movie review about a boy

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Hugh Grant , who has a good line in charm, has never been more charming than in "About a Boy." Or perhaps that's not quite what he is. Charming in the Grant stylebook refers to something he does as a conscious act, and what is remarkable here is that Grant is--well, likable. Yes, the cad has developed a heart. There are times, toward the end of the film, where he speaks sincerely and we can actually believe him.

In "About a Boy," he plays Will, a 38-year-old bachelor who has never had a job, or a relationship that has lasted longer than two months. He is content with this lifestyle. "I was the star of the Will Show," he explains. "It was not an ensemble drama." His purpose in life is to date pretty girls. When they ask him what he does, he smiles that self-deprecating Hugh Grant smile and confesses that, well, he does--nothing. Not a single blessed thing. In 1958 his late father wrote a hit song titled "Santa's Super Sleigh," and he lives rather handsomely off the royalties. His London flat looks like a showroom for Toys for Big Boys.

Will is the creation of Nick Hornby , who wrote the original novel. This is the same Hornby who wrote High Fidelity, which was made into the wonderful John Cusack movie. Hornby depicts a certain kind of immature but latently sincere man who loves Women as a less demanding alternative to loving a woman. Will's error, or perhaps it is his salvation, is that he starts dating single mothers, thinking they will be less demanding and easier to dump than single girls.

The strategy is flawed: Single mothers invariably have children, and what Will discovers is that while he would make a lousy husband, he might make a wonderful father. Of course it takes a child to teach an adult how to be a parent, and that is how Marcus ( Nicholas Hoult ) comes into Will's life. Will is dating a single mom named Suzie, who he meets at a support group named Single Parents, Alone Together (SPAT). He shamelessly claims that his wife abandoned him and their 2-year-old son, "Ned." Suzie has a friend named Fiona ( Toni Collette ), whose son, Marcus, comes along one day to the park. We've already met Marcus, who is round-faced and sad-eyed and has the kind of bangs that get him teased in the school playground. His mother suffers from depression, and this has made Marcus mature and solemn beyond his years. When Fiona tries to overdose one day, Will finds himself involved in a trip to the emergency room and other events during which Marcus decides that Will belongs in his life whether Will realizes it or not.

The heart of the movie involves the relationship between Will and Marcus--who begins by shadowing Will, finds out there is no "Ned," and ends by coming over on a regular basis to watch TV. Will has had nothing but trouble with his fictional child, and now finds that a real child is an unwieldy addition to the bachelor life. Nor is Fiona a dating possibility. Marcus tried fixing them up, but they're obviously not intended for each another--not Will with his cool bachelor aura and Fiona with her Goodwill hippie look and her "health bread," which is so inedible that little Marcus barely has the strength to tear a bite from the loaf. (There is an unfortunate incident in the park when Marcus attempts to throw the loaf into a pond to feed the ducks, and kills one.) Will finds to his horror that authentic emotions are forming. He likes Marcus. He doesn't admit this for a long time, but he's a good enough bloke to buy Marcus a pair of trendy sneakers, and to advise Fiona that since Marcus is already mocked at school, it is a bad idea, by definition, for him to sing "Killing Me Softly" at a school assembly. Meanwhile, Will starts dating Rachel ( Rachel Weisz ), who turns out to be a much nicer woman than he deserves (she also has a son much nastier than she deserves).

This plot outline, as it stands, could supply the materials for a film of complacent stupidity--a formula sitcom with one of the Culkin offspring blinking cutely. It is much more than that; it's one of the year's most entertaining films, not only because Grant is so good but because young Nicholas Hoult has a kind of appeal that cannot be faked. He isn't a conventionally cute movie child, seems old beyond his years, can never be caught in an inauthentic moment, and helps us understand why Will likes him--he likes Marcus because Marcus is so clearly in need of being liked, and so deserving of it.

The movie has been directed by the Weitz brothers, Paul and Chris, who directed " American Pie "--which was better than its countless imitators--and now give us a comedy of confidence and grace. They deserve some of the credit for this flowering of Grant's star appeal. There is a scene where Grant does a double-take when he learns that he has been dumped (usually it is the other way around). The way he handles it--the way he handles the role in general--shows how hard it is to do light romantic comedy, and how easily it comes to him. We have all the action heroes and Method script-chewers we need right now, but the Cary Grant department is understaffed, and Hugh Grant shows here that he is more than a star, he is a resource.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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About a Boy (2002)

Rated PG-13 For Brief Strong Language and Some Thematic Elements

100 minutes

Hugh Grant as Will

Nicholas Hoult as Marcus

Rachel Weisz as Rachel

Toni Collette as Fiona

• Chris Weitz
• Peter Hedges

Based On The Book by

• Nick Hornby

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About a boy.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 5 Reviews
• Kids Say 18 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

By Nell Minow , based on child development research. How do we rate?

Edgy, sweet book-based dramedy has profanity, mature themes.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that About a Boy is a 2002 movie based on a novel by Nick Hornby in which Hugh Grant plays a self-centered playboy who starts to become a better person after meeting a misfit 14-year-old with a depressed and suicidal mother. There's some strong language (including two uses of "f-…

Why Age 14+?

"F--k." "F--king hell." "S--t." Kids say "s--

Suicide attempt by one character who swallows pills, is shown passed out on a co

Main character's father is shown as an alcoholic, but only in a brief flashb

Sexual references -- main character starts as a cad. Mild sex talk between teena

Will cares a lot about fancy products/brands. He purchases a pair of Sketchers s

Any Positive Content?

