
He arranges for him to forgo jail time if he agrees to study mathematics under Lambeau's supervision and participate in therapy sessions. Lambeau sits in on his court appearance and watches Will defend himself. Will is arrested after he attacks a responding police officer. The next day, Will and his friends fight a gang who used to bully Will as a child. At a bar, Will meets Skylar, a British woman about to graduate from Harvard College, who plans on attending medical school at Stanford.

Will flees when Lambeau catches him writing the solution on the blackboard late at night. As a challenge to the unknown genius, Lambeau posts an even more difficult problem. When Professor Gerald Lambeau posts a difficult mathematics problem as a challenge for his graduate students, Will solves the problem anonymously, stunning both the students and Lambeau. Twenty-year-old Will Hunting of South Boston is a self-taught genius, though he works as a janitor at MIT and spends his free time drinking with his friends, Chuckie, Billy, and Morgan.

In 2014, it was ranked at number 53 in The Hollywood Reporter 's "100 Favorite Films" list. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, and won two: Best Supporting Actor for Williams and Best Original Screenplay for Affleck and Damon. The film grossed over $225 million during its theatrical run, from a $10 million budget.
