'About a boy' - Mini Review of film
Posted by Halo on 2002-04-22 10:38:33, Monday|
Well I went to see an advanced screening of "About A Boy" in my local cinema yesterday night and I've made some notes about it that I'd like to share with you. Well it's not a touchy/feely type of movie, nor does it pull your heart strings. It does however tickle your funny bone occasionally, as you watch "Will" played by "Hugh Grant", try to blag his way through life while trying to meet women. You see, Will's never had to do a days work in his life, he lives off the Royalties of his Musician father's "one-hit-wonder" Chrismas song about "Santa & his Reindeer" and he divides his time up into units consisting of eating, watching tv & meeting people. "Marcus" played by "Nicholas Hoult" on the other hand is a very "down to earth" type of 11yo kid. He lives with his mum who occasionally has bouts of depression. He gets bullied at school but lets it go over his head & he also has a short attention span, leading to him spontainously singing out loud during lessons, which adds to the mickie taking & bullying. Will starts to attend "Single Parent" meetings with the sole purpose of meeting "Single mums", who he intends to have short-term relationships with as in his previous experience, they usually end the relationship & he doesn't have to feel guilty about it. When he arrives at the first meeting he invents a 2yo son to be part of the group & meets a young lady with a 2yo of her own. It is during a group picnic that the two main charachters are brought together, Marcus' mum is unable to make the picnic & so Marcus goes along with Will's prospective date & her son. After the picnic, Marcus arrives home with Will & friend to find his mum crashed out on the sofa after taking an overdose of pills & is subsequently rushed to hospital. She recovers & is well again for now, but Marcus starts to follow Will around & eventually confronts him with his findings that he doesn't actually have a son. Marcus' main thought is that Will could be an ideal partner for his mum, in order to make her happy & to stop her trying to commit suicide again. It's quite an awkward situation, because Will doesn't really like kids, but Marcus has become attached to him & visits Will's house everyday after school to escape the depressing home environment. That is where I will end my introduction to the film, before I spoil to much of it for you. I must advise that the film does contain frequent swearing from both charachters & the occasional heated argument & plenty of funny situations. But all in all if you go to see it with an open mind, you should enjoy it. Nicholas Hoult's acting is very good for a debut & according to the "behind the scences" reports in magazines I've read, the two (Hugh Grant & Nicholas), got on really well. I'd actually like to see more of Nicholas in the future (in films of course). I think I will add him to my list of actors to play in my imaginary production of "The Coach". A film about a failing soccor coach (played by me), who is given one last change of helping a youngster to go from a hopelessly bad player into a soccor superstar (or at least to get him into the school team). My starting cast already includes Rupert Grint (aka Ron Weasel from Harry Potter - the ginger lad), as the young footballer & Jamie Bell (from Billy Elliot), as the bullying captian of the school team, who thinks that Grint can't play football to save his life. Probably when I've finished writing my life stories at the lounge & I win the lottery, I'll be able to make the film. By the way you'll all probably be VIP guests at the Premier. Best regards Halo (BL, Film Director & Future Millionaire) |
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