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ABOUT A BOY
Review by Gordon Justesen
Stars:
Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult
Directors: Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Studio: Universal
Features: See Review
Length: 102 Minutes
Release Date: January 14, 2003
“Just
the other the day, I was thinking about my ex, my son
came crawling up and put his
little pudgy arms around my neck and said, You hang in there, Dad.”
“God,
that’s amazing for a two year old.”
“Is
it?”
Film
****
Watching About
a Boy, it occurred to me how long it had been since a single movie made me
smile from beginning to end. A film that can be both uplifting and hysterically
funny is a hard hybrid to make right, but this is one movie that knew how to mix
in the elements right. The pacing of the film helps blend in the two elements
nicely by starting off as a very funny movie, and slowly blending in the
heartfelt side late into movie, which is always a risky gesture, but executed
perfectly. Added to this is a remarkable lead performance that truly deserves
Oscar attention, helping to make this one of the true best films of last year.
Adapted from the
best seller by Nick Hornby, who also wrote High
Fidelity, the film stars Hugh Grant in what is unquestionably his most
terrific performance to date, as Will, a 38 year old proud to be bachelor. Will
doesn’t work, and doesn’t need to, since his father happened to write a
popular Christmas song, and Will’s been living off the royalties ever since.
He doesn’t think he would make a good husband, and doesn’t want to settle
down by any means. So what does he do to fulfill his bachelor wishes? By
attending single parent meetings, which are made up completely of women. He
claims to be the father of a two year old, which causes problems for him when he
eventually garners a date. This date, though, results in a chance encounter with
a young boy named Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), whose mom is a close friend of
Will’s date.
As for Marcus, his
life is pretty much in shambles. His mom, Fiona (Toni Collette) is consistently
on the verge of suicide, and almost achieves it at one point, and he is the
constant butt of jokes at the school he goes to. Though his mom’s current
emotional state has caused him to mature a little bit for his given age, he
takes a unique liking to Will, and soon sees him as the ideal father figure. It
isn’t too long until Marcus is making visits to Will’s flat uninvited to
spend time with the one person who makes him feel important.
For Will, though,
this produces some challenging obstacles, most notably the overall fear of those
unwanted emotions caving him in. But soon Will finds himself buying shoes for
Marcus, as well as advising his mom to open her son to other areas of music
besides ballads like “Killing Me Softly”, which she wants Marcus to sing at
a school assembly, which Will knows will add insult to injury. And as it turns
out, Will needs Marcus as well, though he may not want to admit it at first. The
one thing Marcus indefinitely teaches Will to do is to be a little honest every
now and then, which he has no doubt become by the film’s end.
This is simply a
remarkably irresistible film, and it may appeal to just about anyone since it
really isn’t as sappy and sentimental as the plot might suggest. It is indeed
an original as far as comedies go. Grant is absolutely charming and witty as
Will, who is someone at times, even I was able to relate to. Newcomer Nicholas
Hoult is astounding as young Marcus, in a performance that dares to challenge
the conventional kind of performance that we get from so many child stars.
Hoult’s performance is consistently mature and subtle, and yet is still very
memorable. And if there’s one moment that stands out, it’s Will and
Marcus’ duet of “Killing Me Softly”, which is nothing short of a charming
winner.
About
a Boy is indeed one of the best films of last year. Funny, endearing, and
irresistible every step of the way, this ranks as one of the most cheerful films
in quite a while. It’s hard to realize that this came from that same directing
team that was responsible for a whole different kind of comedy, American
Pie, but Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz have proven themselves here as serious
filmmakers.
Video
****
A pitch-perfect
video presentation from Universal. The anamorphic transfer glows with amazing
clarity and consistent sharp imaging. Picture is thoroughly crisp and clear, and
colors are delivered with flawless naturalness. Indeed, one of the first great
looking discs of the new year.
Audio
***
This is a film
driven by dialogue, but the 5.1 mix does provide some very decent sound quality
in several settings. There is also some very good music heard by the band Badly
Drawn Boy, which is very much the high point of the sound transfer. And as for
dialogue…no question, it’s delivered wonderfully.
Features
***1/2
A good enough
packed disc from Universal offers some nice extras, including a running
commentary from Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, a Spotlight on Location featurette,
seven deleted scenes with optional director commentary, two music videos by
Badly Drawn Boy, an English to English Dictionary, the complete lyrics to
Santa’s Sleigh Ride, a trailer, and some DVD-Rom material.
Summary: