Rating: PG13
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Theatrical Release: 05/17/2002(USA)
Release Date: 01/14/2003
SubTitles: Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 102 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Adult Language, Watch With Your Teen
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios
London's most frequently eligible bachelor gets some lessons in growing up from a maladroit 12-year-old boy in this third big-screen adaptation of a
Nick Hornby novel, directed and co-written by siblings
Chris and
Paul Weitz of
American Pie fame.
About a Boy concerns the parallel coming-of-age stories of the thirtysomething
Will (
Hugh Grant), a layabout "serial nice guy" living a posh, carefree lifestyle off his deceased father's fortune; and the preteen
Marcus (
Nicholas Hoult), a bright but awkward youth who's tired of his mom
Fiona's (
Toni Collette) depressed, boyfriend-less state. Their paths collide when
Will, deciding that single mothers are the easiest romantic conquests on the dating scene, fabricates a two-year-old son and joins a group called S.P.A.T. (Single Parents Alone Together).
Marcus is wise to
Will's scheme, however, and through some incessant pestering and blackmail, he contrives for
Will to date
Fiona. Though
Will doesn't hit it off immediately with either
Marcus or his mother, he gradually begins to open up to the people around him -- so much so that he attracts the attention of another attractive single mom (
Rachel Weisz). A U.S./U.K. co-production of
Robert DeNiro's
Tribeca Films and
Tim Bevan and
Eric Fellner's
Working Title (the company responsible for the
Grant-related
Four Weddings and a Funeral and
Bridget Jones's Diary),
About a Boy was co-written by
What's Eating Gilbert Grape creator
Peter Hedges.
~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
