ABOUT A BOY A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 2002 David N. Butterworth
***1/2 (out of ****)
Hugh Grant wouldn't necessarily be my top choice to play Will Freeman, the narcissistic 30-something sloth of Nick Hornby's `About a Boy' but in the film version of the British writer's acerbic, best-selling novel, Grant is absolutely perfect in the role.
He looks the part for one thing, with his trademark floppy hair here replaced by a fetching, short-cropped do. Gone, too, are the trademark Grant-isms, the nervous twitterings and bumblings that have graced the likes of `Bridget Jones's Diary,' `Notting Hill,' and `Four Weddings and a Funeral.' Grant has somehow replaced all that with a performance that borders on brilliant. It's absolutely on, *he's* absolutely on, and his contributions alone make `About a Boy' worth catching.
Shallow Will considers himself to be an island. Ibiza, actually. He does nothing, has no job, no prospects--he just sits around watching television, listening to his Bang & Olufsen hi-fi, playing snooker (i.e., `exercising'), and having his hair done, all the while living off an inheritance afforded him by his old man who, in 1958, wrote a smashingly successful Christmastide jingle called `Santa's Super Sleigh.' The fact that he does nothing, has no job, no prospects doesn't exactly bode well with the women he dates but that's not really a problem since Will isn't into commitment anyway.
All this changes when self-centered Will meets misfit Marcus, the 12-year-old son of a friend of a woman he picks out of a line-up at a support group for single parents. Will doesn't actually have a son, but he invents one--`Ned'--simply to take advantage of the kind of emotionally vulnerable women that frequent a group such as SPAT (Single Parents Alone Together). Marcus, who's bullied at school and has a suicidal mother at home (she's played by the fiery Toni Collette, who turns in yet another superlative performance), immediately starts showing up like clockwork at Will's London flat every day. Eventually Will teaches Marcus how to be cool and, in turn, Marcus teaches Will how to grow up.
It sounds horribly corny but with Hornby's text at its center, nicely tweaked by screenwriter Peter Hedges (`What's Eating Gilbert Grape') and the brothers Weitz (who also direct), `About a Boy' manages to sidestep a boatload of clichés. In fact, I only had two problems with the film. Firstly, I didn't find Nicholas Hoult (who plays Marcus) particularly compelling as an actor (he's right for the role but he's no Haley Joel Osment that's for sure). And second of all the cloying song score (provided by the cloyingly-titled Badly Drawn Boy) detracted from the visuals at every turn.
These two relatively minor concerns aside, `About a Boy' is nevertheless an irresistible coming-of-age story that mixes wit with substance and does it in such convincing style that you actually buy the fact that Grant's character could transmogrify from Will the Irresponsible Cad to Will the Responsible Father Figure over the course of the movie. As for Grant himself, it's simply the best work he's ever committed to celluloid.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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