going for interviews so he won’t end up as a construction worker for the rest of his life. Skylar says she never really cared about that, and she tells him that she loves him.

Will doesn’t say it back, and Skylar looks disappointed. The next day, she heads to the airport and hopes to see Will, but he doesn’t show up before she boards her plane to California. A few days later, Lambeau gets to Sean’s office and sees that Sean and Will aren’t there for their regular sessions.

Lambeau then calls Sean, who he says that Will didn’t show up. Lambeau sounds shocked and worried because Will could go back to jail if the judge finds out that he has stopped attending his therapy sessions. Elsewhere, Will happens to be at a construction site with Chuckie, who asks about Skylar.

Will says she has gone to California, and Chuckie looks surprised. He then asks if Lambeau will hook him up with a job after his probation. Will says he doesn’t want to spend his life behind a desk solving math problems. He adds that there’s no reason to leave their neighborhood, but Chuckie says he’ll kill Will if he ends up staying back to remain a construction worker despite his talents.

Will says he’s tired of people talking about his talents, but Chuckie mentions that he has something that can change his life. He adds that it will be an insult to him and the other guys if Will doesn’t fulfill his potential because he’s too scared to try. Will says he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but Chuckie asks if he even knows what the best part of his day is.

As Will looks confused, Chuckie says that when he walks up to Will’s door every morning to pick him up for work, he knocks on the door and hopes that his friend won’t answer it. He says he has been waiting for the day no one answers the door because it would mean that his friend has left the neighborhood to pursue something better for himself. Will looks surprised as he hears this, but he doesn’t say anything.

The next day, Lambeau goes to Sean’s office and complains about how Will could end up in jail again. He says he told Sean to help Will, but that his old roommate hasn’t done that. Sean says he knows what he’s doing, and that he’s sure they won’t help Will if they push him to do what they want. He adds that Will’s defense mechanism is pushing people away before they can leave him. Lambeau believes that Sean just wants to do as he pleases because he has always been jealous of him

Sean cannot believe this, and he says that, despite Lambeau’s accomplishments, he’s still the one who is scared of failure. Lambeau says he doesn’t want Will to be a failure, and they keep arguing about the right thing to do. Suddenly, Will opens the door, and they realize that he has heard everything they talked about. Will says he can come back, but Lambeau mentions that he’s already leaving. After he leaves, Sean tells Will that he has just seen his file because he’s supposed to send an evaluation to the judge.

Will asks if Sean has had any experience like that before, and he says he has. He adds that it was personal because he had an abusive father who always beat him. Will says that his foster father also used to beat him with a wrench, and he stopped caring because he hated the man. Will then jokingly asks if he has attachment issues or a fear of abandonment. He also asks if it’s why he pushes people away and broke up with Skylar.

Sean then walks up to him and says that everything that has happened to him is not his fault. Will says he knows, but as Sean keeps repeating that it’s not his fault, he gets emotional and hugs the psychologist. The next day, Will goes to McNeil to do a proper interview and accept the job offer he got earlier.

He then goes to meet Sean to tell him about it. Sean says he’s now a free man, and that their sessions are over. Will says he hopes they can keep in touch, and Sean mentions that he would love that. He adds that he’ll be traveling around the world for a bit, but that Will can always call him. After he gives Will his number, they hug each other. Will then thanks him for everything before leaving the office.

The next day, Will’s friends surprise him by giving him a car they just assembled so he can drive it to work every day. Will looks amazed and checks out the car with his friends. Elsewhere, Lambeau goes to visit Sean at his office before he leaves for his trip. Lambeau says he’s sorry for how their last conversation ended, and Sean apologizes too. After Sean then talks about his plans to travel around the world and possibly write a book, the two old friends head out to have a drink together.

The next day, Will goes to Sean’s house and drops a note for him outside. As he leaves with his car, Sean sees him and wonders what he came to do. Elsewhere, Chuckie goes to pick up Will from his house, but as he knocks on the door, no one answers it.

Chuckie realizes that his friend has taken his advice to leave the neighborhood, and he looks happy. Meanwhile, Sean sees the note Will left for him. In the note, Will tells Sean that if Lambeau calls about the job at McNeil, he should say sorry to the professor on his behalf because he’s going to see about a girl. Sean smiles as he reads it, and he jokes that Will stole his line. Elsewhere, Will hits the road and begins his journey to California to reunite with Skylar.

After having a difficult childhood, Will becomes violent and avoids making real connections with anyone except his friends. When he solves a complex math problem on a chalkboard at MIT, Lambeau realizes his potential and gets Sean to become his therapist. Even though Will initially refuses to share much during their sessions, he eventually confides in Sean, who helps him discover what he truly wants. He also overcomes his fear of abandonment and ditches his job at McNeil before going to California to look for Skylar. Sometimes, the scars of the past make it hard to move forward, but taking a chance is the only way to grow.

Good Will Hunting 1997.