Good Will Geeks

Freaks and Geeks was a TV show (Judd Apatow produced it, and the stars include James Franco and Seth Rogan) about two overlapping groups of kids in high school in the early eighties. There's one episode where Sam, one of the geeks, found out that one of the popular, good-looking cheerleaders liked him and wanted him to ask her to a party - a make-out party. He was discussing whether to do it with his other two geek buddies. One of the geek buddies, Neal, was arguing that Sam should do it because they couldn't. (Not to mention that it would also help his own situation.)

This very much made me think of the scene in Gus van Sant's Good Will Hunting where Chuckie (Ben Affleck) tells Will (Matt Damon) that being in construction is a waste of his time. Will is a genius, but does not want to take advantage of that, to leave his life, to challange himself. Chuckie goes on to say, "you owe it to me," to cash in the winning lottery ticket. It's a turning point, where Will finds that even his most trusted friend wants better for him.

Those geeks were feeling the same way for the Sam! OK, OK, it was a much less serious moment, but it still felt very much the same to me.