Name - About a Boy
Released - 2002
Director - Nick Hornby
When I think of the words father figure, I immediately start humming along to George Michael's Father Figure song. That has nothing to do with this article, but I needed to get that out of the way first.
Now, when I think of father figure movies, I am often thinking about Hugh Grant in not just this movie, but many of his movies. He recently played a father role in the HBO series The Undoing with Nicole Kidman. It had many twists in it and is worth watching.
However, today I am going back in time to 2002 and a much younger Hugh Grant. A time when he was couth, funny and everybody found him charming. What particularly attracts me to the film though is the humourous side of things and how I can relate to his relationship with the boy in the film.
This reminds me of how I would hold a baby
BC (Before Children) I often would act similarly as Hugh does in this film toward kids. They were like an unknown entity and I would not spend much time around them. Preferring to be down the pub with my mates or trying to get my leg over now and again as Hugh does.
This film reminds me and brings back memories of being totally clueless around kids. In some ways I still am! But it is still nice to have a laugh at the aloofness of Hugh back then and his character.
The film covers the boy Marcus played by Nicholas Hoult and Will played by Hugh helping each other out, but at the same time getting to understand each other from both of their perspectives. There are some funny moments that can make you laugh, but also some serious questions are thrown up for good measure to make you think about what is important in life.
The growing pains of Nicholas are quite painful to watch. I found myself calling out to him to just sort his hair out for starters and that would fix half of his problems. I mean, that mullet? I had to think back to my school days and yeah, I had some bad haircuts, but I did try to sport a quiff and look cool.
It reminds me now of my son who likes to remind me of things I do "wrong" such as when he says to me things such as "Mummy makes my drink in the white cup" or "Mummy makes my lunch in this way",
Hugh grant uses him as part of a scheme to get closer to women. It is quite a superficial facade that isn't really believable but is nonetheless fun to watch in the same vein as the guys from Wedding Crashers. I am thinking about why I wasn't more creative when I was dating.
Three cheers to Hugh Grant and all the other aloof fathers out there!
Thanks for reading.
► Trailer:
Credits:
The title image was created by myself in Canva.
The still photo is taken from the released trailer. source.
I do not own the copyright to the movie trailer. The link is to the released movie trailer on youtube source.
Used under fair-use section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976.
