Okay Liz you
can take the baby back now. Glad it's not mine
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The third Nick
Hornby novel to make it to the big screen and About A Boy
follows the high watermark achieved by Fever Pitch and High
Fidelity.
Nigel
Bell
At last Hugh
Grant shows us there's more to his acting abilities than upper class
bumbling would-be lovers.
In About
A Boy he's a bit of a cad, shallow but ultimately loveable.
And he's got
rid of that horrible floppy hairstyle for something far more trendy.
The Plot
Will (Grant) is 38. He doesn't hold to the adage that "no man
is an island."
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"Aren't
kids great?"
"Kids...oh yeah, sure...great"
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Will likes being
an island. In fact he believes himself to be the island of Ibiza,
such is his perfect single life of love 'em and leave 'em, CDs,
DVDs and Countdown.
He discovers
his success rate at attracting women is increased by claiming to
be a single parent with a young boy, Ned.
He attends SPAT
(Single Parents Alone Together) and meets an attractive single mum,
Susie (Smurfit).
It's through
her that he comes into contact with Marcus (Hoult), a 12-year-old
boy with a heapful of troubles, not least his depressive mum who
tries to commit suicide.
Marcus decides
Will is the answer to his problems and imposes himself on his life,
causing a reassessment for everyone concerned.
The Verdict
Considering this film comes from the hands of the men behind American
Pie, the style couldn't be more different.
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"Hey
Hugh, want to wear my hat?"
"Err, not really kid."
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About A Boy
has a certain American gloss but to all intents and purposes this
is a typically British film which neatly follows the traditions
of Four Weddings... and Notting Hill.
Unlike High
Fidelity which found itself transposed to the States, About
A Boy remains in London and for once it's a London which doesn't
rely on Big Ben and the London Eye to focus the attention.
Indeed the streets
could be just about anywhere making this a universal tale which
should do well abroad as well as at home.
For that, Hugh
Grant will be the star attraction and he delivers a top performance.
He's suitably
selfish without being obnoxiously so, but isn't so lily-livered
that he won't stand up for himself when needs be.
Support from
Hoult, Collette and Smurfit is great although Rachel Weisz doesn't
really impose herself on her role as the woman Will truly falls
for.
The humour is
continuous with some great one-liners: "She didn't have a DVD
or satellite so I had to end it," he says of one encounter
with a single mum.
On discovering
Marcus's mum has tried to kill herself and the subsequent rush to
get her treated, Grant's character says: "It was horrible...but
driving fast behind the ambulance was fantastic."
About A Boy
is great entertainment. Not too slushy but enough to maybe make
you re-evaluate your own life.
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