About a Boy film review

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ABOUT A BOY

Despite middling reviews, Nick Hornby's third novel About A Boy went straight to the top of the bestsellers list when it was first published in 1998. Although he was accused of repeating the same storyline of his previous books - thirtysomething male faces early midlife crisis - the public appetite for his novels has shown no sign of abating. It comes as a pleasant surprise therefore that the film version of this novel is arguably the best Hornby on screen to date: after the patchy Fever Pitch and the overpraised High Fidelity comes a genuinely amusing, consistently entertaining and unashamedly feelgood film. It certainly manages that rare feat of a film which is actually better than the source novel.

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).

Although he is adamant about his singleton status, Will's major concern is the fact that the women in his life always want that little bit more (in other words some kind of stability). When he dates a single mother however, his outlook is radically changed: here he has found a potentially endless pool of women who will be so happy that he takes both an interest in them and their children that he will never have to worry about being pressured again.

Delighted with his new discovery Will figures that the best way to meet single mums is to pretend that he himself is a single dad. He therefore invents the two-year-old Ned and attends a meeting of SPAT (Single Parents Alone Together). And of course he strikes it lucky on his first attempt and lands a date with Susie, one of the women at the group. Little does he realise that his troubles are only beginning.