Main character starts out rather selfish, but ends up caring a great deal about

The shallowness of materialism is shown, as is the emptiness of short-term relat

"F--k." "F--king hell." "S--t." Kids say "s--t," "piss off," "crap" British slang like "bollocks." Molestation insinuations.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Suicide attempt by one character who swallows pills, is shown passed out on a couch. Marcus is harassed/bullied by boys at school-- they kick a soccer ball that hits him in the head, chase him down the street, throw candy at his head. Lead character hit in head with an apple.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Main character's father is shown as an alcoholic, but only in a brief flashback. Beer and wine drinking at holidays or at dinner. Cigarette smoking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Sexual references -- main character starts as a cad. Mild sex talk between teenagers.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Will cares a lot about fancy products/brands. He purchases a pair of Sketchers shoes for Marcus in the hopes of making him fit in with his classmates. Talk between a mom and son about going to McDonald's to eat a Big Mac.

Positive Role Models

Main character starts out rather selfish, but ends up caring a great deal about Marcus. He's also caught in a lie and comes clean, even though it hurts his chances with a love interest. Bullies at school pick on Marcus because he's different and Marcus handles it with maturity. Characters demonstrate humility and empathy.

Positive Messages

The shallowness of materialism is shown, as is the emptiness of short-term relationships centered exclusively on sexual gratification; traits like thoughtfulness and consideration are shown to be much more desirable and important. Marcus has the conviction to be a vegetarian, and is willing to sing a song in front of his entire school that he knows will isolate him even further and expose him to ridicule because he believes it will make his mother (who is suffering from depression) happy.

Parents need to know that About a Boy is a 2002 movie based on a novel by Nick Hornby in which Hugh Grant plays a self-centered playboy who starts to become a better person after meeting a misfit 14-year-old with a depressed and suicidal mother. There's some strong language (including two uses of "f--k"), including profanity used by teenagers. Some sexual references (Will is an unabashed love-'em-and-leave-'em guy). A parent is clinically depressed and attempts suicide, and her child feels responsible. Another child becomes hysterical about the prospect of his mother dating. Marcus' mother fears that Will has an improper interest in Marcus. There are some brief molestation insinuations. Characters drink and smoke. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (5)
• Kids say (18)

Based on 5 parent reviews

Sweet Family Movie

I thought the movie was funny, but much different than what is written in the book. i was expecting to see more of the book in the movie, but that was not the case. i did like the ending in the movie more than i liked the ending in the book., what's the story.

ABOUT A BOY, based on the book of the same name by Nick Hornby , is the story of a shallow man appropriately named Will Freeman ( Hugh Grant ) who wants to live life entirely self-contained with no reason to form attachments of any kind. Will's plan to avoid romantic emotional entanglements: single mothers. He decides it's the perfect relationship; they have low expectations and a sympathetic listener can get pretty far with them. So he pretends to be a single parent himself, makes up a 2-year-old son, and attends a support group in order to meet them. At a group picnic, Will meets a 14-year-old named Marcus ( Nicholas Hoult ). Marcus is isolated but does not want to be. His single mother is severely depressed and even the outcasts at school think he is too much of a dork to hang out with. Marcus just shows up at Will's home every afternoon to watch television and ultimately insists on becoming the closest thing to a friend that Will has ever known.

Is It Any Good?

The plot may sound like manipulative claptrap from a made-for-TV movie, but the theme has so much appeal that even a lousy script and poor production values can't completely destroy it. But when it's done well -- or even very, very well, as it is here -- it turns into a purely satisfying and enjoyable film.

We know from Bridget Jones's Diary and even Small Time Crooks that Hugh Grant relishes playing a cad. Freed from the obligation to be the perfect boyfriend of Notting Hill -type movies, he gives us a superb performance of great honesty and subtlety and flawless comedy timing. There is a lot in About a Boy for teens and parents to enjoy and discuss.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the roles of friendship and other relationships in About a Boy and in our lives. Why is it important to Will not to have any relationships? Why are the kids in school so mean to Marcus? How does Will's relationship with Marcus make him more interested in one with Rachel?

How are Will and Marcus alike, and how are they different? Is it right for Marcus to believe that it's his responsibility to make his mother feel better? What kind of grown-up will Marcus be? How does helping Marcus change Will's feelings about him?

Talk about the definition of "girlfriend" that Will and Marcus discuss -- and Marcus' idea about the importance of having back-up.

Talk about depression and its causes and treatments. What can you do if you or someone you know is depressed?

How does Will learn empathy and humility in About a Boy ? Why are these important character strengths ?

Movie Details

• In theaters : May 17, 2002
• On DVD or streaming : January 14, 2003
• Cast : Hugh Grant , Nicholas Hoult , Toni Collette
• Directors : Chris Weitz , Paul Weitz
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Universal Pictures
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Book Characters , Music and Sing-Along
• Character Strengths : Empathy , Humility
• Run time : 102 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : brief strong language and some thematic elements
• Last updated : April 25, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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About a Boy Reviews

A funny, insightful, sweet film

Full Review | Jan 8, 2024

The film has tremendous star power, added to this fact, it's a remarkably warm and witty film, filmed with unique creativity and visual gusto, and a catchy soundtrack.

Full Review | Jun 12, 2021

The splendid effectiveness of 'About a Boy' lies fully in the precise work of adaptation that the Weitz brothers make of the original text. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Sep 4, 2019

In print. Hornby's story was lapped up by women. On screen, it looks likes the worst kind of unconvincing, unfelt schmaltz, and faintly misogynist in the subordination of its female characters to the needs of its male star. Come back, Richard Curtis.

Full Review | Jan 29, 2018

While the movie has some awkwardly executed scenes and slow spots... this is a comedy with a heart... It's funny, it's smart, it's poignant - and it's set on Planet Earth.

