By: Sarah D'Avila
About a Boy (2002)
Genre: Comedy Drama
Cast: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, and Toni Collette
Director(s): Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz
Box Office: $130.5 million
Summary: Hugh Grant stars in About a Boy as an immature, irresponsible, cynical Will Freeman who’s only real interest is to meet women. As he signs up for single parenting classes, he makes up an imaginary son which consequently leads him to meeting a single mother who has another single mother friend named Fiona Brewer (Toni Collette). From there, he meets her 12-year-old son named Marcus Brewer (Nicholas Hoult) who is constantly bullied at school and they become friends. Will teaches Marcus how to be cool and the boy teaches Will how to grow up.
Review:
Going into this movie, I initially thought it was going to be a light-hearted comedy of the sorts of Just Go With It (2011) or Meet the Parents (2000)... but boy, was I wrong- and not in a negative way! This film exemplifies many feelings in one piece of work - humor, sadness, joy, excitement, and more. Through all these emotions, it taught me a lesson which is that just because a family isn’t traditional, does not mean it is not valid; family is what you make it.
Will Freeman is a child-free, independent womanizer who signs up to a S.P.A.T (Single Parents All Together) class to meet women. Subsequently, he does meet a woman who then introduces him to her other single mother friend, Fiona Brewer who has a son named Marcus. Marcus is a 12-year-old boy who has troubles at school and Will takes him under his wing to teach him to be cool. Ironically, Marcus teaches Will how to grow up.
Hugh Grant nailed portraying the role of Londoner Will Freeman. He had the ability to keep you engaged with the comedic, ridiculous voiceovers throughout whilst still having some emotional value when it was asked of him. It is very hard to record a bad voiceover and he did a fantastic job. Something that is also very difficult to do is to have chemistry with a child actor. Nicholas Hoult did a wonderful job portraying Marcus Brewer. Filmed when he was only 12 years old, he was able to capture the essence of Marcus, who was an awkward, shy kid with not many friends, and troubles at school. He had the ability to bring forth a light-hearted tone to what his character was going through and yet make you feel emotional about his troubles.
About a Boy is a feel-good comedy-drama which displays the relationship between a middle-aged man and a young school boy. This movie touches on serious topics such as depression and bullying so it got a bit emotional at times. It told the story beautifully in a way that allowed you to connect with the characters with funny comments and emotive conversation. There wasn’t anything I particularly disliked in terms of production, style choices, etc; however, there were certain parts in the actual storyline that I feel could have been done differently.
This film teaches you about adulthood and growing up. Will was frowned upon for not accepting this by other people his age; he never had a job or independent income. Growing up and maturing is a tough thing to do by yourself and About a Boy exemplifies that with the right people surrounding you, you can become a great person.
I would recommend this movie to anyone from older children and adults. It has a MPAA rating of PG-13 and only includes some profanity. Initially, this movie seems that it would be catered for comedic audiences, which does include comedy, but is much more than that. It took a turn and tells valuable lessons through the story of a man and a boy.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆/5
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