Movie · 2002 · Drama, Comedy, Romance · 1h 41m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 6.0/10 (345.6K ratings)
Growing up has nothing to do with age.
Overview
Will Freeman 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-year-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.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.0/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Letterboxd: 3.56/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Metacritic: 75
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz
Production
Universal Pictures, Tribeca Productions, Working Title Films, Kalima Productions, StudioCanal
Cast
Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, Natalia Tena, Victoria Smurfit, Augustus Prew, Sharon Small, Madison Cook, Jordan Cook, Nicholas Hutchison, Ryan Speechley, Joseph Speechley, Denise Stephenson, Chris Webster, Isabel Brook, Orlando Thor Newman, Paulette P. Williams, Susannah Doyle, Fritha Goodey
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, warm, and surprisingly bittersweet crowd-pleaser that balances deadpan British comedy with real emotional stakes. It works best as a character study about emotional immaturity, chosen family, and the messy ways people help each other grow.
Best for
fans of witty, character-driven comedies
viewers who like feel-good films with melancholy undertones
people interested in unconventional coming-of-age stories
audiences who enjoy Hugh Grant’s dry comic persona
viewers drawn to stories about found family and parent-child bonds
Skip if
you want a purely light rom-com with no sadness
you dislike privileged-protagonist stories
you prefer fast-paced comedies over dialogue-driven character work
you want a romance that stays front and center
Overview
About a Boy is one of those studio comedies that sneaks in more feeling than you expect. Its premise is built on a selfish man-child learning responsibility, but the film is smarter than that setup suggests: it treats loneliness, depression, and social awkwardness with enough honesty to keep the jokes from floating away into fluff.
Worth noting
Hugh Grant is perfectly cast as a man who has turned charm into a survival strategy, and Nicholas Hoult gives the film its emotional core as a painfully earnest kid trying to fit in. Toni Collette adds a note of bruised humanity that keeps the story grounded, and the film’s best scenes come from the awkward, funny, and unexpectedly tender collisions between people who are all a little lost.
Bottom line
What lingers is the movie’s balance of cynicism and compassion. It’s funny without being glib, sentimental without becoming mushy, and it understands that growing up is often less a grand revelation than a series of small, humiliating adjustments. A smart, accessible watch with real rewatch value.
Top Letterboxd reviews
elli (3★) · 3501 likes
will should've taken marcus to a hairdresser rather than shopping
Silent J (4.5★) · 2458 likes
This is a film about a boy...
standing in front of a mannish boy...
asking him to....
SHAKE YA ASS! WATCH YOURSELF! SHAKE YA ASS! SHOW ME WHAT YOU'RE WORKING WITH! COME ON!
Ok, for high class white people who don't understand that at all, those were lyrics to a song by Mystikal. It will make sense once you see this wonderful, funny, deep, moving film.
mads (3★) · 1728 likes
(Obligatory comment about how Hugh Grant is a hot dad)
sofi✨ (4★) · 1638 likes
not to seem like im missing the entire point but i’d too like to spend my after school days at hugh grant’s place
Allyson (3.5★) · 1172 likes
Toni Collette literally crying over spilled milk is a big mood.