Full Review | May 24, 2017

...a thoroughly average piece of work...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 17, 2015

Even people who don't usually like Hugh Grant will be charmed by him in the scrappy, slightly scandalous comedy About a Boy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 10, 2014

The directors Paul and Chris Weitz -- the American Pie brothers -- have tried hard not to make a tearjerker, and at its best the movie is knowing and tart.

Full Review | Feb 10, 2014

If the story gets dangerously thin, Grant is pretty well flawless. And Collette, always good, is heartbreakingly believable.

About a Boy is truly a love story, with dialogue and a story line that's both pop and universally timeless, which is gold for moviegoers.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 10, 2014

This is a pleasingly skewed Britcom that can be watched with mates or the other half. And, boy, is it funny.

Genuinely funny and moving, this is both an endearing examination of masculinity and a challenge to male isolationism.

Grant's puckishness has become overly packaged; what's new about him here is his spiky hairdo. This movie is built on an actor as well as a character who is too intent to be on his best behavior.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 10, 2014

Mainstream comedies should all be this funny and tender and deftly performed.

Grant, seeming to get better the further he's allowed to extend his range, delivers a terrific central performance, as acerbic but more complex than his sexy snake in Bridget Jones.

Hugh Grant hilariously redefines the word "playboy" in the first half of this film, then gets human, without losing his comic edge, under the influence of the title waif.

About a Boy is better than a feelgood movie, it's a feelgreat movie -- genuinely clever, affecting when you least expect it to be and funny from start to finish.

Compared to High Fidelity, the book and the movie, About A Boy seems resolutely uncool.... But part of growing up may be admitting that such familiar comforts can also be immensely satisfying.

About a Boy is an amusing film, full of bright lines and clever observation.

This charming coming of age comedy, a tale with heart and social message, offers Hugh Grant his best role to date.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Mar 18, 2013

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

About a Boy

Will, who attends single parent meetings to woo women, meets Marcus, a troubled 12-year-old boy. As they become friends, Will learns to be responsible while he helps Marcus with his studies. Will, who attends single parent meetings to woo women, meets Marcus, a troubled 12-year-old boy. As they become friends, Will learns to be responsible while he helps Marcus with his studies. Will, who attends single parent meetings to woo women, meets Marcus, a troubled 12-year-old boy. As they become friends, Will learns to be responsible while he helps Marcus with his studies.

• Chris Weitz
• Nick Hornby
• Peter Hedges
• Nicholas Hoult
• Toni Collette
• 455 User reviews
• 144 Critic reviews
• 75 Metascore
• 11 wins & 30 nominations total

Top cast 88

• Will Freeman

• Marcus Brewer

• Fiona Brewer

• (as Nat Gastiain Tena)
• Ellie's Friend

• (as Christopher Webster)
• Lee's Sidekick
• Maitre D'
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia The shot of Will reflected in the mirror when he is depressed was actually taken when Hugh Grant was taking a break. The directors noticed him doing this and from behind he looked depressed, so they shot it without him knowing.
• Goofs The box of the Sony Walkman CD player that Will gives to Marcus can be seen on the coffee table before Marcus has unwrapped it.

Christine : You will end up childless and alone.

Will : Well, fingers crossed, yeah.

• Alternate versions UK airings on ITV2 cut out all the profanity and swearing to make a clean film language-wise. When the film appeared on Film4 in pre-watershed airings a large chunk of the profanity was retained save for the stronger words and certain phrases.
• Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Best Films of 2002 (2003)
• Soundtracks Something To Talk About By Badly Drawn Boy (as Gough) Performed by Badly Drawn Boy Courtesy of XL Recordings Ltd.

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 41 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Eye For Film >> Movies >> About A Boy (2002) Film Review

About a boy.

Reviewed by: Angus Wolfe Murray

The rehabilitation of Hugh Grant is complete. The silly ass charmer of Four Weddings has been put to bed. It started with Bridget Jones's Diary , where he showed his nasty side. Now, as Will, a 38-year-old slacker, whose only interests are Countdown on TV and vulnerable women who might fall for his fake sympathy, he proves what a versatile actor he is. This is a performance to cherish.

Movies based on Nick Hornby novels ( Fever Pitch , High Fidelity ) like to use the narrative thought-process voice-over technique, which means you get to hear what the protagonist is thinking while he lays down a line of rhubarb to tempt female prey. Michael Caine was at it with Alfie in the Sixties, but things have changed since then. The cheeky chappie approach is too unsubtle for post-feminist single mums. Will invents Ned, an imaginary three-year-old, to ease his passage through the preliminaries.

The point about Will is that he is "unreliable and emotionally stunted", as well as terminally selfish and rich enough not to work. In fact, he's never worked. He spends his days wasting time, insisting how exhausting it is. He doesn't have friends, because friends need nurturing, and admits, "I really am this shallow." How he becomes involved with Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) is a bit of a mystery.

During the phony single dad phase, when Will is chasing an Irish mum, Marcus comes along for a picnic in the park, because his mother (Toni Collette) has had a bad day. She's a manic depressive vegetarian, prone to wearing silly hats and bursting into tears. Marcus is 12, bullied at school for being "weird", and unusually accepting of life's injustices.

It would be wrong to say that the film is Will and Marcus's story, as if they bond in a surrogate dad/replacement son kind of way. Marcus starts coming round to Will's to watch TV and hang out. Will is not ecstatic about this, but since Marcus has sussed that Ned's a make-up, he can't just boot him into the street. Their friendship grows, despite Will's antagonism to anything resembling commitment and Marcus's low opinion of adult togetherness.

Hornby is incapable of cliché and, although the movie is directed by the guys responsible for American Pie , what makes About A Boy so refreshing is the surprise factor - surprisingly funny, surprisingly unsentimental, surprisingly enjoyable. The actors avoid textbook sitcom comedy styles in favour of the real thing. No one is goofing for a laugh, least of all Grant, allowing humour to filter naturally through the writing. Hoult conveys the secret eccentricities and unconventional body language of an only child to perfection and Collette has created a monster in hand-knit woollens. Rachel Weisz appears later as the love interest, uttering gut-melting put-downs, such as "The first time I met you I thought you were a bit blank."

