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Tom's Guide
7 best movies like 'Good Will Hunting' to stream now
By Mandi Bierly,
2 days ago
Sometimes you just need a counseling session on demand. Nearly 30 years after its release, 1997’s "Good Will Hunting" remains as cathartic as ever. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck earned Oscars for co-writing the story of brilliant-minded MIT janitor Will (Damon), whose latest parole requires him to work with both Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), the esteemed math professor who discovered his genius, and Sean Maguire (Robin Williams, winning an Oscar), a therapist and fellow Southie he can’t outwit.
Will’s buddy Chuckie (Affleck) teaches him one important life lesson: Loyal friends want the best for you, even if it means leaving South Boston. Widower Sean, meanwhile, handles the rest: The trauma Will survived as a child was not his fault. He deserves a fulfilling life, however he defines it. And it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.
If you want to be moved to cathartic tears by more achingly beautiful scripts and moving performances, here are seven movies like "Good Will Hunting" you can stream now — get out the tissues!
'Dead Poets Society'
Damon and Affleck both had ill-fated callbacks for the revered 1989 coming-of-age dramedy that taught an entire generation the meaning of carpe diem (seize the day). Williams scored an Oscar nom starring as John Keating, an English teacher who disrupts the status quo at a Vermont boarding school in 1959 by empowering the buttoned-up boys to think for themselves and to revere poetry, beauty, romance, and love. Beyond resurrecting the titular secret society, students are inspired to woo the taken girl (cue Josh Charles’ charmer Knox) and to pursue their passions, as Robert Sean Leonard’s excitable Neil does when he acts in a production of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" despite his father’s wishes.
The tragic turn that follows will knock the wind out of you. But it’s the film’s final moment — when Ethan Hawke’s timid Todd steps up to lead one of the most memorable tributes in movie history — that will be forever breathtaking.
In this wonderfully buoyant Best Picture winner from 2021, teen Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the sole hearing Child of Deaf Adults in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She juggles deckhand duties on her family’s fishing boat and serving as the translator for her comically ardent parents (Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin) and older brother (Daniel Durant) with a growing desire to do something for herself.
Singing in the school choir, she finds her voice with the help of a supportive teacher (Lonnie Farmer) and scores a duet with her crush (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) — plus an audition for Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Can her family afford to lose her when their business needs saving? Is Ruby brave enough to stop trying to blend in and shine on her own?
At the risk of spoilers, we’ll say you’ll get chills every time Jones sings “You’re All I Need to Get By,” but especially when Ruby’s dad asks her to sing it for him (just one of Kotsur’s Oscar-worthy moments). Anyone who routinely cries hearing Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” will be a blubbering mess during Ruby’s climactic solo. It’s a perfect four minutes.
Pat (Bradley Cooper) has a therapist in David O. Russell’s Philadelphia-set 2012 dramedy, but young widow Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence, nabbing her Oscar) is the one who really heals him. After an eight-month stay in a psychiatric hospital to treat his previously undiagnosed bipolar disorder, Pat’s back at home living with his parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) and determined to improve his physique and attitude and reconcile with his ex.
In exchange for Tiffany promising to get a letter to said ex, Pat reluctantly agrees to dance with Tiffany in a freestyle pairs competition. It’s the beginning of a wildly unpredictable, filter-free friendship that is riveting to watch. The plot thickens when the results of the dance contest become crucial to a parlay bet for Pat’s superstitious pop.
The morals here: True love is finding someone who’s gonna match your freak, not shame you into suppressing it. Looking for the silver lining in every situation is a good plan, as is allowing your family and friends to scheme to help you. De Niro needs less than 30 seconds to deliver life-changing advice.
Writer-director Celine Strong’s 2023 meditation on fate, love, and living in the now is a must-see for anyone old enough to remember the thrill of finding a long-lost crush on Facebook. The Best Picture nominee opens in present-day New York, where thirtysomething playwright Nora (Greta Lee) is having a drink at a bar with two men. One is engineer Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), the schoolmate she left behind in Seoul 24 years ago when her family immigrated to Canada when she was 12.
Through flashback, we learn they reconnected online in their twenties but stopped talking when the distance grew too painful. The other man is Arthur (John Magaro), a writer who Nora met, fell in love with and married shortly after that. He understands what Hae Sung meant to Nora and that their unfinished story is tough to top.
The realistic tension and disarming comfort between Hae Sung and Nora are palpable. You’ll bear the weight of not knowing whether this reunion will close old wounds or cause new scars. But in the end, the certainty of the bittersweet resolution is a gift. As is the hopefulness granted by knowing that Nora is cared for in this lifetime, and perhaps the next.
Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey dazzle in this now 20-year-old gem about a man, Joel, who learns his more free-spirited girlfriend, Clementine, had him medically wiped from her memory and decides to follow suit. Only there’s a glitch during Joel’s procedure, which involves the playback of memories mapped on his brain before they’re erased. He’s still conscious enough to realize that there are moments with Clementine he never wants to forget.
Unable to halt the process, Joel’s only chance is to lead a chase through his memories and try to hide Clementine in one where she doesn’t belong. It’s a twisty, surreal Charlie Kaufman-penned ride, fueled by a heartfelt desperation that’s all too relatable.
In "Past Lives," Nora suggests Hae Sung watch the movie, which is poetic. "Eternal Sunshine" is ultimately about deciding whether you’d repeat a relationship knowing how it’ll likely end, and appreciating the special moments that stay with you regardless of the outcome.
Sylvester Stallone has been nominated for two acting Oscars in his career, both times for playing beloved underdog fighter Rocky Balboa. In this 2015 spinoff, which launched its own franchise, Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the secret son of Rocky’s late rival turned friend Apollo Creed, quits his job in finance and tracks down Rocky in Philadelphia to convince the former champ to train him for the ring .
Before long, Adonis faces two battles: a big-time title bout using the Creed name for the first time, and convincing widower Rocky, who’s diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, to seek treatment when he’s already buried everyone closest to him. The health crisis isn’t emotional manipulation; it’s honoring everyone who’s ever fought cancer knowing they may not win the war but just wanting to go the distance.
There’s everything you want in a Rocky film: An epic training montage. Simple lines that pack a punch (“I gotta prove it. …I’m not a mistake”). Meaningful romance. Rousing trumpets. A return to those steps.
If Will Hunting is the king of verbal sparring, high school senior Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) is the queen. In writer/director Greta Gerwig’s irreverent 2002 identity quest, Lady Bird’s partner of choice is her mother, psychiatric nurse Marion (the equally formidable Laurie Metcalf). Marion loves her strong-willed daughter but doesn’t always like her. Lady Bird is a typically self-absorbed teen focused on getting out of her hometown (Sacramento, California) and losing her virginity at all costs. She applies to expensive New York colleges behind her mother’s back and snubs her best friend (Beanie Feldstein) to get closer to the wrong guy (Timothée Chalamet).
Gerwig gives Lady Bird grace to figure things out, like that she is capable of putting aside her own anger and desires to occasionally be as big-hearted as her nitpicky mother. That dancing to Dave Matthews Band’s “Crash Into Me” at your Catholic school prom with someone you love is not to be missed. That you can want to leave your childhood home and feel immense affection for it at the same time.
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