ABOUT A BOY

ABOUT A BOY
2002 105mins. Director: Chris Weitz,
Paul Weitz
Rated: PG-13
Cast:
Hugh Grant………………………………..Will Freeman
Nicholas Hoult……………………………Marcus Brewer
Toni Collette……………………………...Fiona Brewer
Rachel Weisz……………………………..Rachel
Natalia Tena……………………………...Ellie

About a Boy opens with a sign of a smart comedy: a relevant commentary. Specifically, the film starts by saying something about the age of materialism through the lifestyle of shallow bachelor Will Freeman (Hugh Grant). He believes with the adage that every man is an island, but also thinks that it the way it should be. His free time (garnered by living off of the royalties he receives from a corny Christmas song his father wrote in the 50s) leave him plenty of time to shop and date various women without having to commit. With the right equipment, says Will, any man can build an island fit to sustain him.
This early promising sign does not betray us in About a Boy, one of the most intelligent comedies of recent years. It’s funny while carrying a heart. Directors Chris and Paul Weitz, who also adapted the screenplay from Nick Hornby’s novel along with Peter Hedges (and received an Oscar nomination), do marvelous things with the relatively familiar premise of a slacker coming to grips with his empty life. In part this is thanks to the likeable performance from Hugh Grant. With his unforgettable smile and Mickey blue eyes, Grant can win us over with the shadiest of characters. But also, there is something refreshing about the bluntness with which the screenplay treats its material.
This works well because we do like the island that Will has created for himself. He is a man of leisure, is always happy, he can have his choice of women (and does he ever take it!), he has a cool flat in London, and mingles with powerful people. Besides, he’s clever. He knows the workings of relationships and soon learns of the virtues of dating single mothers. They are desperate for a man, but also find it harder to commit since they give priority to their children.
We may not approve of what Will does, but we cannot help but smile at his slickness and fortune. His success in life is proof that God has a sense of humor. He just happens to see a flyer advertising a group meeting for single parents. What better place to meet vulnerable single mothers? Even Will’s awkwardness, as when he attributes a story to a fake 2-year-old child he claims to be the father of, is salvaged by his charm. How long can he hide his lie?
Well, he meets his match in Marcus (a talented newcomer named Nicholas Hoult) a twelve-year-old who is smarter than him. Marcus knows what Will is up to and uses the situation to blackmail him into dating his depressed single mother Fiona (Toni Collette).
Voice-over-narrations are often indifferent in films, but here it accents the already funny jokes. What Hugh Grant says off-screen compliments his facial expressions perfectly, as when he gets stuck watching Marcus in the park. But there is a mood whiplash at the end of that farcical day at the park. Fiona has attempted to overdose and now Marcus is going to need a new friend.
Ultimately, About a Boy is about two boys. One is a twelve-year-old who, due to his experiences with an unstable mother, is more mature than the thirty-eight year old “boy” he befriends. While the story of Marcus and his mother is somber, Will’s is a joke. For once, a movie reverses the table and it’s a troubled child reaching out to a misguided adult. Together, they make us smile, both through humor and tenderness. It’s a perfect deal. Will needs fulfillment in his life while Marcus needs a second adult.
At times, About a Boy skates close to being cloy, and in clumsier hands it could have been, but a little bit of Grant’s smile works a long way in putting the tongue firmly on the cheek. What the film does become is charming.
What’s best, though, is the reality of the situations. We laugh at their antics and feel their sadness precisely because we recognize the reality in their situations. About a Boy surprises us with unexpected gags and then honest emotions. Will is as surprised as we are when he is genuinely love-struck by Rachel (Rachel Weisz), a single-mother who decides to take a chance on him against her better judgment.
Even Marcus’s crush is unconventional. Ellie, the girl that catches his eye, is no classic beauty. She is a tough punk rocker girl with a heart so big that she even makes us fall in love with her. Natalia Tena’s performance as Ellie is a plum in the film. She balances Ellie’s emotions toward Marcus with a mix of amusement and endearment.
A bittersweet joke in About a Boy is that when things start to go well for Marcus, Will suffers a disappointment when Rachel discovers his dishonesty. But maybe this misfortune is just the wake up call that Will needs. In routine comedy he would pull some corny stunt to win Rachel back, but About a Boy makes him take the hard and earnest way. The movie is too smart and too well-made for easy solutions. It even satisfies with a compromise. Will keeps his island in the end but he also realizes that sometimes several islands are better than one.