What's nice about Will is that he doesn't pretend. Except with girls. And they don't count.

Marcus is more mature.

Read more About A Boy reviews:

Director: Paul Weitz , Chris Weitz

Writer: Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, based on the novel by Nick Hornby

Starring: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, Sharon Small, Madison Cook, Jordan Cook, Nicholas Hutchison, Ryan Speechley, Joseph Speechley, Natalia Tena

Runtime: 101 minutes

Country: UK

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About A Boy

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ABOUT A BOY: Community for a Post-Pandemic World

Alien: romulus: not quite stellar, his three daughters trailer 1, popcorn frights 2024: lizzie lazarus, strange darling trailer 1, inside out 2: pixar is eating its own tail, greedy people trailer 1, sunny: apple’s promising kyoto-set dark comedy brings mixed feelings, slingshot trailer 1, moving: divorce separation blues, the conversation: coppola’s eavesdropping thriller still full of bravura at 50, young woman and the sea: expert swimmer in shallow-end biopic, the penguin trailer 1.

It’s always struck me as odd that Chris and Paul Weitz ’s 2002 comedy About a Boy isn’t more popular than it is. Based on a novel by Nick Hornby and boasting a stellar cast that includes Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, and a very young Nicholas Hoult , the film has tremendous star power. Added to this fact, it’s a remarkably warm and witty film, filmed with unique creativity and visual gusto, with a catchy soundtrack by Badly Drawn Boy .

Perhaps the movie’s slippery relationship to the genre is to blame for its under-the-radar status. In casting, marketing, and style, it feels like it should be a standard romantic comedy, which it never really strives to be. A platonic ideal of the romantic comedy generally brings a couple together at the end and About a Boy rejects this conclusion. As young Hoult ’s Marcus says at a particularly poignant moment, “Two people isn’t enough; you need a backup.” This conclusion makes the movie an oddity.

Yet this quirk makes About a Boy more relevant than ever. As we stumble toward the finish line of the COVID-19 pandemic, we look forward to social gatherings again. People are longing for community again. But as this opportunity approaches, it would do us good to consider exactly what we mean by “community.” Is it merely the ability to crowd into a bar with strangers and buy the products that bring us pleasure? Unfortunately, too many people are equating the loss of consumer activity with the loss of community, when in fact they are very different things. About a Boy steps right into this dilemma.

At the peak of his romantic comedy powers, Hugh Grant plays Will Freeman, whose hereditary wealth allows him a life of TV, sports, sex, fashion, cars, and gadgets, without the messiness of actual human relationships. This is a role Grant was born to play, as even in his most orthodox romantic comedy performances, he holds charm and devilishness in perfect balance. Will is most definitely a terrible person, but there is also something vulnerable and lovable about him and few actors could hold that kind of tension the way Grant does.

Island Living

The film opens with Will watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, a prophetic question given how Will’s inherited wealth has made him deeply unhappy. The question about who wrote the phrase “no man is an island” leads Will to a soliloquy about all men being islands which is good because we live in an “island age.” Coming out of a year of social distancing, it may be difficult for us to appreciate the allure of such a life, but in the early 2000s Will was attempting to define the necessary as good. His father’s brief success both damaged Will and gave him the freedom to live out his depression alone. The ironically named Will “Freeman” has convinced himself that his prison is liberty.

This theme of isolation is one way the film speaks to us today. We have lived through more than a year of forced isolation from one another. One area of life this has had a particular impact on is cinema. We’ve been deprived of one of the few communal activities the alienation of late capitalism has left us. Agree with Martin Scorsese or not, the movies have become increasingly blockbuster-oriented over the past two decades which, for better or worse, has brought masses of people together. When that space of communion abruptly disappeared just as the blockbuster season was about to commence, it was a jarring shock to our society.

At first, there was a detectable joy in the “island living” we were forced into, as many assumed the pandemic would last a few weeks and by mid-May, life would proceed as it long had. The well-established tropical paradises of Netflix and Disney+ would make it all a pleasant vacation.

But we crashed against wave after wave of infection rates and the normal patterns of our social lives were an increasingly distant memory. We understood, as Will does in About a Boy that island living can become a nightmare of alienation.

Consumption and Comfortable Numbness

At the heart of Will’s emotional problems is an unresolved conflict with his father’s legacy. Fleeting success followed by a lifetime of disappointment led to an existential crisis in Will’s father that he passed down along with his one-hit-wonder wealth. The perpetual, seasonal royalty money Will lives on gives him absolute freedom and the loneliness that comes with such liberty. A Christmas novelty song has made him independently wealthy, but it has also ruined Christmas for him (as consumerism has for many people) and, traditionally, he spends it drinking alone.

Will has come to see his isolation as a good thing, as it frees him from the messiness of human relationships. Other people’s problems are just those to him; he is unburdened by them and has convinced himself that this makes him happy.

The method by which he distracts himself takes the form of buying things. Will has cultivated exquisite taste in the latest consumer products and his flat is something out of an interior decorator’s catalog.

Given how the rest of Will’s existence has been reduced to commodity exchange, it is no surprise that he treats his fellow humans as objects to be bought for pleasure as well. Almost none of Will’s relationships are anything more than short-term adventures in sexual gratification. He uses women for his pleasure until he has been satisfied, then, as if they are cars or clothing, exchanges them for something new and temporarily exciting.

