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About a Boy
Synopsis
Will Freeman, a shallow thirty-something bachelor, lives a carefree life courtesy of his deceased father's fortune. Will is terrified of commitment and so decides that single mothers will make the easiest romantic targets... His world is turned around when he meets Marcus, a twelve year old boy who is the son of Fiona, his latest conquest. Marcus teaches Will that there is much more to life than loafing around in his London flat and worrying about the latest trends and fashions... Based on the best selling novel by Nick Hornby.
Review
The film version of Nick Hornby's novel About a Boy takes a deeper though
no less entertaining approach than the easy laughs of Fever Pitch and
High Fidelity. The "coming together" of idle playboy Will (Hugh
Grant) and put-upon loner Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) is a revealing tale
of self-understanding and role reversal. Will finds that being yourself
is of little consequence without a defining human context, while Marcus
finds that pleasing others counts for little without a degree of self-confidence.
How they arrive at this complementary awareness is the intriguing subject
matter of the film, involving well-meaning single mothers, difficult adolescents
and helpless older adults. Yet there's a wider significance to all this
in the guise of human stereotypes--how we fall into them and how we can
try to get out of them.
The film's wit and amusement comes down to deft and understated directing
from Chris and Paul Weitz, and a snappily crafted screenplay from Peter
Hedges and the Weitz brothers. Grant clips his hair as well as his vowels
for a believable and ultimately sympathetic Will--by far his best performance
since Four Weddings and a Funeral. As Marcus, Hoult is convincingly self-dependent,
but could have been even more self-absorbed. Toni Colette is a dead-ringer
for the well-meaning but ineffectual hippie mother Fiona, while Rachel
Weisz gives her best screen performance to date as the attractive and
vulnerable Rachel, with whom Will comes of age emotionally. Badly Drawn
Boy's soundtrack will delight those who enjoy his brand of reconstituted
1970s Dylan; the title track has a wistful charm and there's a gem of
an instrumental in the "Countdown" sequence. About a Boy is
in the best traditions of British comedy: enlightening as it amuses, it's
a film to enjoy and come back to.
Languages
English