About a Boy (Widescreen Edition) | 
| Directors: Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz
Actors: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Sharon Small, Madison Cook, Jordan Cook
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.99
Buy Used: $0.70
You Save: $9.29 (93%)
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Rating:  265 reviews
Sales Rank: 12094
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.5
MPN: MCAD21979D
ISBN: 0783268645
UPC: 025192197925
EAN: 9780783268644
ASIN: B00005JL7Q
Theatrical Release Date: 2002
Release Date: January 14, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
WILL LIGHTMAN IS A GOOD-LOOKING, SMOOTH-TALKING BACHELOR WHOSE PRIMARY GOAL IN LIFE IS AVOIDING ANY KIND OF RESPONSIBILITY. BUT WHEN HE INVENTS AN IMAGINARY SON IN ORDER TO MEET ATTRACTIVE SINGLE MOMS, WILL GETS A HILARIOUS LESSON ABOUT LIFE FROM A BRIGHT BUT HOPELESSLY GEEKY 12-YEAR-OLD NAMED MARCUS.
Amazon.com
A box-office smash in England, About a Boy went on to charm the world as another fine adaptation (following High Fidelity) of a popular Nick Hornby novel. While High Fidelity transplanted its London charm to Chicago, this irresistible comedy was directed by Americans Chris and Paul Weitz (American Pie) with its British pedigree intact. Better yet, Hugh Grant is perfectly cast as Will, a self-absorbed trust-fund slacker who tries to improve his romantic odds by preying on desperate single mothers. His cynical strategy backfires when he recruits the misfit son (Nicholas Hoult) of a suicidal mother (Toni Collette) to pose as his own son, thus proving his parental prowess to his latest single-mom target (Rachel Weisz). The kid has a warming effect on this ultimate cad, and what could have been a sappy tearjerker turns into a subtle, frequently hilarious portrait of familial quirks and elevated self-esteem. From start to finish, it's a genuine treat. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 260 more reviews...
 Not bad. More of a chick flick... April 16, 2009
_LARS_ (USA)
All around not a bad movie, but it's not a great movie either. One I probably won't remember anything about a year from now.
 3 stars out of 4 March 26, 2009
One-Line Film Reviews (Ann Arbor)
The Bottom Line:
A capable adaptation of Hornby's novel and a very enjoyable movie, About a Boy makes the most of Hugh Grant's considerable charm and the novel's low-key humor--it should entertain you all the way through.
 The Lonely Island Boy March 9, 2009
M. B Cole (Las Vegas, NV)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Will (Hugh Grant) is a single man always on the hunt for the next girl. His longest relationship he's really ever been in is 2 months. And that's ok for him. It's exactly how he wants it. Because to him, every man is an Island. One day, one of his dates tells him she has a 3 year old kid, and of course Will is horrified with this, but he goes on with it anyways. Will then finds out she's really into sex, so then Will decides to start dating single moms. But he has no clue how to find them until one day he comes across a flyer for single parents get together. So he decides to make up a child and then go to this meeting. He of course meets a lady there and they go on a date in the park, but Will's `son is visiting his mom right now' so he couldn't bring him along. But she brings her kid and also her friend's kid, Marcus (Nicholas Hoult).
Marcus is the total opposite of Will. He's a little nerdy and weird. Can't dress `popular' and really just doesn't fit in. Even the nerds at school don't want to hang with him. And honestly, Marcus really doesn't care, because he is who he is. Marcus's mother is a nut job, but she does love him, even though she really doesn't know him like she thinks she does. So after the date, Will and his date, take Marcus home to find an upsetting event that effect Marcus pretty deeply. The only way to cope with what's happened is to talk to Will, because Marcus thinks they are friends now because Will said `See ya later', which Marcus take to heart.
Together, they both begin to learn from one another. This part is pretty is pretty cliche, but it really works because the two are both really likeable. I laughed quite a lot through the whole movie. Hugh Grant is just hilarious and the character of Marcus is just so innocent and loving that you can't help but either say `awww' or kinda laugh at the things that happen to him. He just ignores it mostly and never fights back. I don't know... writing it down just seems kind of upsetting, but you just have to see it I guess. Because kids are really just cruel as most of us know. The dialogue in the movie is great also. I love how Hugh Grant is just straight forward, which is kind of how I am like. He just tells it like it is, because honestly, how will someone really know and understand if you beat around the bush. The scene where he's arguing with Marcus's mom in the restaurant felt, to me, so good because I was thinking exactly the same thing. And another great thing about this moment is the narration from Will and Marcus. It was done really well and was sometimes very funny or very insightful. That was a great touch to me.
In the end, I would say own this movie. I've seen it a lot and I still laugh a lot at it. It is a really funny and nice movie. Definitely one of those `feel good' movies.
P.S. - God I love accents. Them European accents are so captivating to me. Rachel Weisz plays a sort of small part in this movie, and oh is she so yummy.
Just OK, pretty overrated January 1, 2009
Silence (Seattle)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoy watching Hugh Grant in films. He's made romantic comedies worth a man's time, playing the perfectly hilarious, irreverent counterpart to some insanely hot mamas (Rachel Weisz, in this instance). But this material is hardly shocking or revolutionary, or even new. This is actually a bit more daft and conventional than any other of Hugh's films--Notting Hill and Love Actually are definitely more complex and satisfying, although many parts of About a Boy are plenty funny. But let's face it, this notion that being a parent or otherwise hanging out with unstable strangers is where it's at is just dead wrong, and we all know it. To have a child in the modern age is the apex of selfishness, and I really don't know more bewildered, desperate, and troubled persons than your average modern parent, whether married or not. That's because we are all off the farm now and have to work for wages like slaves. Our children too, before they're even out of school, if they don't otherwise succumb to drugs, violence, or suicide. Almost everybody lives from paycheck to paycheck in various states of fear, while the rich almost universally choose to have very few or no children, and for good reason: it's a major source of unhappiness. Not that kids are necessarily bad, mind you, just that at some point people face the existential understanding that little to nothing in life will provide lasting satisfaction or happiness anyway. Maybe their spouse or partner, but probably not their job or their kids. Religion, technology, the arts, food, or outright denial provide relief to some, but ultimately the human race has about as much soul as your average insect colony. If Hugh's 'boyish' character had been unflinchingly unapologetic, or if the mad hippie had actually offed herself, there might have been some edge to this. But ultimately it's novel-based and just a movie, About a Paycheck, and about as realistic as a gift catalog. So while it rings false, it's certainly not lacking in entertainment value--I still enjoyed it with just a couple of ecchs and a few oh brothers.
Excellent! December 1, 2008
Rae Ann (Boston, MA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of my all time favorite movies. I purchased this copy for my boss.
Sweet, funny and smart.
Highly recommend it
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