The 2002 comedy drama “About a Boy” from Universal Pictures was directed by Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz with the screenplay written by Peter Hedges based on the story by Nick Hornby. Starring: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Sharon Small, Madison Cook , Jordan Cook, Nicholas Hutchison, Ryan Speechley, Joseph Speechley, Toni Collette, Natalia Tena, Laura Kennington, Tanika Swaby, Peter McNicholl, Christopher Webster and Ben Ridgeway.
Will Freeman (Hugh Grant), a bachelor who at 38 years old has never had to work for a living, thanks to his father’s creativity which led him to write a popular song, ensuring enough royalties to keep him living in grand style. But he lives an isolated existence focused on pleasure and his own interests.
On the other hand there is twelve year old Marcus Brewer (Nicholas Hoult) who lives with his mother Fiona (Toni Collette) who is constantly in a depressed state of mind. Marcus is very concerned with making his mother happy, even when this means he suffers as a result.
Because Will has absolutely no interest in taking on responsibility, he flatly refuses to become the godparent of the second child of his best friends, Christine (Sharon Small) and John (Nicholas Hutchinson). To avoid unpleasant confrontations about the issue, Will begins dating Angie (Isabel Brook), a single mother. With the success of this conquest behind him, he begins to consider attending a single-parents group in order to meet other potential female partners. To aid him in his deception, he invents a two-year-old son named Ned.
But during his attempt to court Suzie (Victoria Smurfit) one of the members of the single parents group, Will is introduced to Marcus. Marcus finds himself in hot water when he accidently kils a duck and Will saves the day by telling the Park Ranger that the duck was already dead. Will and Suzie drive Marcus home only to find Fiona has attempted suicide and is rushed to the hospital.
Marcus then asks Will to become Fiona’s boyfriend, but Will is still not able to come to terms with the idea of responsibility and refuses the request. But Marcus shows up at Will’s house until he begins to realize that he is important to Marcus and begins to take on the responsibility to teach him the things he needs to know about becoming a young man.
