The Dead Duck Day (About a Boy (DVD))

Member Name: MykReeve

Product:	About a Boy (DVD)
Date:	29/03/02 (1107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny, Sharp script, Good performances (apart from Weisz really)

Disadvantages: Hugh Grant (but you really won't hate him in this as much as you expect to. Trust me.), It's a romantic comedy - expect little and you shall be rewarded

It's odd, much of the time, I'm dismissive of romantic comedies. Given the choice, I probably wouldn't pay money to see one. However, on those occasions when I do watch a film from the genre, I generally enjoy them. I think it's a frame of mind thing, if I've paid money for celluloid thrills, I expect more than a few implausible situations and overindulgent discussion of relationship angst.

However, having said that, I did really enjoy 'About A Boy'. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a great deal more than your standard romantic comedy, but it did surprise me in a number of ways. Not least of which was the fact that here I watched a film with Hugh Grant in it, from beginning to end, without once cringing. The comedy is as sharp as you'd hope for, and the acting is invariably very good.

Of course, we wouldn't expect anything less from a book adapted from one of Nick Hornby's novels, by Paul and Chris Weitz, the directors of 'American Pie'.

THE PLOT

Will (Hugh Grant) is a thirty-eight-year old Londoner - he's rich and single, and plans to stay that way. When his best friends set him up with a single mother, he discovers a whole untapped source of dates, and joins a single parent help group. Inventing a son for himself, named Ned, he begins to seduce another member of the group, Susie (Victoria Smurfit).

Going on a picnic with the single parent group, he meets 12-year-old Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), the son of one of Susie's friends, who has asked her to look after him for the day. When Susie and Will take Marcus home in the evening, they discover that his mother, Fiona (Toni Collette) has attempted suicide.

Over the course of the film, Marcus and Will strike up an unusual friendship - Marcus teaching Will how to be more responsible, and Will teaching Marcus how to fit in.

THE FILM

Well, to judge from the plot description I've given abov
e, it's difficult to actually see where the comedy's going to come from. I mean, within two paragraphs of plot summary, the viewer's presented with an attempted suicide. However, it's worth mentioning that the suicide attempt is probably the only really dark scene in the film, which is largely driven by Grant's character, Will Freeman.

Fundamentally, the majority of the comedy comes from Will's lack of social graces, and Grant's skilful portrayal of the character. Will's naïvete and attitude stem from the fact that he has never had to work - his father having written a successful Christmas song, the royalties from which are sufficient to fund his lifestyle. This means that Will is fundamentally selfish and inconsiderate - even more so than one might expect a single guy in his thirties to be.

Throughout much of the film, Will's internal monologue is provided as a voice-over, providing his reaction to the events going on around him - which was often alarmingly similar to my own thoughts, were I in his place. Will's reaction to learning that the woman his best friends have set him up, at the beginning of the film, is a single mother, is absolutely priceless, for example... and his clumsy attempts to disguise his reaction only add to the amusement - "I would have been disappointed if you hadn't had a son."

The film also boasts an incredible plethora of witty one-liners, and as is always the case, when prompted to quote one, I instantly forget almost all of them. Ah, here's one: When Will's best friends ask him to be godfather to their newborn daughter, he points out that it wouldn't be a good idea - when she reaches her 18th birthday, he'll only take her out and "try and get her drunk so that [he] can shag her". Similarly, there are some entertaining moments when Will witnesses Marcus's singing for the first time - "don't close your eyes!"
r>This is very much a zeitgeist film, much like 'Bridget Jones's Diary'. Will settles down in front of 'Pet Rescue', 'Countdown' and 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?', he listens to his vertical-loading Bang & Olufsen CD player, and fights with sophisticated coffee making appliances in his kitchen. When Will goes out with the single mother at the beginning of the film, we see him at her place watching television, and the monologue kicks in telling us that because he has to stay at her place, and she doesn't have a DVD player or cable, they "always end up watching late-night BBC1 real-life dramas about a child dying of leukaemia."

In this regard, the film does a good job of illustrating contemporary social mores, and the difficulties of modern relationships. Single guys, particularly single guys in their mid-to-late thirties, will identify with Will, much as they did with Rob in 'High Fidelity', even if they can't relate to his peculiar financial situation of never having to work.

The story is very good. There are no fundamental surprises in it, but the characters are well observed, and the pacing is good throughout. The comedy is very well observed, as fans of Hornby's work expect. Unlike 'High Fidelity', 'About A Boy' has been left in its original setting of North London, around Kentish Town and Clerkenwell, which serves it well.

In terms of the performances, I will say that I felt an initial twinge of "This isn't a role for Hugh Grant", in fact, an audience would be tempted to conclude that this has John Cusack written all over it, particularly after his excellent performance in 'High Fidelity'. Nonetheless, it wasn't long into the film that I began to warm to Grant's performance. I'll tell you now, I'm not a fan of Hugh Grant, but his performance here really surprised me. To an extent, there's the same degree of awk
wardness as he is well known for injecting into his roles in 'Four Weddings' and 'Sense and Sensibility', but it's here combined with a barely disguised hint of arrogance and superiority, and he carries it off believably.

Nicholas Hoult is also superb as young Marcus. He manages to mix the right degree of childhood innocence with world-weariness, as he copes with the many problems life throws at him - from bullying, to a suicidal mother. The only thing that slightly unnerved me about him were his peculiar eyebrows.

Toni Collette, probably best known for her role as the mother in 'The Sixth Sense', puts in a strong performance as Marcus's mother. Her confrontations with Will are well observed and handled, and it is testament to her performance that her stereotyped "hippie" character remains believable.

Rachel Weisz also appears in the film, as Rachel, a single mother that Will falls for against all the odds. Her part is much smaller than those of the above three, and I can't say that she was overwhelmingly convincing in it, but her weaker performance is, to an extent, ignorable due to the strengths of the other cast members.

CONCLUSIONS

All in all, 'About A Boy' was far more entertaining than I had anticipated. The film is peppered with many "laugh out loud" moments, and much more entertaining than the combination of "romantic comedy" and "Hugh Grant leads" has any right to be. The performances are, for the most part, outstandingly good, and Grant's delivery of Will's internal monologues are superb.

Overall, however, there are no surprises here, and the ultimate conclusion is precisely what the viewer would expect. Whether or not that is a reason to penalise the film is, to a certain extent, dependent on how much you expect of it. So, no, don't expect to be surprised, just go expecting to laugh a lot and you'll have
a good time.