ABOUT A BOY
Reviewed by Sam Hatch
Hugh Grant portrays Will, a delightfully apathetic slacker who can think of nothing better to do with his life than spending an inheritance (royalties from a Chrimbo song entitled Santa's Super Sleigh) loafing around barbershops, clothing boutiques and his soulless bachelor pad, listening to U2 at deafening levels and taking pains to prove John Donne's quote “No Man Is An Island” a fallacy. The one thing he does actively pursue is female sexual companionship (for a short while at least), thereby solidifying his status as a hopelessly self-absorbed man-slut. He even goes so far as to openly admit to two friends (who are recent parents) that he'll probably wind up shagging and ditching their daughter once she reaches the age of eighteen.
His newest trim-seeking brainstorm finds him in the pseudo-Fight Club position of posing as a single dad at a local single parents' support group, believing that this will be the ultimate source of female action. Yet his plan backfires as he becomes begrudgingly entangled in the lives of Toni Collette's depressed single mother Fiona Brewer, and her woefully uncool son Marcus. Will reluctantly teaches Marcus the ways of gangsta rap and how to make friends of the grimy punks who once tormented him daily. In turn, Marcus instructs Will on the lost art of attempting to be a decent human being. Not to mention forcing him to swallow his pride long enough to dust off his guitar and perform a sloppy rendition of Killing Me Softly at a school talent show. Bitingly funny and touching in a way that's never cloying, Chris and Paul Weitz have crafted a wonderful adaptation of (High Fidelity penner) Nick Hornby's novel. You can almost forgive them for American Pie.