About A Boy (UK)

The rehabilitation of Hugh Grant is complete. The silly ass charmer of Four Weddings has been put to bed. It started with Bridget Jones`s Diary, where he showed his nasty side. Now, as Will, a 38-year-old slacker, he proves what a versatile actor he is. This is a performance to cherish.

Hugh Grant is wonderfully cast in the lead role as Will, approaching forty but under no hurry to settle down in any shape or form. In fact, Will is the quintessential serial shagger who breaks out in a cold sweat any time the commitment word is broached. He doesn`t work, thanks to the fact that his father wrote a popular Christmas jingle allowing him the luxury of living off the royalties, and spends his days in his flash London pad thinking of ways to fill the time until his next dates. He divides his days into units: periods of education (watching Countdown), exercise (playing snooker), and spiritual and pastoral care (shopping).

After his excellent turn in Bridget Jones` Diary, Grant delivers another top- notch comic performance. Part-cad, part-slacker, the moments when he defines his contentedly meaningless existence are some of the film`s highlights. He is supported by an all-round cast with pedigree, and a script that delivers laughs at a rate of knots. The film is certainly tinged with sadness and some emotion, but overall this is a highly enjoyable, slick romantic comedy.

Introduction
I liked 4 weddings and a funeral, and watch it every year or so. It still has comedy and drama for me.
Notting hill I liked too, and have rewatched that disk several times.
I had high hopes for this film therefore, and luckily they weren`t disappointed.

The Plot
An engaging plot, the relationship builds nicely, and on a first watching, I really wasn`t sure where the plot might end up. I kept seeing several very cliche`d endings coming up, only for them to diverge away from the more obvious plot lines.
I`d be interest to see how foreign audiences cope with the "Countdown" sequences, is it that widely shown?

A good performance both from Hugh and the boy (Nicholas Hoult).
It also has some great quotes
Quote:
"No - I really am that shallow" and Quote:
"It was horrible, but driving fast behind the ambulance was great".
The Visuals/Audio
The visuals are pretty good - I`m not that good at noticeing good visuals really, though re can all spot bad ones!
Also some really great music by "Badly Drawn Boy" too, that is intercut very nicely into the main spectacle.

The Extras
The extras are ok, the deleted scenes "interesting" as you can see why some were deleted. There is a commentary available about these scenes too.

Summary
Definitely a general feel good disk with some amusing humour that will beworth rewatching a few times.

A wonderful piece of modern British cinema. Hugh Grant leads an all British cast in this tale of a Bachelor in his late 30`s leading an ideal Bachelors life in his pad full of modern equipment. He lives off royalties from a christmas song that his father wrote a long time ago. Without a job, he spends everyday watching tv and every night with a different women. His life spins around in this cycle until one day he meets a bullied young boy. Soon enough, they become good friends and Hugh learns how pointless his own life is. A great coming of age movie.

The visuals are brilliant. The picture is virtually free from any grain and is quite sharp and colourful. The sound is also quite good. Good use of the surrounds, the dvd produces a high quality sharp soundtrack.

The extras are pretty neat, there seems to be an abundance in them for what really is a low budget movie. There is an interesting making of featurette, some deleted scenes, a good audio commentary

A cute movie about relationships. Between grownups and between 2 generations.
Grant gives a decent performance, and God...the kid cannot get any more annoying... .
The video transfer is good. There are no compression signs to be seen and the picture is accurately framed.
The DD 5.1 soundtrack is good. The surrounds are used occasionally, but don`t expect anything mind-blowing. Come on, it`s not that kind of a movie.
The menus are static.
The extras include a commentary by the directors, a behind the scenes look, 11 deleted scenes, 2 music videos and a hallucinated interview with one of the singers of the theme song.
Bottom line - a cute little movie - about a men, about a boy.

Quite agree with previous reviews. About time that Hugh Grant moved away from sickly sweet rom coms to human, comic drama. This is a touching film that hits home, due in part to the excellent source material, in part to the inner child in all men that is revealed so well in this film. Recommended for all but the most cynical action movie fans.