About A Boy (Wide Screen)

About A Boy (Wide Screen)

Production Year: 2002 - Drama - Director: Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over more

2 offers from £1.20 to £4.98

Overall user rating About A Boy (Wide Screen) 55 reviews | Write a review | Add product to list

ABOUT A BOY, directed by Chris and Paul Weitz, stars Hugh Grant as Will Freeman, a proudly self-absorbed 38-year-old Londoner. Living lavishly off the royalties from a hit...
more





Please wait ....
Rate this product:  
 
2 out of 2 offers for About A Boy (Wide Screen)   sorted by Price  
About a Boy [2002] About a Boy [2002]
The film version of Nick Hornby's novel About a Boy takes a deeper though no less ... more
entertaining approach than the easy laughs of
Fever Pitch and High Fidelity. The "coming
together" of idle playboy Will (Hugh Grant) and
put-upon loner Marcus (Nicholas H...
£ 1.20 Amazon Marketplace

Postage & Packaging£1.24
AvailabilityUsually dispatched within 2 working days...
Amazon Marketplace

10 out of 119 similar offers for About A Boy (Wide Screen)  
Display all 119 similar offers for About A Boy (Wide Screen)
ABOUT A BOY ABOUT A BOY
Music composed by Badly Drawn Boy aka Damon Gough.Producers: Tim Rothrock, Badly Drawn ... more
Boy.What's a budding musical genius to do in the
pent-up lull between albums? Mercury Prize-winning
singer-songwriter Badly Drawn Boy (nee Damon
Gough), in his spare time between heralded debut
THE HOUR OF BEWILDERBEEST, and a follow-up to be
released later in 2002, approached the filmmakers
adapting Nick Hornby's acclaimed novel ABOUT A BOY
about the soundtrack for the film starring Hugh
Grant. There's no question to the logic of the
combination as Gough's sublimely literate,
disaffected yet still charmingly breezy pop music
fits the story of life's apparent losers at two
stages of life, one an apathetic womanizer
approaching his 40s, the other a bullied misfit
boy passing into his teens, between whom an
unlikely friendship ensues. A folky
singer/songwriter scoring songs to help set the
tone of a movie about unlikely friendship could
stir up memories of Cat Stevens's unreleased
soundtrack for Harold & Maude, a fair enough
assessment. In a similar fashion (but in its own
way), Badly Drawn Boy's take on ABOUT A BOY weaves
a mournful, yet upbeat tapestry drawing from its
source material while managing to enrich the story
itself. There are even some pop megahit hooks such
as in the rolling Silent Sigh and in the
head-bobbing, ostensible theme song Something To
Talk About.[Reviews]Q (12/02, p.65) - Included in
Q Magazine's The 50 Best Albums of 2002.Rolling
Stone (5/9/02, p.72) - 3.5 out of 5 stars -
...Gough's greatest strength is how calm and
assured his voice and melodies are....You can tell
he wanted to guild a grand orchestral-pop
monument...Q (4/02, pp.106-7) - 4 out of 5 stars -
...Original and gladdening music...Mojo (April
2002, p.108) - ...Lush real strings and the
familiar one-take roughness....milkman-friendly
classics all...Alternative Press (7/02, pp.76-7) -
8 out of 10 - ...A solid set of songs...NME
(4/6/02, p.34) - 8 out of 10 - ...At its best, it
wears its misery with a casual wryness, breezy
instrumentation blowing away the sad
cobwebs....eminently listenable yet deceptively
gentle...Entertainment Weekly (5/3/02, p.87) -
...A mix of songs and themes balancing obsessive
craft with flippant style... - Rating: B+CMJ
(4/22/02, p.4) - ...The CD is split between
completely songs and fleeting instrumentals, all
of it laced with that big-screen vibe...n
£ 8.99