This pattern reaches its low point at the film’s beginning when Will gets the idea to prey on single mothers (whom he perceives to be desperate and easy prey) by inventing a divorce and child so he can join the support group S.P.A.T. (Single Parents Alone Together). It is at this moral low point that Will starts his road to redemption.

Singing With Your Eyes Closed

The events that follow Will’s infiltration of S.P.A.T. indeed lead him into human relationships, but not the sordid kind he had imagined. Instead, he unexpectedly finds himself invested in the life of young Marcus, the bullied teenage son of Fiona, following her attempted suicide. The speed of the events following his first S.P.A.T. meeting brings Will into other people’s lives in ways beyond his control and he finds himself changed right under his own nose.

Throughout the film, Marcus, like Will, also finds himself subtly changed. As his confidence grows (largely due to his relationship with Will) he is somewhat less of an outcast at school, having made friends at last. Unfortunately, Fiona has fallen back into depression and Marcus fears another suicide attempt may be lurking in the future. To brighten her mood, he decides to sing at the school talent show, performing “Killing Me Softly,” one of his mother’s favorite songs. This puts Marcus in the spotlight in a negative way. It is an act that will make him once again the object of ridicule among his schoolmates.

Will’s first intervention is to try and talk him out of it at the last second, advising him to look out for himself and his own happiness instead. Marcus refuses, putting his mother’s happiness over his own, and advances to the stage and is subjected to the jeers and taunts of his school.

It is, to me, an incredibly moving scene, and it offers profound wisdom as we emerge from the pandemic.

As I re-watched About a Boy during the pandemic, I was struck by the relevance of this misremembered film to our current dilemma. Island living had increasingly become normalized before the pandemic struck. In its wake, perhaps we can build better communities in which we embrace the discomfort and chaos of living life with other people. Despite its seductions, a life lived for the individual is no life at all. We all need backup.

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Danny Anderson teaches English at Mount Aloysius College in PA. He tries to help his students experience the world through art. In his own attempts to do this, he likes to write about movies and culture, and he produces and hosts the Sectarian Review Podcast so he can talk to more folks about such things. You can find him on Twitter at. @DannyPAnderson.

About A Boy Review

01 Jan 2002

102 minutes

About A Boy

Based on a hugely successful book by Nick Hornby, peppered with British acting talent and boasting the Midas touch of Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, it comes as something of a shock to note that what appears to be an archetypal Working Title production is directed by the New York siblings behind American Pie, and was developed by Robert De Niro's company, Tribeca.

Indeed, after the celluloid version of Hornby's High Fidelity made a smooth transatlantic transplant, it's a wonder that De Niro and co. didn't seriously consider relocating shallow man-boy Will from Hornby's native Finsbury to somewhere cooler like, well, Manhattan. The reason can be found in the actor Tribeca picked to play Will (before Working Title became attached) - Hugh Grant. In his native country, there exists a vocal minority who resist - or perhaps resent - the comedic charms of Hugh Grant. But Grant is as fine a light-comic actor as these shores have produced since another Grant (Cary) showcased his gossamer talents for RKO some 60 years ago. In those days of great studio product, Grant (Cary) was mostly spared criticism for endless takes on his patented patter - Grant (Hugh) has not been so lucky. If we happily admit that Grant's range is limited, the calibration he employs seems endlessly fine.

About A Boy's funniest scenes do allow him to once more riff on the embarrassed English, but he has carefully picked out a new melody line. The scruffy haircut and North London-ish accent are clues - this is not a well-intentioned fop, but a selfish, Seinfeldian character (George with hair, Jerry with better trainers), who lands in endless trouble entirely of his own making. And, once again, Grant showcases consummate skill with occasionally modest material. Watching him work an under-written punch-line around his face - eyes darting, nose twitching - is to watch a master craftsman employing - and enjoying - all the tools at his disposal. Simply put: when Grant is on screen, the movie is a joy. Sadly, at least nominally, this is a two-hander.

Nicholas Hoult is an okay child actor who enjoys a small share of the gags, but when his character wistfully wishes he was Haley Joel Osment (and had his money), you may be tempted to agree. Poor Hoult has a lot to carry - including part of the narration and most of the emotional range - and at times you can feel the strain. Effortless these episodes are not.

There are other problems, too. When Will's voice-over slices neatly into the dialogue - a sarcastic subconscious - you get a sense of Hornby's playful narration. Too often, however, the twin voice-overs are bland and unnecessary. And while Collette and Weisz provide solid support, the movie misses the raft of British eccentrics who made Notting Hill and Four Weddings such breakout hits.

Ultimately, however, the plusses outweigh the minuses. The restraint shown by the brothers Weitz might disappoint those who know them solely from home-baked goods, but they tell this simple story with admirable clarity, employing fluid camera strokes and imaginative framing. Better yet, Badly Drawn Boy's song-based score is a triumph, a musical meta-narrative, adding character without threatening cohesion.

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About a Boy (United Kingdom/United States, 2002)

Talk about an unenviable task... Universal Pictures has chosen About a Boy to be a sacrificial lamb, electing to open it on May 17, opposite Attack of the Clones . Maybe they're hoping that movie-goers disappointed by sell-outs at the latest Star Wars sequel will buy a ticket to this movie. Or maybe it's counter-programming, although the desire to see the Star Wars movies cuts across racial, class, gender, and generational boundaries. It's too bad that the distributor has matched About a Boy against such an undefeatable opponent - this movie is deserving of more exposure than it's likely to get. It may not be a "must-see" blockbuster, but it's better than a lot of what passes for summer entertainment.

The film's pedigree is impressive. The producers (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner) are the men who sat in a similar chair for Bridget Jones's Diary . The writer of the novel upon which About a Boy is based (Nick Hornby) is responsible for the source material for High Fidelity . And the directors came into prominence by doing unspeakable things to desserts in American Pie . Add to that the always-appealing Hugh Grant and the gorgeous Rachel Weisz, and is it possible to go wrong? If About a Boy is anything to go by, the answer is no.

