About A Boy

Posted by Brian McDonough on Feb 1, 2003 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

Buy it at Amazon

Overall Rating: 3/5

Directors: Chris & Paul Weitz

Starring: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz

Tagline: Hugh Grant is also vapid and self-centered on-screen

The Film: This is far and away Hugh Grant’s best film. While that’s not exactly like saying suicide was Hitler’s finest gift to humanity, it’s still damning with faint praise. Grant is perfectly cast, apparently as himself, as a selfish, idle perennial bachelor. The adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel masterfully offers what all filmgoers want — a happy ending — without making it too pat, too dramatic, or crushingly predictable. The cast has flair, and like the script avoids the sappiness and melodrama that Grant’s inevitable redemption could have inspired.

Rating: 3/5

The DVD: The DVD does a great job of restraint. There’s a brief documentary on the making of, a canned promo piece shot on a press junket. There are a number of extra scenes, a couple music videos and an interview with the one-man-band who did said music. If this had been a Peter Jackson film, there’d be three extra discs detailing how many hours it took to get just the right number of fronds of hair hanging down on Grant’s forehead.

Easter Eggs: None.

Rating: 4/5

Five Degrees of Seperation

High Fidelity — John Cusak’s less faithful, more energetic adaptation of another Hornby novel.
Four Weddings and a Funeral — for the fans of Grant’s earlier, dewy-eyed fop schtick. You know who you are.
As Good as It Gets — Jack Nicholson gets redeemed, too, only with more laughs and less edge.
Grosse Pointe Blank — Cusak again, dark and funny and charming.
American Pie — No logical reason to go from this film to that, except for the same-director thing.