About a Boy

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

That rare romantic comedy that dares to choose messiness over closure, prickly independence over fetishized coupledom, and honesty over typical Hollywood endings.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The timing and cutting of the film are terrific, the build-up to an absurdly hilarious climax is just right, and the performances are near perfect.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Sophisticated and nuanced, and every character is bursting with emotional contradictions.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Better than a feelgood movie, it's a feelgreat movie -- genuinely clever, affecting when you least expect it to be and funny from start to finish.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

As close to mainstream perfection as I've seen all year. It gives us everything we want, need and deserve without batting an eye.

Newsweek David Ansen

Movie purists will tell you that a heavy reliance on voice-over is a sin (“show, don’t tell”), but when the words are this funny, to hell with purity.

Slate David Edelstein

It's irresistible, damn it. Mainstream comedies should all be this funny and tender and deftly performed.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Hilarious, touching and wonderfully dyspeptic.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

About a Boy knows exactly what it wants to do: It wants to make you smile, and grin, and then laugh with recognition, and it manages all three, again and again.

USA Today Claudia Puig

About a Boy is a rarity in many ways. It's a well-written, witty film whose memorable characters grapple with the nature of family, love, friendship and despair. Even its soundtrack, by Badly Drawn Boy, is perfectly pitched.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

We have all the action heroes and Method script-chewers we need right now, but the Cary Grant department is understaffed, and Hugh Grant shows here that he is more than a star, he is a resource.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The summer movie season has barely begun, and already we have its first big surprise.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The film is a sharp, funny, touching tale.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

It's funny, moving and true, and it respects the audience's intelligence as much as the characters'. That combination, no matter the movie's label, deserves to be treasured.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Hugh Grant has grown up, holding on to his lightness and witty cynicism but losing the stuttering sherry-club mannerisms that were once his signature. In doing so, he has blossomed into the rare actor who can play a silver-tongued sleaze with a hidden inner decency.

New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of About a Boy is how substantial it plays -- as a feel-good film with weight, a knowing comedy with dramatic depth.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Illuminating with their energy and wit.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The Weitz brothers -- notorious as the authors of the "American Pie" series -- handle the sentimentality of the story with a light, sweet touch.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Few scenarios are more cliched than the curmudgeonly father-figure who takes in the precocious imp -- irritation in the first two acts, love in the third -- but Hornby infuses it with warmth and honesty, not to mention his obvious gift for wry observation.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Hugh Grant is one of the true phenomena of new millennium moviemaking. In an era in which the broadest and most scatological comedy imaginable rules, he's built a career for himself as a sophisticated light comedian very much in the style of his hero, David Niven.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The love that blooms is essentially between the boys. They both have some considerable growing up to do, but theirs is a true romance and it's awfully sweet. Funny, too.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Not a daring film, but it is immensely likable. Every once in a while, a movie comes along that, despite traversing familiar terrain, is made with enough all-around skill that it overcomes its clichéd origins. About a Boy is such a movie.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

In addition to being a smart comedy and an excellent showcase for Grant, it's an honest movie about childhood that avoids sappiness and sentiment and goes in unexpected directions.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Hilarious, acidic Brit comedy.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

If the brothers Weitzes) don't yet have a defined style, they do seem at ease with this more sophisticated material.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A comedy hit, but its secret is that it delves deeper than the usual summer fare.

Film Threat Rich Cline

As these characters all move from isolated loners to relying on each other, the film never pounds its point in -- even the big set pieces are slightly askance, just giving more insight into the characters without preaching.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The acid comedy of Grant's performance carries the film. It helps also that newcomer Hoult is that rare child actor who mercifully underplays the pathos of his role.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Because a gradually thawing Will plays more to Grant's strengths, the second part of the film, helped as well by Rachel Weisz as a love interest, is much more fun. But it is still hard not to feel that this film is pushing us too hard, slickly trying to seem more honest than it actually is.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

It's hard to stomp on a movie that pulls together a rich lay-about, hippies, a punk girl and an Amnesty International worker in a sort of Peaceable Kingdom, but About a Boy shows the limits of affability.

Boston Globe Renee Graham

Renders what should have been a wholly entertaining film into a timid, soggy near miss.

TV Guide Tanya L. Edwards

Wickedly funny and surprisingly sweet film may be the perfect star vehicle for Grant. He's full of piss and vinegar and has at long last set aside the wobbly, stammering persona best left at "Four Weddings and a Funeral."

Variety Derek Elley

Pleasant and engaging, rather than laugh-out-loud funny or emotionally involving.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

Will warm your heart without making you feel guilty about it.

The New Yorker David Denby

The other Grant, the irresistible but slippery Cary, was called to account by such strenuous and willful mates as Irene Dunne, Katharine Hepburn, and Ingrid Bergman. But Hugh Grant has never been matched with a woman who directly challenged his oddly recessive charm. [3 June 2002, p. 100]

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

There's not much more to this adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel than charm -- effortless, pleasurable, featherweight charm.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Since the central odd couple have no rapport, their bond never seems to progress past mutual usury.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Was this spiritless stuff really directed by Paul and Chris Weitz of "American Pie" fame? How the rebels have mellowed!