Postage & Packaging£ Free First Class Delivery
AvailabilityIn Stock
ABOUT A BOY ^ BOOK ABOUT A BOY ^ BOOK
ABOUT A BOY, directed by Chris and Paul Weitz, stars Hugh Grant as Will Freeman, a proudly ... more
self-absorbed 38-year-old Londoner. Living
lavishly off the royalties from a hit Christmas
song penned by his father, Will excels at nothing
except doing nothing, which, in his case, includes
shopping for CDs and having his hair
professionally disheveled. When Will makes a
guilt-free exit from a brief fling with a single
mom, he decides to crash a meeting of S.P.A.T.
(Single Parents, Alone Together) in pursuit of
more single mothers. This scheme leads to meeting
Suzie (Victoria Smurfit) and Marcus (Nicholas
Hoult), the socially awkward 12-year-old son of
her flaky best friend, Fiona (Toni Collette). A
series of odd situations leads to Will and Marcus
becoming unlikely friends, and gradually both of
their lives start to change for the better.
However, when Will falls for the lovely Rachel
(Rachel Weisz) and attempts to pass Marcus off as
his son, things go awry. In order to win the heart
of Rachel and make amends with Marcus, Will must
finally grow up--and completely embarrass himself
in front of hundreds of people.Reveling in its
characters' quirks and flaws, ABOUT A BOY is a
smart, funny, and fast-paced comedy, meticulously
crafted by the Weitz brothers. Grant, in possibly
the best performance of his career, wisely covers
his patented charm with a shallow facade, and
Hoult avoids being too cute or precocious;
instead, the two actors develop believable
characters that grudgingly warm up to each other.
Collette is suitably bizarre as a depressed hippie
mother, and Weisz provides excellent support in
her relatively small role. However, it's clear
from the title that this film is about the boys.
And that includes Badly Drawn Boy (aka Damon
Gough) who contributes an outstanding soundtrack
that recalls Simon and Garfunkel's work on THE
GRADUATE. Given Nick Hornby's excellent source
material, ABOUT A BOY could have easily been an
enjoyable movie, but in the hands of its talented
collaborators, it's a truly exceptional tale.n
£ 14.99

Postage & Packaging£ Free First Class Delivery
AvailabilityIn Stock
About a boy poster About a boy poster
Photographic Styles Poster (76 x 102 cm)
£ 13.95

Postage & Packaging£3.95
AvailabilityIn stock; 8 days
About a boy poster About a boy poster
Photographic Styles Poster (76 x 102 cm)
£ 13.95

Postage & Packaging£3.95
AvailabilityIn stock; 8 days
MAD ABOUT THE BOY
LEIGH, AVA - MAD ABOUT THE BOY
£ 1.99

Postage & Packaging£ Free First Class Delivery
AvailabilityIn Stock
About A Boy [2002] About A Boy [2002]
The film version of Nick Hornby's novel About a Boy takes a deeper though no less ... more
entertaining approach than the easy laughs of
Fever Pitch and High Fidelity. The "coming
together" of idle playboy Will (Hugh Grant) and
put-upon loner Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) is a
revealing tale of self-understanding and role
reversal. Will finds that being yourself is of
little consequence without a defining human
context, while Marcus finds that pleasing others
counts for little without a degree of
self-confidence. How they arrive at this
complementary awareness is the intriguing subject
matter of the film, involving well-meaning single
mothers, difficult adolescents and helpless older
adults. Yet there's a wider significance to all
this in the guise of human stereotypes--how we
fall into them and how we can try to get out of
them.  The film's wit and amusement comes down to
deft and understated directing from Chris and Paul
Weitz, and a snappily crafted screenplay from
Peter Hedges and the Weitz brothers. Grant clips
his hair as well as his vowels for a believable
and ultimately sympathetic Will--by far his best
performance since Four Weddings and a Funeral. As
Marcus, Hoult is convincingly self-dependent, but
could have been even more self-absorbed. Toni
Colette is a dead-ringer for the well-meaning but
ineffectual hippie mother Fiona, while Rachel
Weisz gives her best screen performance to date as
the attractive and vulnerable Rachel, with whom
Will comes of age emotionally. Badly Drawn Boy's
soundtrack will delight those who enjoy his brand
of reconstituted 1970s Dylan; the title track has
a wistful charm and there's a gem of an
instrumental in the "Countdown" sequence. About a
Boy is in the best traditions of British comedy:
enlightening as it amuses, it's a film to enjoy
and come back to. --Richard Whitehouse
£ 0.01

