Rating: 
Summary: One of the best of 2002...easily.
Review: A beautifully told tale of an immature man and a too-mature boy.
Hugh Grant takes his "shtick", such that it is, and uses it to fill out a fairly detailed character. It's completely three-dimensional. By the end of the movie, you feel you yourself could answer totally unrelated questions about this character...like what would be his political views? Beatles or Presley? Big Mac or McChicken?
The boy never once seems to be acting, and is laugh-out-loud funny. He tosses them off almost like afterthoughts, yet you'll pause-and-"rewind" just to hear his delivery over and over again.
The superlative screenplay, and the surprising zippy direction from the Weitz brothers ("American Pie" to this? Wow.) will have non-cineastes noticing.
One last thing. The soundtrack is sheer perfection, by a guy named Badly Drawn Boy. It's evocative but not intrusive, classic/retro-sounding yet totally modern and contemporary, and hummable beyond belief.
From top to bottom, this is one of the best films of 2002.
Rating: 
Summary: Hollywood second half
Review: I almost rated this movie prematurely. Half way through I was LOVING it because I thought I knew what was going to happen and this "presumed ending" was so non-traditional that I real expectations. (I know I know most would disagree with me)The ending I had was Hugh somehow getting together with Toni, a not beautiful woman, a woman with problems, a woman with eccentricities etc. but him looking beyond that. But of course Hollywood cannot help itself and along comes the flawlessly beautiful Rachel W. Now if Hugh would have picked TC OVER RW that would have been a real breath of fresh air. I thought the story sort of went down hill after Rachel hits the scene. So the first half is 5 and the second half is 21/2 - 3. Hugh Grant is PERFECT. I wish he made more funny movies. He can pull off such wit. If you liked this movie I recommend Corrina, Corrina
Rating: 
Summary: Hugh Grant at his absolute best.
Review: If you have ever seen Hugh Grant in a movie, you know that he always plays a cocky brit. This movie is no different. However, in this particular flick, he plays a very funnny and lovable cocky brit. Hugh plays Will, a self indulgent man who has lived his entire life off of the royalties of a song his father wrote. After being set up with a single mom by a friend of his, he decides that this is a section of the dating pool that he was unaware of. He begins to go to SPAT meetings (Single Parent Alone Together) and lies to make them think he is sensitive. On his first date with a SPAT mom, she brings along the little of boy of a fellow SPATer named Marcus. After a day of fun in the park, Marcus begins to think that Will would be perfect for his mother, an emotionally disturbed woman who attempts to tkae her own life. He sets in motion a plan to get Will to marry his mother. Marcus begins to spend more time with Will and eventually gets throught to him and makes him realize that he needs more out of life then himself. "As Jon Bon Jovi said, no man is an island". This movie showwed that Hugh Grant is a fantastic actor capable of real human emotion. I would reccomend this movie to anyone who wants to laugh.
Rating:
Summary: Hugh Grant preys on single moms
Review: This delightful movie stars Hugh Grant who, ever on the lookout for a new approach with women, discovers that single moms are more than happy to have a romance with single dads. Despite the fact that Grant has no child, he makes one up and joins a single parents' group so he can meet women. Soon he becomes involved with a woman whose friend is suicidal and who has a son who is teased at school for being a nerd. Grant is not pleased with the fact that the boy likes to hang out at his place after school, but he doesn't have the heart to kick the boy out. Later on, the boy becomes an asset when he meets a woman with a son his age. Again he lets her think that he is a single father, but this leads to even more complications. This is a charming movie about a man who thinks that he can be an island, but who finds out differently.
Rating:
Summary: In a word - Brilliant!
Review: "About a Boy" is a great romantic comedy based on Nick Hornby's best-selling novel. [I haven't read it.] It's not an ordinary entry in its genre because of its points of view [those of an eleven year old boy who's old for his years and a thirty-eight year old man who's never grown up] and its refusal to follow the normal boy-gets-girl formula. The story could easily have veered into the maudlin and sentimental, but directing brothers Chris and Paul Wiesz ["American Pie"] inject wit and often acerbic humor at just the right moments. Will [Hugh Grant] lives off the royalties from a hit song his decesased father wrote. He keeps telling himself that the axiom 'No man is an island' is no longer true in our world filled with technological marvels. He uses his money to live well and his good looks to get women. One day he discovers the world of single mothers and decides to invent a child of his own in order to charm these women. The plan works well enough at first, but when he meets a lonely boy [Nicholas Hoult] and his depressed mom [Toni Colette], he finds himself in a situation where, for the first time in his life, someone else's happiness might be more important than his own. Hugh Grant is an acting treasure. The movies today are filled with plenty of tough guys and rough guys, sweet ones and soft ones. Grant is one of the few actors around who are charming, funny and sophisticated in a loveable bad boy way. This may be his best performance to date - other contenders include "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral". Newcomer Nicholas Hoult is great, playing the boy as eccentric and worldly wise rather than as cute and cuddly. Toni Colette plays his mother and is superb as always. There have been several decent romantic comedies in the last year or so, but "About a Boy" is one of the few I can describe as "Brilliant!"
