About a Boy (film)
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| About a Boy | |
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 About a Boy movie poster |
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| Directed by | Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz |
| Produced by | Lynn Harris |
| Written by | Nick Hornby (novel), Peter Hedges (screenplay) |
| Starring | Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, Sharon Small |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 17, 2002 |
| Running time | 105 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40,500,000 USD |
| IMDb profile | |
About a Boy is a 2002 film directed by brothers Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, based on the book of the same name by Nick Hornby. The film stars Nicholas Hoult as Marcus, Hugh Grant as Will, Toni Collette as Fiona and Rachel Weisz as Rachel. An interesting aspect of the movie is the use of double voice-over narration, where, at crucial moments in the plot, the audience can follow Will's as well as Marcus's thoughts.
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[edit] Plot
Will Freeman (Hugh Grant), a happily unemployed man in his late thirties, lives in London. Years ago his father had written a popular Christmas song that earns him enough royalties for a prosperous living. He compares himself to the party island Ibiza, because he believes he is enjoying his life at its fullest and that, contrary to John Donne's thoughts (which he misattributes to Jon Bon Jovi), some men are islands. He keeps himself occupied by shopping, playing snooker alone, and having his hair "carefully disheveled." He dates often, but has never had a relationship last longer than two months. Will acts rather childishly and refuses to take responsibility or care for anybody apart from himself and while shallow, it's a fact he's happy to live with even though his friends (who have all noticed) have all gone on to raising families and building careers.
Pretending he has a son, Will joins a single parents' group called "SPAT" (Single Parents Alone Together) in order to meet single mothers. There he comes across Suzy, a single mum, whom he manages to invite on a date. On the date she is accompanied by Marcus, the son of her friend and single mum Fiona, who is an eccentric, vegetarian hippy. Twelve year old Marcus is an outsider, the kid who dresses weirdly and has no friends. On that day, Will and Marcus go to the park and Marcus accidentally kills a duck (by throwing an entire loaf of bread at it). When a park keeper takes notice, Will covers for Marcus and they get out of the situation unscathed. They return to his house, to discover that his mother has tried to kill herself. The three rush her to the hospital and she recovers.
Marcus feels that it would cheer up his depressive mother if she had a boyfriend, so he cons Will into taking the two of them out for a meal. The two do not hit it off, but Marcus begins coming over to Will's flat, who always turns him away. Marcus, after following Will about the area for a day or two, discovers that Will had lied and does not have a son called Ned. Using this against Will, he blackmails him into visiting him every day after school where they watch television. This gradually becomes a routine and in turn, the two begin to bond with one another. Gradually, Will and Marcus become friends, and Will endeavors to help the perennially teased Marcus to blend into crowd. Needless to say, spending time with each other starts to change both of them, Will in particular. Marcus is the first person Will can care for. It's a new experience for him.
Later on, Will and Marcus drift apart. The boy becomes friends with a rough girl at school named Ellie and Will finds a new girlfriend, Rachel. Again, he pretends to have a son, this time he claims it is Marcus. Will tries to persuade the boy to feign this role, and after initially hesitating, Marcus agrees to help him. Will arranges a 'playdate' with Marcus and Rachel's son Ali (Alistair) in order to spend more time with Rachel. Marcus and Ali do not hit it off initially, Alistair clearly angry that the introduction of Will into his mother's life would result in him not being the only man in her life. Despite this, Will and Rachel's relationship grows stronger.
Eventually Will decides to tell Rachel the truth over a meal in a restaurant, namely that Marcus is not his son. Rachel is deeply affronted by the lie and Will, ashamed of himself, removes himself from the restaurant. For several days, Will secludes himself in his house, distraught at the loss of the woman he had strong feelings for and unable to carry on with his normal routine.
Fiona suffers from depression again, so her son tries to get help from Will. Since this is a serious problem and Will was still in a period of anguish following the breakdown of the relationship with Rachel, Will irritated, refuses to help and this culminates into an embittered argument between the two. Marcus storms off for what might be good and Will only secludes himself more in his apartment, before soon realizing how much he needs Marcus' friendship to keep him afloat. As a result, Will finally breaks down and listens to the song that has provided him with his comfortable life, and to put closure on the distance between he and his late father's lingering memory. Marcus remembers that his mother always enjoyed hearing her son sing, so in a desperate attempt to cheer her up and distract her from suicidal thoughts, he enters himself in an upcoming school talent show, to perform a solo of one of her favorite tunes, Killing Me Softly With His Song.
As soon as Will finds out Marcus intends to perform this particular piece, he rushes to stop him, knowing that Marcus would embarrass himself in front of the hostile audience and mercilessly picked on by his schoolmates just as he was beginning to fit in. Will arrives just in time, but Marcus goes on stage anyway and begins to sing a cappella a song clearly meant to be performed by a woman. As the crowd begins to jeer him, Will joins him on stage with a guitar in an obvious attempt to divert the crowd's attention away from Marcus and towards him. The two win over the audience in what eventuates to be a comedic performance. Rachel is overwhelmed by the level of devotion Will has towards Marcus by embarrassing himself in order to spare Marcus and the two reconcile.
The movie ends with a jump to the following Christmas, showing Will and Marcus' "extended" family made up of both Will, Marcus, Fiona, Rachel and her son, Marcus' friend Ellie, and a former co-worker of Will's (from his one day spent working the phones for Amnesty International) whom he presumably plans to fix up with Fiona.
[edit] Differences from the novel
On the whole, the screenplay closely follows Nick Hornby's novel of the same name, but omits the scenes involving drugs. The novel's Royston episode is replaced by a scene depicting a school concert during which Marcus, to prevent his mother from trying to kill herself again, gives an unsuccessful solo performance of "Killing Me Softly" but is eventually joined by a guitar-playing Will. References to Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, and grunge music were replaced by rap music (Mystikal, particularly).
[edit] Box office
- Opening weekend U.S. gross: $8,557,630
- Total U.S. box office gross: $41,385,278
- Total UK box office gross: £16,387,798
- Total non-USA box office gross: $84,600,000
[edit] Reception
The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes lists 143 favourable reviews of the film out of 151 amounting to a 94% approval rating [1]. The screenplay was nominated for a BAFTA and an Academy Award.
[edit] Movie soundtrack
The movie soundtrack, also titled About A Boy was released in 2002. Unusually, the entire soundtrack was composed by one singer/songwriter, Badly Drawn Boy.
[edit] External links
