Rating: 
Summary: About a Really Great Flick
Review: This movie is a wonderful portrayal of human nature, in which a carefree and entertainingly shallow but likeable bachelor makes friends with a "picked-on" 12-year-old boy with a depressed mother. The details in the movie are completely clever and funny, yet the human issues in the movie add depth to the story. It's worth watching over and over again just to catch all the amusing anecdotes. The music in the movie is ideal and adds the perfect touch, turning a highly entertaining and enjoyable movie into a masterpiece. A total Must See.
Rating: 
Summary: "The Will Show" becomes an ensemble drama
Review: Will (Hugh Grant) is a charming cad who does not have to do anything but watch television and date pretty women because he has the good fortune of living off the royalties for a catch little Christmas ditty called "Santa's Super Sleigh," written by his father many years ago (Elvis recorded it). In Will's philosophy, "a person's life is like a TV show," and as far as our hero is concerned he is the star of "The Will Show," which is not, he points out, "an ensemble drama." To those familiar with standard movie plots and attuned to the nuances of script writing, we know that by the end of "About a Boy" we will see Will eat those words.It is become more difficult for Will to keep find women to date, since any and all such relationships have a life expectancy of two months tops. So he hits upon the idea of dating single mothers because he stumbled upon the great "truth" that they are less demanding (i.e., more grateful) and easier to break up with (i.e., they care about their kids more than themselves). The problem is that in searching for a place where one can increase the statistical probability of finding single women Will comes across a meeting of SPAT (Single Parents, Alone Together). The only male at the meeting Will cheerfully spins a yard about being abandoned by his wife and having a remarkable 2-year old son named "Ned." This bait hooks Suzie, the first of what Will thinks will be many fish in a sea of plenty. However, because these single parents make a point of helping each other out (the "alone together" idea) Will comes into contact with young Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), whose single mother, Fiona (Toni Collette), is not handling her new life all that well. Circumstances force Will and Marcus together, and, not surprisingly, the young boy thinks that this would be the person to pull his mother out of her depression and make them a family. What makes "About a Boy" and above average film is that while such an end point might be what the story has set up and what convention would insist should come to pass, that is not what happens in the end here. In fact, the ending is much more satisfying than that predictable conclusion. The main thing is that whereas "Ned" is a great help to a preying bachelor, having the real article hanging around your apartment is not at all helpful. Of course, eventually all this contact with the boy engenders real feelings in Will and when he meets Rachel (Rachel Weisz), he is confronted by a woman who is too good for him. Does having a real "fake" son work better than having just a car seat littered with cracker crumbs? Ultimately the chief attraction of this film is watching the two main characters transform themselves into the possibilities of better people. Marcus has an advantage because he is more mature, yet it is when we get a sense of honesty from Will, either when talking to himself or to another person, that we know we did not make a mistake in wanting the character to find happiness. My taste in Hugh Grant films lends itself towards the "Notting Hill" and "Sense & Sensibility" direction than "Mickey Blue Eyes" or "Two Weeks Notice," but "About a Boy" ends up at least in the middle adn is therefore quite acceptable. Hard to believe this 2002 film was directed by the same guy(s) who did "American Pie," which reminds me that the biggest laugh on the DVD is probably in the deleted scenes where we learn who else besides Elvis recorded "Santa's Super Sleigh."
Rating:
Summary: From Film to Book, Wonderful
Review: About A Boy is quite the swell movie! Having read the titular book by Nick Hornsby, I was a little afraid to watch the movie in fear that it would go against the book. I was a little surprised that it stayed faithful to the book throughout the entire movie. Albeit it is a movie adaptation so some things were changed, but nothing to make me regret the film. Hugh Grant is Will, an actual good-for-nothing who lives off the fame of his father's famed Christmas song which he despises. During a scheme to pick up single mom's, he becomes involved in the life of 12 year old social outcast, Marcus played by Nicholas Hoult. The Weitz bros., the directors, took Hornsby's novel and made it perfectly viewable. The transition between scenes has a great pace and the playout of the evolving fatherlike relationship Will begins to have over Marcus is shown with heart. Hugh Grant handles the part of Will with charm. He showed a great performance. Nicholas Hoult as Marcus was a great choice for the role. I hope the kid has much more opportunities in his future; however they'll probably be British productions. Toni Collette (Very quirky in an off way in this film) and the beautiful Rachel Weisz also costar. The DVD is a hefty one. Picture and audio transfers are great. The supplemental material is satisfying. Especially neat is the "English to English" which is a featurette on British slang. About A Boy succeeded to be touching and enjoyable as both a book and a movie. The two make a perfect pair, although I suggest reading the book before the movie. Or perhaps not, for more effect on the film. Either way, they're both wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining and refreshingly plausible comedy
Review: Co- produced by Robert De Niro, and executive produced by Nick Hornby, who wrote the novel on which the movie is based; ABOUT A BOY is a comedy drama which manages to avoid falling into the sentimentality tar pit.
