Grant Maintained Cool (About a Boy (DVD))

Member Name: oldreekie

Product:	About a Boy (DVD)
Date:	25/04/02 (114 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I'll have to think about that one..., Maybe Hugh, And Rachel

Disadvantages: Nothing special

Hugh Grant, eh?

Not everybodys cup of tea is he. Most people I know seem to have a loathe/hate relationship with him. Me, I think he’s ok, I wouldn’t want to have his kids or anything but he’s tolerable and I quite liked his performance in “Bridget Jones’s Diary”, a change from his usual soppy drip.

And he continues his transformation from floppy hair bumbling git with his role in “About a Boy”, based on the book by Nick Hornby, and written and directed by the “American Pie” boys, Chris and Paul Weitz

Based on the standard Nick Hornby plot template, emotionally stunted man finds love, Hugh Grant plays Will Freeman, a guy who need not do a days work in his life so spends his day in his stunningly cool bachelor pad with all his wonderful boys toys, driving his Audi TT around the streets of London and working his way through meaningless relationship after meaningless relationship, and, get this, the movie presents all this as A BAD THING and all the time I was thinking, jammy sod!

Will’s predatory antics reach a new low when he thinks he has found the perfect short term low maintenance relationship…with single moms. So off he trots to the local single parent support group with his imaginary son and emotional problems in tow. And his plan seems to be working to perfection until a complication arises in the shape of Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) a strange boy with a depressive suicidal mom (Toni Collette).

Initially wary of each other, Will and Marcus realise that they can attempt to use the other for their own mutual advantage, however the fractured dynamic of their relationship eventually develops into a friendship neither expected.

Mills and Boon. That’s what I kept thinking. It a post-modern Mills & Boon story feeling like it was written by woman who is writing like a man writing in a way to appeal to woman. Well at least that’s how it c
ame across to me. Sure we have the superficial vener of the cool of Hugh Grant’s character but essentially it is a role reversal of the typical shallow female wish-fulfilment movie.

Not that I didn’t enjoy it, it was superficially entertaining. It passed the time pleasantly enough but it was utterly unmemorable, the popcorn in my teeth hung around longer than any thought of the movie.

And strangely enough the much vaunted Badly Drawn Boy soundtrack perfectly mirrored the movie in this way. Nice whilst it's on, memory of a goldfish once it has stopped.

As for the comedy, I didn’t find myself laughing once. I grinned a little and had a couple of bigger smiles but nothing that every threatened to become even a chuckle. I guess the reason I didn’t find it that funny is that a some part of the humour is based around Toni Collette’s character, a suicidal depressive. So if you find people suffering from the mental illness of depression very funny, you’ll be in for a laugh-fest, the rest of us might find it leaves a rather unpleasant taste in the mouth (no not the popcorn again).

And what about Hugh? Well he’s got rid of the floppy hair and pink shirt look and sports a rather natty crop and some very nice togs. And as for his actual performance, I thought it was rather good. Will is not a completely straightforward character and Hugh handles the moments of morally ambiguity with some flair. I did have a huge problem with the boy playing Marcus. He can’t act. Sorry, but his performance has one of those identi-kit stage school jobs. Flat, stunted, awkward. I’d guess he only got the gig because he looks so strange, which of course is very useful shorthand (read lazy) for the outsider nature of his character.

Ach well, at least I had Rachel Weisz to occasionally ogle at to pass the time.

The movie has a “12” certificate. Strong language but not much. Don&
#8217;t recall any sex or violence.

Summary: