About A Boy
About A Boy
2002, Universal Pictures
Cast: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Weisz, Toni Collette
Director: Chris Weitz
Plot Summary: A rich young man searches for love among single parents, and an unlikely friendship springs up between himself and one of the children.
I’ll admit that I’m not one for romantic comedies. It’s hard to break away from the action/thriller genre (or better yet the horror flicks) and expect no blood to spill or bullets to fly. Thankfully, this movie is quirky and has an edge to it.
Hugh Grant plays a layabout named Will Freeman (indeed he is free), rich in only the way these things go in movies: royalties from one hit Christmas song keep him on Easy Street. A quest for easy sex drives him to crash a SPAT meeting (Single Parents, Alone Together… okay the last doesn’t make sense, but why break up a cute acronym?) and pretend to have a baby in order to meet (presumably vulnerable) women.
He meets a few women there, including Suzie and Fiona. Fiona is… well, a bit odd, and her son Marcus is a loner - shy and not socially adept. The boy, perhaps looking for a father figure, perhaps looking for a friend, starts to stalk Will in an amusing way. He is persistent, despite (or because of) Will’s opposition.
As you can probably guess, Will does eventually meet someone he likes. But rather than go for the truth (that would be sensible), he opts to pass Marcus off as his son. Marcus has his own reasons for playing along… to a point. Yes, these things can happen in real life, but exaggeration for comedic affect is a valid plot driver, and in this case works like a charm. For one thing, the movie is smart and expects a bit of work from the audience. Hugh Grant is at his charming best and, while things apparently do work out (more or less), it isn’t 100% predictable.
As a comedy this is top notch, and I didn’t mind the romance sneaking in. It’s a good tale about a small group of interesting personalities, and I highly recommend it.
