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About a Boy
About a Boy movie poster
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	£20,000,000 GBP
IMDb profile

About a Boy is an Academy Award-nominated 2002 English film directed by brothers Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, based on the book of the same name by Nick Hornby. The film stars Hugh Grant as Will, Nicholas Hoult as Marcus, 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 as well as the introduction, the audience can follow Will's as well as Marcus's thoughts.

Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) is a content, willingly unemployed Londoner in his late thirties who lives comfortably off the royalties of his father's lucrative one-hit wonder Christmas tune. 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 aphorism (which he misattributes to Jon Bon Jovi, perhaps intentionally), 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 called Ned, Will joins a single parents' group called "SPAT" (Single Parents Alone Together) in order to meet single mothers, a demographic which he believes provides easy sex and "lots of ego massage". 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, Suzy 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 survives.

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 letting him visit every day after school to 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 endeavours to help the perennially teased Marcus to blend into the crowd. Needless to say, spending time with each other starts to change both of them, Will in particular.

Later on, Will and Marcus drift apart. The boy becomes friends with a trendy girl at school named Ellie (Natalia Tena) 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's 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 him 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 favourite 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 be humiliated in front of his peers. 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 a comedic performance. Rachel is touched by the level of devotion Will has towards Marcus and the two reconcile.

The movie ends with a jump to the following Christmas, showing Will and Marcus's "extended" family made up of both Will, Marcus, Fiona, Rachel and her son, Marcus's friend Ellie, and an acquaintance of Will's (from his one day spent working the phones for Amnesty International) whom he perhaps plans to fix up with Fiona.

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.

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