About a Boy on DVD |
I've been talking up About a Boy
recently and I've been amazed at the amount of Hugh Grant backlash I've run into. It has
been a real eye-opener.
As a result, I've developed a bit of Grant's stammering,
tic-filled shtick myself. "Have you seen About a Boy?" I ask.
"Yes, it's a Hugh Grant movie -- and, yes, it does feature his trademark verbal
ellipses, convoluted sentences, and furtive eye, head, and facial movements -- but this
time it seems like real acting. Who knew?"
Well, actually, there have been hints. Grant's best-known
role, of course, was that of Charles, the charmingly befuddled protagonist of Four
Weddings and a Funeral, in which he played . . . a character who bore a striking
resemblance to . . . Hugh Grant (or at least the character Grant plays as himself
when appearing on talk shows). And, as the consumptive Chopin in the George Sands biopic Impromptu,
he was referred to as "less a fully developed character than a well-dressed
cough." But he used his arsenal of tics and stutters to play against type as the
unreliable suitor, Edward Ferrars, in 1995's Sense and Sensibility, and in a few
public appearances (such as his delightfully savage send-up of James Lipton on Inside
the Actor's Studio) he has displayed a ready and mordant wit quite different from his
brand-name marquis persona.
Oh my, what a shock: Some actors aren't who they appear to
be on the big screen!
Grant has become a household name, not by being a great
actor, but by being a charming but somewhat dreamy, good-hearted bumbler; a romantic lead,
but not a type-A complete winner.
You don't get John Malkovich or Daniel Day-Lewis-sized
accolades for that, but think for a moment about how many other actors can pull off the
same sort of effortless charm that Cary Grant used to produce in picture after picture.
It's a short list, no? In fact, while I can think of only a handful of actors I'd consider
safe bets in such roles, the list shrinks down to just Grant when I consider the question
the way a producer risking millions of dollars on a project must.
Which makes Grant's decision to channel his meal-ticket
charm into a portrayal of a shifty, immature, shallow, callow cad, a daring or even
courageous one. But it pays off big time.
About a Boy was Nick Hornby's follow-up to High
Fidelity, which was quite faithfully brought to the screen by John Cusack and Steven
Frears, and was the ultimate guy movie (and novel, to be honest). Its unreliable
narrator never actually experienced any growth -- his happiness at the end of the
narrative arc stemmed more from his girlfriend's ability to accept his emotional
shortcomings than from any real development on his part. I know many women who felt it a
realistic portrayal of "having to settle" for what men are willing to give
rather than a truly satisfying romance.
And, as in much of Grant's oeuvre, it only worked (as one
woman told me) because settling for John Cusack is a far more satisfying denouement than
most women are (ahem) granted.
Will, Grant's character in About a Boy, is not only
shallow, he revels in his lack of depth. He's independently wealthy, spends his days
playing with (and acquiring) cool toys, and he has never had a relationship with a partner
that lasted longer than eight weeks.
Will's problem is that he doesn't want a woman, he
wants a lifestyle accessory, another nifty gadget that matches his trendy plasma TV or
B&O hi-fi -- and which requires about the same level of commitment.
Then something radical happens to Will: he gets
dumped. It's not even his fault this time (another novel experience!). The lesson he takes
away from this experience is typically Will-centric: single moms are a vast untapped
resource of sexually willing (or were, at least once) partners who just might have more to
do with their lives than attempt to run his. But where to meet them?
Spotting an ad for a single parent's support group, Will
invents an imaginary son and embarks on a life of deception. It's off to a promising start
until his newfound quarry takes care of a friend's son, a gawky, awkward boy named Marcus
(Nicholas Hoult). When Will takes Marcus home that afternoon, they discover Marcus's mum
unconscious on her couch from a failed suicide attempt.
Marcus decides Will might be just what his mother needs to
cheer her up -- a decision he revises after a dating disaster, but he doesn't give up on
him. He quickly determines that Will is no father and blackmails his new friend into
letting him hang out at his apartment after school.
Nicholas Hoult does a tremendous job as the guileless
Marcus. Graced with an open face and sporting a haircut that simply screams torture me
to his classmates, he's the perfect clueless foil to Will, who knows the proper way to do
everything except feel. And, bit by bit, as he questions everything about Will's life,
from his hard work at getting through the day (everything in Will's life is reckoned in
units of passed time) to his lack of purpose, he manages to grow up -- more amazingly, so
does Will.
The immense victory in About a Boy -- other than
Grant's ability to portray such an unsympathetic character so winningly -- is the way the
movie refuses to make too much of either character's growth. Neither Marcus nor Will gain
too much wisdom; in fact, what they truly accomplish is the knowledge that you can't have
it all. They grow a little and discover that a little growth isn't the worst thing that
will ever happen to them. The door is left open -- they might even try it again, once they
master the baby steps they've already taken.
For a movie, that's about as close to a realistic
ending as you're likely to get. What's surprising is just how satisfying that feels.
About a Boy isn't perfect. Its big climax seems both
a little forced and less than completely convincing and yet, in its emotional payoff, it
rings true enough to soften even a cynic like myself. Chances are, you'll like it too --
even if you have a Hugh Grant problem.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
