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by Frank Wilkins

Of all movie genres out there, there is not one more susceptible to the formulaic Hollywoodization that saps all the ingenuity and artistic value out of a story than the romantic comedy. Any attempts at creative storytelling are replaced by face-to-face dialogue that usually takes place at a table in a restaurant or on a couch and usually involves someone getting him or herself in an uncomfortable situation. Although About a Boy does have some funny moments and will definitely please the sappy romance lovers out there, it leaves nothing to the imagination and presents no significant original thought.

This adaptation of Nick Hornby’s 1998 best-seller, About a Boy tells the story of Will Freeman (Hugh Grant), a shallow childish adult who lives off royalty checks from his Dad’s one big Christmas song hit, lives in a splendid flat in London, and seems very uninterested in doing anything common with the act of being a productive citizen. Directed by American Pie’s Chris and Paul Weitz, the humor in About a Boy is a bit more sophisticated than I originally expected.

After dumping his latest squeeze, Will devises a brilliant scheme to meet single moms. He invents an imaginary toddler son and attends a SPAT (Single Parents Alone Together) meeting, a local support group for single parents. In a very convoluted and unbelievable manner, this shoots the wheels off his plans of unconditional love and leads him to meet Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) the strange but intelligent son of an obnoxiously depressed and suicidal Fiona (Toni Collette). At first glance, it seems impossible that someone could be that much of an emotional wreck as Fiona, but I’m sure that her mental state is not that far from reality.

In Will, Marcus sees a father figure and potential spouse for his despondent mother. But getting involved in someone else’s life is the last thing the self-centered and incapable-of-a-relationship Will wants. Although both misfits, but in entirely different ways, Will and Marcus are the only two people in the movie who have any semblance of chemistry. Most of the movie’s characters just make a brief appearance and then are quickly gone and forgotten, making the whole movie seem choppy and as if to be a collection of individual thoughts.

A rhetorical reference to either Will or Marcus, the title is the cleverest aspect of the film (get it?). The message of acceptance and alienation gets overlooked and I can only think that this connection is a bit stronger and more thoroughly explained in the novel. It kind of minimized life’s hardest struggles, like school bullies and suicidal tendencies, and just became another forgettable Hollywood romantic comedy. An over the top performance like Ben Stiller’s in Meet the Parents or like Jack Black’s in Orange County is the only thing that could have added interest to this run of the mill, industry fare.


Frank Wilkins

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