About a Boy oder: Der Tag der toten Ente

About a Boy is a 2002 comedy-drama film co-written and directed by brothers Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz. It is an adaptation of the 1998 novel of the same name by Nick Hornby. The film stars Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, and Rachel Weisz. The film at times uses double voice-over narration, when the audience hears both Will's and Marcus's thoughts. Will is a 36-year-old underachiever with a fear of commitment that leads him to seek out relationships with single mothers, on the assumption that they are more desperate. However, plans go awry when he befriends with Marcus, the weird 12-year-old son of his latest target. Soon, Will and Marcus become friends, and as Will teaches Marcus how to be a cool kid, Marcus helps Will finally to grow up.

Described by some as a man's version of Bridget Jones Diary the remarkable thing is that it lives up to the description. Hugh Grant, with an excellent script that could have been written especially for him, plays a young confirmed single yuppie socialite, dividing his day into units in which to pack his meaningless but carefree, philandering lifestyle and disposable income. After initially discovering unmarried mothers as a new supply of grateful sexual objects, he becomes drawn into a meaningful life after making friends with a young boy. Avoiding a cheesy ending is one of the film's many triumphs.

I think I smiled all the way through `About a Boy,' a comic near-masterpiece derived from the best-selling novel by Nick Hornby. For the sake of accuracy, both the novel and the film should more rightly be titled `About TWO Boys,' since the story focuses not only on 12-year old Marcus, but on 38-year old Will, a man totally dedicated to the proposition that any man who so desires can live quite happily on his own private little urban island, thank you very much. Will's `island' is his own London flat, which he has equipped with all the accoutrements of comfort and diversion that modern technology – in the form of computers, big screen TV's and DVD players - can afford. Who needs people when you have so much `stuff' to keep you content and occupied? Will thrives in his environment, much to the chagrin of his married couple friends who keep insisting that he must certainly be miserable without a wife and family to give his life meaning. But Will loves being shallow – a fact of his personality he is more than willing to declare right up front – and the last thing he needs – or thinks he needs – is people to clutter it up. Yet, island dwellers have a tendency not to remain marooned for long, and, before he knows it, Will finds himself striking up a relationship with a lonely, backward boy named Marcus, whose mother suffers from serious bouts of suicidal depression.

More than any comedy in recent memory, `About a Boy' establishes a tone and sticks with it to the end. The screenplay by Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz (the latter two function as the film's directors as well) manages to take a potentially clichéd and predictable story and invest it with a warmth, wit and tenderness that are all-enveloping. The voice-over narration by both Will and Marcus, which introduces us to their characters and keeps us informed as to their mental progress throughout the film, is remarkably clever and droll. Yet, the characters never come across as smug, smart-alecky or flippant. Rather, they speak and behave in ways that are both believable and realistic. Hugh Grant gives his richest performance to date as Will, the man who refuses to grow up and assume the role of responsible adult, blithely unaware of the emotional depths that lie hidden under a surface of apathy and indifference. The superb Grant is more than matched by relative newcomer Nicholas Hoult, an extraordinarily gifted young actor who doesn't look like the average `adorable' screen kid, and who makes Marcus into a very real, very likable and very sensitive young man. The remainder of the large cast is outstanding as well. Moreover, the film is very astute in its observation about just how easy technology has made it for us to isolate ourselves from one another. Admittedly, a little of the sharpness does go out of the screenplay in its closing stretches, but not enough to diminish one's pleasure appreciably.

In many ways, `About a Boy' is a movie that needs to be experienced first hand, since mere words fail to convey the very special charm and spell it manages to cast over the viewer. Rush to see it. Comic gems like this one don't come around very often!

Sometimes a rut can feel like a hammock when we get stuck in one.

"About A Boy" is about a Londoner who was apparently born into one, imprisoned as it were by his father's legacy as author of one of the world's most popular and annoying Christmas songs. After years of feckless unemployed upper-middle-class living, Will views himself as an island, and sees his lack of long-term relationships as a plus. Even offered the simple honor of being an infant's godfather, Will begs off, saying he'd be "crap" at it and probably just "try and shag" the girl the moment she turned 18.

"I always thought you had hidden depths," the mother says.

