SYNOPSIS: Will Lightman is a good looking, smooth-talking bachelor whose primary goal in life is avoiding any kind of responsibility.  But when he invents an imaginary son in order to meet attractive single moms, will gets a hilarious lesson about life from a bright, but hopelessly geeky 12-yer-old named Marcus.  Now, as Will struggles to teach Marcus the art of being cool, Marcus teaches Will that you're never too old to grow up.

EDITORIAL REVIEW: I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I thought it was going to be one of those schmaltzy variations of "his heart grew three sizes that day, thanks to the magical, transformative power of a child's luuuuuuuv". Okay, the child, Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) has a lot to do with it, but the protagonist, Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) develops realistically and not radically. Even at the end, Will is still not the kind of guy who will adopt five orphans and get a 9-5 job. Still, he, a proudly self-proclaimed "island" among men, makes genuine connections with other, isolated people and is happier for it.

This is a movie stuffed full of "ideas", and they're handled well. Modern isolation and the veneration of pointless consumerism and sloth. Children--especially boys--who lack male role models. Depression and its effect on the family, especially children. What it means to fit in, what it means to stand out, and the price an individual pays either way. The serious issues are given appropriate weight, but this is not a depressing movie. There are plenty of laughs too: some sight gags, some verbal.

Toni Collette is fabulous as usual, and Natalia Tena does well with a small and unfortunately underused role. Hugh Grant was terrific and I look forward to seeing more of Nicholas Hoult.

Some great bonus features as well:

° Deleted Scenes.
° Feature Commentary with Directors Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz.
° Musci Videos by Badly Drawn Boy.
° The making of About a Boy.
° DVD-Rom Features.

VIEW MULTIMEDIA::

POPULARITY:
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FORMAT:   (learn more about region coding)
* This DVD will play WORLDWIDE.  This is NOT a DVD-R.

STARRING: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette.
DIRECTOR: Chris Weitz.
AVAILABILITY: In stock! Ships within one business day.
LENGTH: 102 minutes.
LANGUAGE: English / French / Spanish, with English (SDH) and Spanish subtitles.
SPECIAL FEATURES: 2.35:1 (16:9 Widescreen); 5.1 Stereo; 1 disc; Chapter selection; Games; Music video; Fun Facts; Trailers; Uncut.
VIEWER DISCRETION: Coarse language.
PICTURE QUALITY: Excellent picture quality. (what's this mean?)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA (2002).
ALSO KNOWN AS:
DATE ADDED TO OUR LIBRARY:  August 21, 2009.