Will Freeman (Hugh Grant- delivering another good performance after his acting stretch in BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY) is a man in his late 30s with no adult responsibilities at all. His life is all work and no play, an enviable barrage of fast cars and casual sex; but when Will is befriended by a geeky 12 year old boy named Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) after Will saves him from being beaten to a pulp by school bullies, the pair gradually form a special bond. For the first time, Will learns the importance of thinking of other people's feelings and needs; and as a result of this new friendship Will who lives with his strictly vegan mother (Toni Collette), another one of those left-wing "Meat is murder" clowns; gets to eat meat as well as being exposed to other delights he has been sheltered from like profanity laden music; as well as earning a healthy dose of self-esteem; which in the end nearly proves to be his undoing...
Hoult and Collette both give excellent performances as well. ABOUT A BOY is by turns sad and funny. My only complaint is the typical Hollywood quick fix ending, which is totally unrealistic. But that's just Hollywood, isn't it? Well worth a gander.
Rating:
Summary: A Date Movie for Both Genders
Review: Hugh Grant plays a far more complex character than his usual charming British bachelors. Yes he is single again in this movie and yes he lives in London. And yes he is showing a "darker" side of himself as he did in "Bridget Jones" (which I loved).
However, this movie is darker and deeper than his previous "famous" films (I have seen him in more serious fare from his younger days, but those films have been neglected by the mainstream.)
"About a Boy" recounts the relationship between a lonely, misfit adolescent male and an isolated bachelor. There is humor-most of it delivered by Grant. And there is poignancy-particularly in the performance of Toni Colette, who plays the boy's suicidal, hippie mother. All of the performances are wonderful-Grant, the young boy, Toni Colette, Rachel Weisz-and the cast plays off each other beautifully. In addition, the story resembles real life and not your formulaic romantic comedy-Grant meets and dates one woman, who leads him to the boy and his mother, who eventually lead him to another woman that he dates-instead of just your standard boy meets just one girl at the beginning of the movie and ends up with her by the closing credits.
I would recommend this movie for fans of comedy and of romance, though this isn't a romantic comedy. I also would recommend this movie for lovers of Nick Hornby's work, the author on whose book the movie was based. Of course if you're a Hugh Grant fan, you'll love it. If you don't like Hugh Grant-and I know many men a few women who loathe him-he is more palatable in this movie. But, of course, he is still Hugh Grant-and that's great for many people like myself, and unacceptable for others!
One note on the dvd-the voice over commentary by the directors is insightful and interesting
Rating:
Summary: Hugh Grant does it again
Review: The talented actor behind great (and human) comedies such as "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill" does it again with his unique style of humor, a style only paralleled by John Cusack on this side of the Atlantic. The story portrays the evolution of a self-absorbed bachelor who is taught a life-changing lesson by a twelve-year-old whose mom is walking a thin line between sanity and committing suicide. In the process, both (the kid and Grant) learn from each other, and find inside of them things they didn't know they could be capable of. All in all, warm and human, very touching. More than just a "good renter", a movie that will make you smile the rest of the evening (or weekend) with its positive message in times like these, when more and more people become "islands" to not have to deal or help with other people's very real problems.
Rating:
Summary: What you need to know About A Boy...
Review: This was one of the sweetest "chick flicks" I've seen in a while is what a boy I know said about this movie. He couldn't have been more right. This movie was a great coming of age story that showed the insecurites we all live through in our teenage years and how they still affect us in our adult lives. Hugh Grant played a great carefree playboy, Will, who didn't appear to have any frustrations in life other than who his next conquest would be. This all changes when he meets Marcus, a boy seriously in need of a stable adult presence in his life. Marcus is a teenager who is faced with the same teenage problems we all were faced with, being the odd one at school and having a vegitarian sucidal mother who will not let him eat McDonalds. Marcus latches on to Will to learn about life, love, and what it means to be happy.
Rating:
Summary: smart comedy
Review: This is one of my favourite movies. I love its sense of humor because it's not the usual in-your-face punchline or the over-done physical comedy. It's a smart comedy and Hugh Grant is the best actor for it.
Rating:
Summary: About one of the funniest
Review: Hugh Grant is great! The actors sound so true and it is one of the funniest movies I have ever watched. It is so different from the insipid romantic comedies that have come to define the "comedy" genre in movies.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, but Romantic Comedy?
Review: I like watching Hugh Grant onscreen - raffish and intellectual and slightly off beat and the trailers and excellent reviews conviced me to see this movie. And it was worth it.
However --- it was billed and presented as some form of romantic comedy but it really is "About a Boy". I would say that the true star of the movie is Nicholas Hoult. The gist of the movie is given elsewhere in these pages so I won't bore with a repetition but Rachel Weisz only gets around 15 minutes of screen time and Toni Colletes nutty mother early on is removed as a romantic interest.
The real relationship here is all between Grant and Hoult with Hoult providing the driving force. His loping walk, strong stare and stunningly innocent smile are played to perfection and demonstrate both his need to find his place in the world and to drag his mother along with him. He forces Grant to accept him, forces him to face himself and is transformed in the process. Hoult takes an almost tragic figure and gives him life, humor and grace. Hugh Grant is good too.
This is a movie to feel good too.
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