"No, you've always had that wrong," Will cheerfully replies. "I really am this shallow."

But of course Will does have depths, and as played by Hugh Grant in a role that gives this smooth comedic actor a chance to showcase some previously-unguessed-at depths of his own, we find ourselves rooting for Will to find them as he finds himself attached unwillingly to a 12-year-old named Marcus, played with welcome non-cuteness by Nicholas Hoult. Marcus, an abuse magnet at school, is alternately worried for his unstable mother and searching for a pal. Will, a 12-year-old at heart, is a perfect if unknowing candidate.

Based on the great Nick Hornby novel, "About A Boy" walks a fine line, doling out easy laughs and real pathos with deceptive ease. Like Hornby's book, the movie depicts Will's perverse detachment from the world as both delightful and pathetic. Life is a full plate of pain for those who participate, but the benefits, as Marcus tries to tell Will, beat all else.

Of course, most of us don't have the luxury for "island living," and the potential of resenting Will, especially as played by that handsome devil Grant, might have been the film's biggest danger. But Grant defuses things with a subtle characterization that downshifts on the smugness and draws on the lost boy within.

For example, when Will tries to infiltrate a single-mothers' club as a way of bagging some commitment-free sex, we watch him tell the mothers about his own non-existent two-year-old boy Ned telling him "you hang in there, Dad," then reacting with uncertain fear when the mothers enthuse about how remarkable that is for such a young child.

But we also see the pain Will pretends isn't there, in brief flashes as he reflects on the hard-drinking failure his father became after his one-hit wonder, and especially in one great scene where Will finds himself with a woman he really cares about, unable to break out of his artifice at a critical moment. During that scene, and a later, angry one with Marcus, Grant's acting really demands consideration from those who dismiss him as a dandy glamor boy.

The directors, Chris and Paul Weitz of "American Pie"-fame, prove they can make a film that delivers intelligence as well as laughter, and with writer Peter Hedges, fashion a script that takes some clever and daring liberties with Hornby's solid story. I especially liked the one near the end of the movie, but if I revealed anything I'd probably get some Flack for it, so say no more.

The very last scene of the movie is a mistake, though, the kind of tidy resolution Hornby's novel and life itself rightly rejects. It's the one bum note in this film, but enough of one to dock it a point with me. Otherwise, I'd have to rate this above even the other cinematic Hornby adaptation, the classic "High Fidelity." But this is a very entertaining film, with great set design, a terrific "Rubber Soul"-style Britpop title song by Badly Drawn Boy, tight editing, and subtle, crafty camera work. Also some great supporting performances, especially Toni Collette as Marcus' mother, who has the film's toughest role (she must be funny and suicidal) and manages to not only pull it off but gives "About A Boy" a wonderfully unstable center. As "About A Boy" makes clear, instability is a good thing when it shakes us from our ruts.

The Weitz brothers (of 'American Pie' fame) surprised me with this intelligent comedy. They do a commendable job of bringing Nick Hornby's modern British comedy to screen. Peter Hedges takes up the challenge to adapt Hornby's novel and he does a fine job. I liked that it wasn't Americanized. The quirkiness and humour is well balanced, witty and clever while amusing. The film is mainly about growth of the characters especially Will, Fiona and Marcus and I loved how it was portrayed in a gradually subtle way. The situations are easy to relate to. Even though the characters live under unusual circumstances: like Will choosing not to work because he does not need to, the suicidal Fiona or Marcus regularly visiting Will in order to fix him up with his mom, they are easy to identify with. Hugh Grant is great as the shallow Will. He's cast against type and this is perhaps the role that allows him to stretch his acting further. Nicholas Hoult delivers a natural performance. He's certainly not those movie kids who are made to look cute because the director can't get them to act (so credit does go to the Weitzs). Toni Collette is superb as always. Rachel Weisz makes the best of a small role. The rest of the cast do a good enough job. The soundtrack is gentle and whimsical at times, flowing smoothly with the steady pace. I liked the songs of Badly Drawn Boy. Some of the deleted scenes on the DVD are worth a watch. In a nutshell, 'About A Boy' is a simple, delightful and funny movie about growing up.