I also think Good Will Hunting was kind of “meh”, but I suppose Van Sant’s Milk is equally acclaimed, and I like that one a little better.
One I liked a lot from him (and though I watched it when I was quite young) was Finding Forrester.. And the shot-for-shot remake of Psycho is ridiculous.
The Pursuit of Happyness: Good film. I really loved Will Smith’s performance in this. The scene where he sleeps in the bathroom with his son is one of those parts that made me shed a tear.
Young Adult - I’m not quite sure what to make of it yet, but I certainly don’t regret watching it. It definitely had a good screenplay and actually pretty good performances as well (Oswalt, Theron), but the nature of the main character will make it a difficult film to enjoy. However, once the climax is reached
it becomes clear that Mavis has been struggling with mental illness of some capacity for some time and that may also be why she ghostwrites for the YA series. I didn’t exactly like the resolution, but I don’t know what else could have been done that I would have enjoyed otherwise, and showing the parallel worlds of the book series and Mavis’s life made sense. I did think Patton Oswalt’s sister (Sandra?) was strangely caricature-ish in the end, however. I understand she idolizes Mavis, but she went too far and the scene should have been cut down quite a bit. I think she should have just said Mavis was prettier than Buddy’s wife and ended there. Took it too far.
That is a difficult film because it’s really hard to relate with the main character, but that’s also the point of the thing.
I feel a lot like you, not very certain if I liked it or not, but glad that I watched it.
Unlike you, I think Sandra’s scene was needed (it evolved a lot from script to final film, I’ve read), and that her “caricature-ish idolization” of Mavis is what [spoil]puts her on the wrong track again.[/spoil]
I see both things, but I still think the screenplay went too far with Sandra. It crossed the line of believable ignorant idolization of a shallow but stunning woman to just unbelievable, ridiculous territory. But yeah, I think the ending worked, it just left me feeling weird and concerned. I didn’t really expect that from this film, anyway.