Postage & PackagingCheck Site.
AvailabilityUsually dispatched within 2 working days...
About A Boy [2002] About A Boy [2002]
Release Date: 2006-02-06, Rating Suitable for 12 years and over,
£ 19.99

Postage & PackagingFree!
AvailabilityUsually dispatched within 24 hours...
About a Boy About a Boy
Will Lightman is a Peter Pan for the 1990s. At 36, the terminally hip North Londoner is ... more
unmarried, hyper-concerned with his coolness
quotient and blithely living off his father's
novelty  song royalties. Will sees himself as
entirely lacking in hidden depths--and he's proud
of it! The  only trouble is, his friends are
succumbing to responsibilities and children and
he's increasingly  left out in the cold. How can 
someone brilliantly equipped for meaningless
relationships ensure  that he'll continue to meet
beautiful Julie Christie-like women and ensure
that they'll throw him  over before things get too
profound? A brief encounter with a single mother
sets Will off on his  new career, that of "serial
nice guy." As far as he's concerned--and remember,
concern isn't his  strong suit--he's the perfect
catch for the young mother on the go. After an
interlude of sexual  bliss, she'll realise that
her child isn't ready for a man in their life and
Will can ride off into the  Highgate sunset, where
more damsels apparently await. The only catch is
that the best way to  meet these women is at
single-parent get-togethers. In one of Nick
Hornby's many hilarious (and  embarrassing)
scenes, Will falls into some serious
misrepresentation at SPAT ("Single Parents-- Alone
Together"), passing himself off as a bereft single
dad: "There was, he thought, an  emotional truth
here somewhere, and he could see now that his
role-playing had a previously  unsuspected
artistic element to it. He was acting, yes, but in
the noblest, most profound sense of  the word."  
What interferes with Will's career arc, of course,
is reality--in the shape of a 12-year-old boy who 
is in many ways his polar opposite. For Marcus,
cool isn't even a possibility, let alone an issue.
 For starters, he's a victim at his new school.
Things at home are pretty awful, too, since his 
musical-therapist mother seems increasingly in
need of therapy herself. All Marcus can do is 
cobble together information with a mixture of
incomprehension, innocence, self-blame and 
unfettered clear sight. As fans of Fever  Pitch
and High Fidelity already know, Hornby's insight
into laddishness magically combines the serious
and the hilarious.  About a Boy continues his
singular examination of masculine wish-fulfilment
and fear. This  time, though, the author lets
women and children onto the playing field, forcing
his feckless  hero  to leap over an entirely
new--and entirely welcome--set of emotional
hurdles.
£ 0.10

Postage & PackagingCheck Site.
AvailabilityUsually dispatched within 2 working days...
Mad About the Boy - Mad About the Boy -
Audio CD, Bmg
£ 20.49

Postage & PackagingFree!
AvailabilityUsually dispatched within 24 hours...
Mad About The Boy - Mad About The Boy -
Release Date: 2005-03-08, Audio CD, Platinum
£ 4.99

Postage & Packaging£1.46
AvailabilityUsually dispatched within 24 hours...

