# Good Will Hunting

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Good Will Hunting and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Praised for memorable scenes and rewatch value; critics say it misrepresents mathematicians and therapists.

## Why people recommend it

- Outstanding film worth rewatching (3 comments): "Makes me want to watch the movie again, though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48704149)) "Damn this movie is so great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45958494)) "an outstanding film, FWIW" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48709570))
- Memorable scenes (2 comments): "these two scenes are my favorite in cinema" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48707484)) "one of the best scenes in the film" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45957426))

## What people warn about

- Inaccurate portrayal of mathematicians (2 comments): "the graph theory examples in the beginning are really simple" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45955039)) "the film portrays mathematicians in a negative way and the allegedly hard problem on the blackboard is actually an easy homework exercise" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47232568))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Shawshank Redemption](https://hackerapproved.com/p/shawshank-redemption.md): 18 recommend
- [Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/stalker.md): 9 recommend
- [The Lives of Others](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lives-of-others.md): 8 recommend
- [Margin Call](https://hackerapproved.com/p/margin-call.md): 7 recommend
- [Fight Club (1999 film)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fight-club.md): 7 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Good Will Hunting", https://hackerapproved.com/p/good-will-hunting/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).