Now THIS is a terrific movie. Just a terrific movie from start to finish, with barely a flaw to speak of. It is moving and funny, romantic and painful, familiar and fascinating. And it's a wonderful story to boot. In case you don't already know (which would mean you're not a subscriber to "Entertainment Weekly" or "Premiere" or any of that stuff), "Good Will Hunting" was written by two young men by the names of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who recently won a richly deserved Golden Globe for Best Original Screenplay. Affleck and Damon are best friends in real life, and apparently worked on this as quite a labor of love for quite a long time. It paid off, big time.

Will Hunting (Damon) (mmmmmmmm....Matt Damon) is the kind of smartass genius that just drives people nuts. He can do crazy things with math, the kinds of things that don't make any sense to more than maybe one-quarter of one percent of the population. He also has an encyclopedic knowledge of history and political theory, not to mention an extraordinarily quick wit. What he's doing with his life as the film begins is hanging out with his buddy Chuck (Affleck) and a couple of other guy

Along the line, Will also meets a bright young Harvard student named Skyler (Minnie Driver), and they embark on a sort of odd, guarded romance that Will wants desperately but can't seem to really give himself to.

What I like so much about this movie is that it has tremendous wisdom about people and how they behave. Not being a young man myself, I can't say this for sure, but based on my experience, this is a sharply observed portrait of some of their tendencies. And I will say up front what one of the primary lessons of the movie is, at least in my opinion, and it is a lesson that is incredibly easy to lose sight of (especially for women, I think) and one that movies almost never understand. Here it is: Love isn't therapy. One of the lessons for Will is that what he needs from the therapist, he can't get from the girl, and what he needs from the girl, he can't get from the therapist. Skyler learns, in what I think is one of the movie's most wrenching scenes, that telling someone, even someone you love, that you want to know all their deep and dark buried secrets so that you can "help" is probably a foolish enterprise. A person with wounds like Will Hunting is carrying around needs a doctor, and a sweetie just ain't gonna do it. It's a concept that it is nearly miraculous to find recognized in a movie, particularly in a society and media so in love with love.

I also love the relationships between Will and his buddies. There's just a certain way that these guys behave that seems genuine and honest and very affectionate, but not in a chick-movie kind of way. I particularly liked a conversation between Chuck and Will's friend Morgan, in which Chuck suggests that since Morgan never has enough money to buy his own lunch at the drive- thru window, maybe they can put his burger on layaway.

I am also a big fan of the loving, energetic performance of Minnie Driver as Skyler. Will is such a strong character that it takes an actress of tremendous guts and control not to be blown right off the screen, and Driver holds up like a champ. (She is also an

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