Products you might be interested in
Layer Cake DVDLayer Cake DVD

Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Matthew Vaughn - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over

 23 reviews

Buy now for only £ 2.71

Cocktail DVDCocktail DVD

Production Year: 1988 - Drama - Director: Roger Donaldson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over

 6 reviews

Buy now for only £ 3.68

The Beach (Wide Screen)The Beach (Wide Screen)

Production Year: 2000 - Drama - Director: Danny Boyle - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over

 51 reviews

Buy now for only £ 2.50

C.S.I. - Crime Scene Investigation - Vegas - Series 1-5 (Box Set)C.S.I. - Crime Scene Investigation - Vegas - Series 1-5 (Box Set)

Drama - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over

 2 reviews

Buy now for only £ 79.95

A Common Thread (aka Brodeuses) (Subtitled)A Common Thread (aka Brodeuses) (Subtitled)

Drama - Director: Eleonore Faucher - Original Language: French - Classification: 12 years and over

This product has not yet been reviewed. Rate it now

Buy now for only £ 6.51

The Beast (Wide Screen)The Beast (Wide Screen)

Production Year: 1975 - Drama - Director: Walerian Borowczyk - Original Language: French - Classification: 18 years and over

 2 reviews

Buy now for only £ 9.53

Emma (Wide Screen)Emma (Wide Screen)

Production Year: 1996 - Drama - Director: Douglas McGrath - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal

 1 review

Buy now for only £ 3.96

The Hours DVDThe Hours DVD

Production Year: 2002 - Drama - Director: Stephen Daldry - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over

 10 reviews

Buy now for only £ 2.81

In Her Shoes DVDIn Her Shoes DVD

Production Year: 2005 - Drama - Director: Curtis Hanson - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over

 15 reviews

Buy now for only £ 1.86


Auctions and Classifieds for About A Boy (Wide Screen)

Trader Rating Product description Link
Show all offers
eBay.co.uk
617 Ratings
About A Boy (Wide Screen) at eBay.co.uk
Buy About A Boy (Wide Screen) at eBay, the world's largest personal online trading community.


1-5 of 55 reviews    
> Display all 55 About A Boy (Wide Screen) reviews
Badly drawn boys?
Review of About A Boy (Wide Screen) by Spiderkid

Advantages: Excellent script, Grant and Collette shine in a comic romance about... Boys. (Duh!)
Disadvantages: Some plot holes, undeveloped characters. I don't care what they say, Nicholas Hoult is awful.

...this intelligent, well paced story about the coming of age of a man and a boy, told with humour, care and not too much sentiment. From the title we know pretty much who this film is about.. or do we? You see it soon becomes clear that there are two contenders for the role of 'boy' in this film. ~~~~~~~~~~ Boy number 1 ~~~~~~~~~~ First, there's the central protagonist Will Freeman (Hugh Grant). Despite being 38, Will lives in something of a perpetual ...
...dates a single mother, who, about the time he's preparing his "I'm sorry but..." speech, does the unthinkable - and dumps him first, whilst appologizing profusely and assuring him that he really is a lovely guy. Guilt free - commitment free relationships with attractive single women? Has Will discovered an untapped goldmine of potential? Well, we're about to find out. His quest leads him to S.P.A.T (Single Parents Alone Together) a tangle of lies ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to ...
very helpful

25.08.2005
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND
Review of About A Boy (Wide Screen) by Ryan74

Advantages: Great cast, great dialogue,
Disadvantages: None that spring to mind

...mine has ranted and raved about how good ‘About a Boy’ is for quite some time, and up until recently I thought these were just the demented ravings of a crazywoman, believing that the movie was just another chick-flick starring that fop Hugh Grant, one that would frustrate and annoy me and leave me wanting to watch a manly movie like ‘Apocalypse Now’… or something… So I decided to relent to my friend’s nagging and put the movie in for a spin. Much ...
...the funniest, and best, things about the movie is the dual narration of the film by Will and Marcus. Will’s languid attitude results in some brilliantly funny observations, while Marcus’s innocence, naivety and downright eccentricity is also endearing and funny. The plot is realistic and believable. The characters are three-dimensional and likeable in their own quirky way and the ensemble cast give a magnificent performance. This is the best film ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to ...
very helpful

09.12.2004
(15.02.2005)
All about the boy
Review of About A Boy (Wide Screen) by pink_champagne

Advantages: great acting, plot
Disadvantages: might be a bit girly for some people?