Rating:
Summary: Hugh Grant at his best
Review: I must admit I have never been much of a Hugh Grant fan. It seems to me that in most of his previous movies he plays the same stuttering lout who is more or less likeable or not likeable and who you really don't ever get to know. These characters are primarily two-dimensional creations used to move a plot along. In About a Boy something different happens. Yes, Grant plays a man who is primarily a layabout lout who pretends to have a son in order to score with the women at the local single parent's group. On a parallel course, a boy with a suicidal mom (Toni Collete) seems drawn to Grant and their paths converge. But Grant's character seems to exist outside the movie plot, and although in retrospect the plot may be somewhat predictable, I found that while watching the movie I was so engrossed in the arc of Grant's character I really didn't have any of those irritating stray thoughts that throw you out of the movie by telling you where it is going. The story here is stronger than the usual Grant vehicle, and he rises to it by turning in the most complex performance of his career so far. I really liked this movie. The DVD edition has an interesting "making of" documentary, and there are some deleted scenes. About a Boy is definitely worth a look.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Year's Best Movies
Review: "About a Boy" is so effortlessly charming you wonder why movies like it aren't made more often. But movies that look this easy often aren't, so credit goes to the Weitz Brothers for pulling together a movie that's funny without being as self-impressed as other Nick Hornby adaptations (or, specifically, "High Fidelity"). Hugh Grant also shines in a role that requires him to emote, something he rarely gets to do. And no film in recent years has had such a perfect soundtrack. Badly Drawn Boy's score and original songs buoy the film without overwhelming it (too bad they had to throw a Roberta Flack number in at the end of the movie). It's a perfect combination of high-brow comedy and mild drama (emphasis on mild), all riding on Grant's newfound charisma. The "romantic comedy" label may scare you away, but don't let it. This is a comedy almost on par with "Swingers" in terms of enjoyable charm. Don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Surprise
Review: Just when you think that every Hugh Grant movie is from a template too thinly worn, up pops ABOUT A BOY. With a fine script, excellent direction and supporting cast this is Hugh Grant's finest hour. Yes, he still maintains than British aloof gentleman aura, but here he allows us to see the shallow void of his character and then invites us to explore his self-evaluation and and salvation in getting on the trail of becoming a man with a meaningful life. The cast is excellent - Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, and Nicholas Hoult are completely immersed in well written roles. And for once the conclusions reached in this little tale are not force fed: happiness is found around us with a little help form our friends. A surprisingly fine little film.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing to Fans of the Book
Review: It's hard for me to imagine how this movie may have stood on it's own had I not read the book, but having done so only a few months before having seen the film on the big screen, I could not help but be disappointed when 2/3 of the way through the movie it took a divergent turn which ended in a rather sappy would-be cathartic moment. I didn't buy it, but at the same time realized that it would have been hard to get a good "Hollywood" type climax from the book in the first place, so I rented the DVD really hoping to gain some insight into how and why the movie version ended as it did. My first reaction to the director's commentary is that they really make you feel as if they'd rather not be watching the movie again and they can't imagine why we are even bothering to watch it with their commentary - the comments given during the deleted scenes bonus feature really cement this impression - BTW, seems to me they left out a scene at the end which would have been better left in. As for why they changed the ending, they really don't say, the only reflection upon the changed ending being a reference to a New Yorker critic who said it was horrible and then a slight against that same critic later in the scene when they more or less question what type of human being could find the scene "horrible." Personally, I wouldn't say the ending is horrible, but it is a disappointment, especially given the quality of the cast and of the original story. I'd recommend the book over the movie, along with everything else Nick Hornby has written, but would add that in my opinion "High Fidelity" was extremely well done - perhaps the best book to film transformation I've ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best films of the year.
Review: It frightened me, at first, to hear that directors Chris and Paul Weitz, the guys who made "American Pie," were behind the film adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel. Though Hugh Grant was born to play the self-centered, shallow, immature man urged to grow through his relationship with a young boy in need, I forgot about the occasional moments of warmth in "American Pie" and doubted the Weitzes were capable of conveying the heart and seriousness necessary to make this film. I was wrong. Matching moments of true horror involving attempted suicide at the film's beginning with Grant's continuing snarky, sarcastic voiceover showed that the directors had found the precise balance necessary to make the film work. It's a heartwarming, occasionally edgy film about the human need for others and about how a family - whether one we're born into or one that we create for ourselves - can help us grow. Nicholas Hoult, as Marcus, gives a great performance, and Toni Collette, as his hippie, depressive mother, is Oscar-caliber, but the film belongs to Grant. It's the best work he's ever done.
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