Using a stock plot, About a Boy injects just enough freshness into the proceedings to provide an enjoyable 100 minutes in a movie theater. There's nothing terribly challenging or original about the production, but it boasts nicely rounded, amiable characters, a fairly consistent sense of self-deprecating wit, and the occasional belly laugh. We grow to care about the protagonists, which is critical in this sort of outing, and the Weitzes manage the difficult task of making the big climax satisfying while, at the same time, they avoid pushing it over the top to the point where it becomes overly sentimental claptrap.

Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) is the ultimate slacker. Living off the royalties of his one-hit-wonder father's Christmastime jingle "Santa's Supersleigh", Will is proud of never having had a job or, indeed, having done much of anything. He's not interested in a serious relationship - casual sex and one-night stands are his forté. Then, one day, he makes a mistake. On the prowl for easy female prey, he ventures into a single parents' group meeting. Soon, he is dating a woman who is babysitting for her friend's son, Marcus (Nicholas Hoult). This wouldn't mean much to Will, except that Marcus takes a liking to him and decides that Will might be the perfect match for his emotionally disturbed mother, Fiona (Toni Collette). Then the strangest thing happens - Will and Marcus strike up an unusual friendship. But complications ensue when Will falls for another single mother (Rachel Weisz) and wants Marcus to pretend to be his son.

Depending on your preference, About a Boy can fall into one of two categories. The most obvious one is the older man-meets-young boy-and-both-teach-each-other-life-lessons grouping. The film could also be seen as a coming-of-age story, since, at the beginning, Will is essentially stuck in a state of perpetual adolescence, and his interaction with Marcus gives him a perspective on life that he never previously had. Suddenly, his isolated, insular lifestyle seems shallow and superficial, and, even though it's "hard work to be wonderful all the time", it's worth the sacrifice.

I think the key to the movie's success is the slightly irreverent tone adopted by the directors. Approached from a different perspective, this could have been a painfully trite and overbearing motion picture. But the Weitzes know when to wink at the audience, and they employ internal monologues (for Will and Marcus) to provide biting commentary on what's going on. The movie is smart enough to avoid sit-com and movie-of-the-week situations. Hugh Grant is in rare form, toeing the line between his "aw shucks" good guy and the cad from Bridget Jones's Diary . In Will, Grant gives us a character whose obvious flaws are a primary reason for his appeal. Meanwhile, Nicholas Hoult shows legitimate screen presence, and he and Grant generate some chemistry. Toni Collette and Rachel Weisz provide capable support.

About a Boy is not a daring film, but it is immensely likable. Every once in a while, a movie comes along that, despite traversing familiar terrain, is made with enough all-around skill that it overcomes its clichéd origins. About a Boy is such a movie. In a summer when pyrotechnics, superheroes, sequels, and mindless action are sure to rule, this film gives us a feel-good human story to savor between bursts of testosterone and adrenaline.

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About a Boy (Movie): Hugh Grant

• About a Boy movie (2002) review summary: Bon vivant Hugh Grant learns that no man has the moral right to live his life as he pleases in Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz’s slick, trendy, and audience-pandering – i.e., proudly phony and reactionary – “family” comedy.
• About a Boy movie synopsis: A good-looking, well-to-do, and carefree thirty-something Londoner (Hugh Grant) discovers his inner family man after befriending a lonely boy stalker (Nicholas Hoult), whose mother ( Toni Collette ) is a disturbed granola eater.

About a Boy (movie 2002): Starring Hugh Grant, Chris and Paul Weitz’s comedy proves that some men and boys ought to remain ‘islands’

On the surface, screenwriters/directors Chris and Paul Weitz’s About a Boy , the 2002 movie adaptation of a 1998 novel by English author Nick Hornby, has an affecting premise.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

With the above statement – found in Devotions upon Emergent Occasions , a collection of meditations and prayers published in 1624 – English poet John Donne (1572–1631) reached beyond the apparent isolation of each individual by affirming the invisible oneness that encompasses all of humankind – and, why not, all living creatures.

Now, to expect such depth from a (largely) British flick that sets out to out-Hollywood Hollywood in slickness and trendiness would be insane. But even as glitzy movies go, About a Boy is an all-around failure – chiefly because its makers seem to think they have An Important Message to convey.

About a Boy plot: Meet bad boy Hugh Grant

“All men are islands,” says Hugh Grant’s rich, self-centered, thirty-something bachelor Will Freeman at the start of About a Boy .

In this age of home entertainment and cybersex, Will likes to float around on his own in the ocean of life. Being independently wealthy thanks to royalties from a rotten but popular jingle his father once wrote, Will doesn’t have a job or any other “serious” commitment. Thus, this Alfie Elkins wannabe spends his time watching TV, having his hair done, and shagging different women all over London.

Most damning of all, he actually enjoys doing all these things.

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Any type of intimacy beyond the physical level is unthinkable. That is, until a creepy 12-year-old named Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) shows up at his doorstep, desperately looking for a surrogate father so as to prevent his emotionally unbalanced mother, Fiona (Toni Collette), from doing away with herself.

Now meet creepy boy Nicholas Hoult

At first, Will doesn’t want Marcus around, but the boy is as persistent as he is weird. Eventually, Will puts his little stalker to good use by playing the role of the boy’s single-and-looking dad.

Slowly, the Island Man/Island Boy duo develop a tentative daddy-son connection. Out of sheer kindness, Will even instructs Marcus on how to be hip and cool. Here’s the deal: By losing his individuality – i.e., by looking and acting like just about every other kid his age – the pre-teen will finally be able to fit in at school and elsewhere.