...in it (there's just something about him!), and About a boy is no exception. Will (Hugh Grant) is a single guy living in London. His father wrote a hit record - a cheesy Christmas song called 'Santa's Super Sleigh'- many years ago, and Will lives off the royalties, never having done a days work in his life. Will's life revolves mainly around watching daytime TV and meeting women, much to the dismay of his married friends. When one of the aforementioned ...
...makes up a sob story about how his wife left him for his rich best friend, abandoning him and their son. The women fall for it hook, line and sinker, and are all over Will in no time. One woman in particular, Suzie (Victoria Smurfit), by far the prettiest of the group, catches Will's eye, and they arrange to take their kids to the park. Now Meet Marcus. Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) is twelve years old and is a quiet, inquisitive boy, who is bullied at ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to ...
very helpful

15.10.2006
Diamond review   About A Film About A Boy
Review of About A Boy (Wide Screen) by wampyrii

Advantages: .
Disadvantages: .

Before being blackmailed into seeing About A Boy, the thought of seeing Hugh Grant (who I haven't liked in a movie since Four Weddings) starring in a movie adaptation of a book by Nick Hornby(who bored me rigid the first and last time I attempted to read one of his works) with a plot which sounded like it might involve snotty nosed kids and lots of the horrible creatures was about as appealing as the prospect of a passionate menage a trois with Rosanne ...
...liked both movies...hehehe! Anyhoo... About A Boy is the latest adaptation of one of Nick Hornby's novels and as mentioned, damn entertaining it is too. Hugh Grant plays the lead character, a 39 year old man who has never worked a solid day's work in his life, living instead on the royalties from a sappy Christmas carol written by his dad many years ago. His days consist of units of time - watching TV = 3 units, taking a bath = 2 units, etc. making ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to ...
very helpful

09.06.2002
(24.07.2002)
About Our Lives
Review of About A Boy (Wide Screen) by sandrabarber

Advantages: Well acted, well scripted, great soundtrack
Disadvantages: None

...little apprehensive when I put About a Boy into the DVD player. I'm not the world's biggest Hugh Grant fan (though he did go up massively in my estimation in Bridget Jones), and the idea of a film about the relationship between a man and a boy seemed sentimental, rather nauseous, and brought to mind previous bad experiences courtesy of films like The Champ. But all of my friends had recommended it highly, as had many critics, so I tried to cultivate ...
...becomes apparent. It is indeed about a boy, but who of Marcus and Will actually is the boy? Along the way are lots of comic moments, lots of genuinely touching moments, and many day-to-day scenarios which will strike a chord with everyone. The performances in About a Boy are excellent throughout. Grant is superb as Will, and sexier than I would have imagined possible. As the shallow playboy, he made me want to be the woman who came along and changed ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to ...
very helpful

10.11.2002


About A Boy (Wide Screen)

Main specs

Actor(s): Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Raquel Welch, Isabel Brook, Victoria Smurfit, Isabel Brook, Victoria Smurfit, Rachel Weisz

Director(s): Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz

Genre: Drama - Comedy

Classification: 12 years and over

Production Year: 2002

Running Time: 1 hour 37 minutes

Video Category: Feature Film

Country Of Origin: United Kingdom

Plot: Will Freeman, a shallow thirty-something bachelor, lives a carefree life courtesy of his deceased father's fortune. Will is terrified of commitment and so decides that single mothers will make the easiest romantic targets... His world is turned around when he meets Marcus, a twelve year old boy. Marcus teaches Will that there is much more to life than loafing around in his London flat and worrying about the latest trends and fashions... Based on the best selling novel by Nick Hornby.

Release details

DVD Region: Region 2 (Europe)

Studio(s): VISION VIDEO LTD.; UNIVERSAL MUSIC OPERATIONS

Release date: 02/12/2002

No of Discs: 1

Catalogue No: 903 839 9

Barcode: 3259190383999

Screenwriter: Nick Hornby, Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, Peter Hedges

Music Performer: Badly Drawn Boy

Composer: Badl