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
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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...
About a Boy [2002]
The film version of Nick Hornby's novelAbout a Boytakes a deeper though no less
... more
entertaining approach than the easy laughs ofFever PitchandHigh Fidelity. The "coming together" of idle playboy Will (Hugh Grant) and put-upon loner Marcus (Nicholas Hoult)...
ABOUT A BOY
Music composed by Badly Drawn Boy aka Damon Gough.Producers: Tim Rothrock, Badly Drawn
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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
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
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
About a Boy
Will Lightman is a Peter Pan for the 1990s. At 36, the terminally hip North Londoner is
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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.
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 ...
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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 ...
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09.12.2004
(15.02.2005)
All about the boy Review ofAbout 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 ...
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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 ...
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09.06.2002
(24.07.2002)
About Our Lives Review ofAbout 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 ...
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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
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