The downside: A jealous Fiona feels that Will is stealing her offspring away from her.

A stage presentation at the boy’s school will show Will, Marcus, and Fiona that human beings need social ties, and that real families are composed of unselfish, monogamous, non-suicidal members.

Bastardized John Donne

And thus is John Donne’s complex, profound idea bastardized into a simplistic, moralistic tale. One can hear the selling pitch:

This is all about Family Values: Rich, good-looking, self-centered bachelor discovers his inner father while being pursued by a creepy fatherless kid. See, there’s lotsa character development. The selfish guy, who’s such a jerk he actually enjoys being single and having sex with different women, learns to be a monogamous surrogate dad, while the creepy kid learns to be less creepy by wearing cool sneakers and listening to rap music. There’s more: The kid’s suicidal, granola-addicted mom learns to enjoy life and we may even have her switch to an organic oatmeal brand at the end!

Surely an easy sell for a ( reported ) $30 million comedy that went on to gross (a reported) $130.5 million worldwide.

‘Family’ tale shallower than Hugh Grant’s character

Despite a couple of funny lines – “I really am this shallow,” Will matter-of-factly says at one point – About a Boy is as proudly mechanical as Will is proudly superficial.

In the derivative screenplay credited to the Weitz brothers and Peter Hedges – this type of Surrogate Dad story dates back all the way to at least Charles Chaplin ’s The Kid  – cutesy situations are followed by diabetes-inducing cutesier ones until all sense of reality goes kaput.

As to be expected, most of the acting feels as artificial as the plot. Hugh Grant’s Will is the on-screen Hugh Grant reprising the same character he has been playing for the past decade; this time, mercifully, with less of his stuttering shtick.

Dressed up like the Kids in the Hall’s Chicken Lady, the capable Toni Collette ( Muriel’s Wedding ) chews on considerably more than just granola grains as the disturbed mother.

Rachel Weisz is wasted as Will’s love interest, while Nicholas Hoult is a tad too creepy as Marcus. A little warmth, perhaps, would have turned his stalker antihero into someone one could actively root for. As it stands, viewers should be forgiven in case they worry less for the boy’s happiness than for Will’s life and limbs.

A couple of exceptions to John Donne’s rule

One could either get mad that About a Boy turns John Donne’s weighty meditation into mushy sentimentality or just go along with the silliness of it all. The problem with the latter option, however, is that About a Boy is not only silly but wrong-headed as well.

John Donne may have been a remarkable thinker, but he should have made a couple of exceptions to his No Man Is an Island rule.

Men who enjoy being single and having multiple sex partners and their frightening little boy stalkers ought indeed to remain islands.

About a Boy (movie 2002) cast & crew Directors: Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz. Screenplay: Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, and Peter Hedges. From Nick Hornby’s 1998 novel. Cast: Hugh Grant … Will Freeman Nicholas Hoult … Marcus Brewer Toni Collette … Fiona Brewer Rachel Weisz … Rachel Natalia Tena (as Nat Gastiain Tena) … Ellie Sharon Small … Christine Denise Stephenson … Lindsey Rosalind Knight … Lindsey’s Mum Victoria Smurfit … Suzie Cinematography: Remi Adefarasin. Film Editing: Nick Moore. Music: Badly Drawn Boy. Producers: Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro , Brad Epstein, Tim Bevan, and Eric Fellner. Production Design: Jim Clay. Costume Design: Joanna Johnston. Production Companies: Universal Pictures | Le Studio Canal | Working Title Films | Tribeca Productions | KALIMA Productions GmbH & Co. KG. Distributor: Universal Pictures. Running Time: 101 min. Country: United Kingdom | United States.

About a Boy Academy Awards

About a Boy received one Oscar nomination (2002):

• Best Adapted Screenplay (Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, and Peter Hedges).

Star producer

As can be seen further up, two-time Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro ( The Godfather: Part II , 1974; Raging Bull , 1980) is one of the five listed About a Boy producers.

About a Boy movie (2002) credits via the American Film Institute (AFI) Catalog website .

Nicholas Hoult and Hugh Grant About a Boy movie (2002) images: Universal Pictures.

“ About a Boy (Movie): Hugh Grant” last updated in May 2024.

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About a Boy

Short takes

Not suitable under 14; parental guidance to 15 (language, sex, themes)

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for About a Boy
• a review of About a Boy completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 6 August 2002 .

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Will Freeman is living his life ‘as an island’. He has no responsibilities or ties and his only motivation in life is to find women to sleep with on a strictly casual basis. His income is derived from the royalties of a one hit wonder song his father wrote about 40 years ago. In order to meet single mothers, whom he sees as a good potential source for sex, he joins a single parents’ support group inventing a two year old son. There he meets Christine who introduces Will to her friend Fiona and son Marcus.

Marcus turns Will’s life around by showing him how vain and empty his life really is. Marcus befriends Will against Will’s wishes by visiting him daily after school. Marcus sees Will as the father figure he longs for and hopes will go out with his mother. Fiona is a music therapist/hippy who suffers from depression. One day after Will goes on an outing to a park with Christine, her son and Marcus (where Marcus accidentally kills a duck) they return to Marcus’s flat to find Fiona, slumped on the sofa having attempted suicide. She survives but this leaves a lasting impression on Marcus who only wants his Mum to be happy.

Marcus is also bullied at school because he is a little different and Will helps him to ‘blend in’ more with the others by buying him a cool pair of trainers. Will comes to realise that Marcus is the only person he has ever really cared about and this changes him from being a totally self absorbed, vain person to a more likeable, humane one and the boy helps the man grow up.

Themes info

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Use of violence info

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

Marcus accidentally kills a duck.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under five info.

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

Attempted suicide of mother. Marcus arrives home to find his mother slumped on the sofa with vomit all over her.

Aged five to eight info

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Children in this age group may also be disturbed by the above-mentioned scene.

Aged eight to thirteen info

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Thirteen and over info

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Product placement

None noted.

Sexual references

There are quite a lot of sexual references in this film as Will is always trying to get females into bed although they are mainly verbal references not visual. Will talks about single mothers as being available for passionate sex. Marcus also likes a girl in the film and Will talks to him about sex although not in much detail.

Nudity and sexual activity

Use of substances.

Character drink and smoke.

Coarse language

There is frequent low level course language as well a couple of uses of the word fuck. Other words used frequently include bloody, Jesus Christ, God, shit, sod, sodding, crap, bugger, piss, bastard, asshole and shag. In addition Will makes crude comments such as he’d “rather eat a dirty nappy” and might as well “cut my own penis off”.

In a nutshell

The main theme of this film is that “no man is an island” and that people really do need other people to make their life worthwhile.

Values that parents may wish to encourage include:

• the importance of friendship
• endurance through adversity
• responsibility and the consequences of a lack of responsibility
• the ability to be different
• resilience.

This film portrays many values that are harmful and hurt others, showing them to be ‘bad’ such as:

• selfishness
• lack of empathy with others
• use of women for casual sex
• having to conform to be accepted.

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Movie and Film Reviews (MFR)

About a Boy (2002)

This is a comedy that combines the funny side and the sad side of life through two young men. With 2002’s “About a Boy”, based off the book by Nick Hornby, directed by Paul & Chris Weitz, and starring Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult as the two main leads, is a charming film that takes a look at life from two very different perspectives. A 30-year-old man and a 12-year-old boy who share each other’s thoughts on what it means to be alone in the world. “About a Boy” is a nice comedic look at life, while not totally satirizing it, and offers some great performances from the two main leads.

The plot centers on Will Lightman (Grant), a single man who does nothing to better profit himself. He tries to find the perfect woman of his life, but he always screws it up in the end. Enter Marcus (Hoult) and his mother (Toni Collette), who Will sees as some annoying people. But to Marcus, Will is the perfect role model to talk to. Together, both Will and Marcus discuss what it means to be alone and how friendship doesn’t matter how old you are.

“About a Boy” is a nice comedy that really shines through. The cast is great and I especially loved the performances by Grant and Hoult. They really captured the certain characters that they portrayed on screen. But what I really like about the acting is the relationship between Will and Marcus. Throughout the movie, Will acts like a little kid and Marcus acts like an adult. Something you don’t see very often.

The direction from Chris % Paul Weitz is good as show that they have tackled comedy before. Mainly with 1999’s “American Pie”. The editing is great, especially at the beginning of the film. The cinematography is good as well, as it details the different contrasts of where our main characters live. The music by Badly Drawn Boy is a nice change of pace from a fully orchestrated soundtrack, even though at times it does seem out of place. But where the film really shines is with the writing.

The screenplay by Peter Hedges and Chris & Paul Weitz adapt Nick Hornby’s book and turn it into something that everyone can relate to. There are some very clever and funny moments. Most of which includes Marcus. But what makes the writing stand out is the fact that the film limits itself in-between drama and comedy giving a nice balance. We have comedy, but at the same time we tension, and that works perfectly.

If I were to criticize any negative comments about the movie, then it would have to be that the pacing is a bit slow at times, and that the ending is somewhat predictable.

On the whole, “About a Boy” is an admirable film with perfect leads and a well-structured story. It shows different aspects of life in both a funny and dramatic way that can be easily understandable for anyone to follow. I recommend this movie for those who want to look ahead at the future and reflect their past lives to the present.

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Dying Light: The Beast is a revenge story for Kyle Crane: 'basically like the movie Old Boy's premise, but with zombies'

Dying Light franchise director Tymon Smektala tells PC Gamer that Techland's new game is like a "double espresso, because it's short, but super powerful."

Techland announced the next game in the Dying Light series today at Gamescom's Opening Night Live. It's called Dying Light: The Beast, and it takes place about a decade after the original game and before the events of Dying Light 2.

It also brings back Kyle Crane, the main character of the original Dying Light—though he didn't live happily ever after. Speaking to PC Gamer, Dying Light franchise director Tymon Smektala laid out the story that starts with Crane, after being held captive and experimented on for over a decade, escaping and seeking revenge.

"Half-jokingly, you could say that this is basically like the movie Old Boy's premise, but with zombies," Smektala said.

You may remember some buzz back in 2022 around Techland saying Dying Light 2 would take 500 hours to fully complete , and the natural skepticism that came along with that claim. According to Smektala, The Beast doesn't have those kinds of aspirations. 

"It's going to be basically a fully fledged open world adventure in the world of Dying Light, very similar to Dying Light 1 or Dying Light 2, though slightly more compact," Smektala said. "My favorite joke about it is that it is like a double espresso, because it's short, but super powerful, and full of everything that Dying Light does best." Smektala said he expects the main story to take around 10 hours to complete, adding that "it all depends on your gameplay style. There's lots of additional content [and an] environment that's very unique, full of secrets."

As for Crane's beast powers, Smektala didn't want to reveal too much at this stage. Crane will have a new skill tree that will "make Kyle more than just a human," allowing him to "traverse more effectively, jump higher, run faster," is all he was willing to say.

Dying Light: The Beast was originally intended to be DLC for Dying Light 2: Stay Human , but after two years of development Techland decided it was big enough to be its own standalone game. It will be free to owners of Dying Light 2: Stay Human Ultimate Edition.

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The new game also won't mean the end of support for Dying Light 2. "We have promised that Dying Light 2 will be supported for five years, and we are sticking to this promise," Smektala said. "We still have some updates planned for this year." 

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

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