Year Released: 2002
Directed by: : Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz
Starring: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz
(PG-13, 101 min.)
Genre: Comedy-Drama

“Once you open your door to one person anyone can come in.” –Hugh Grant (Will Freeman)

No one is better at playing superficial, selfish ogres than Hugh Grant. You might say he has lived that life, at least a bit. But that only sets us up for his “redemption,” and this one is probably the steepest climb of them all.

A womanizing, yuppie slacker who will go the any length to meet and bed single mothers – finds himself examining his life when a 12-year-old boy enters his life.

The script is top notch, and Grant is at his finest here as confirmed bachelor Will Freeman. He sparkles in his candor, at least the voice-overs revealing his thoughts, and he excels at self-serving lies that come to him without effort. Sometimes, though, especially with his sister Christine (Sharon Small), he is truthful, particularly when she asks him to be the godfather to her baby girl.

Will : I couldn't possibly think of a worse godfather for Imogen. You know me. I'll drop her at her christening. I'll forget her birthdays until her 18th, when I'll take her out and get her drunk and possibly, let's face it, you know, try and shag her. I mean, seriously, it's a very, very bad choice.

Christine : We know, I just thought you had hidden depths.

Will : No. No. You've always had that wrong. I really am this shallow.

Christine : You will end up childless and alone.

Will : Well, fingers crossed, yeah.

Sometimes his interior monologue is a comment on our age itself:

He begs to differ with John Donne and Bon Jovi (we have to get the pop reference in, right?) “No man is an island.”

In my opinion, all men are islands. And what's more, now's the time to be one. This is an island age.

In fact, one might say that Grant’s Will Freeman is merely an exaggeration of the self-centered, everyone-gets-a-ribbon civilization we have become.

***

Equally revealing are the real thoughts of 12-year-old Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) juxtaposed with the anodyne words he utters. But Marcus also breaks through and tells the truth, too, something that begins to undermine Will’s castle, built on a foundation of sand.

As in

You're right. You can't help me. How could you? You're a stupid person who watches TV all day and buys things. You don't give a shit about anybody, and nobody gives a shit about you

Let’s not discount Toni Collette, who plays Fiona Brewer, Marcus’ prone-to-depression mother, or as Will calls her, “Ms. Granola Suicide.” I love these politically incorrect films we used to have in spades. The scripted prototypic vegetarian mom Colette plays doesn’t pull any punches. She dresses in a home knit cap that would make anyone look ridiculous and makes Marcus wear one, too.

Well, she doesn’t actually make him wear it; he loves to. In fact, poor Marcus doesn’t know where she ends and he begins, something the self centered and shallow Will sees quite easily.

Fiona: You cannot stop someone from expressing themselves.

Will: He's not expressing himself! He's expressing you, okay?

[Fiona is crying]

Fiona: Will, am I a bad mother?

Will: No. No, you're not a bad mother. You're just a barking lunatic.

[Fiona is crying]

Fiona: I mean, he's a special – very, very special boy and he's got a special soul, and I've wounded it.

Will: Oh, please, just shut up. You're wounding my soul.

Admit it. You love this this straight talk almost as much as Different Drummer does. We have become so self censoring that we are not only afraid to say anything that might hurt someone’s feelings; we are even internally censoring those thoughts as well. Perhaps this is why I like this and other older films so much. They don’t call chicken excrement chicken salad.

***

Sometimes it is comedy that really has depth rather than tragedy. We let down our defenses when we laugh, and then we are open to new ideas. Gradually as the film progresses, all the characters begin to change. And the title says it all: About a Boy. This misfit boy, in spite of his social inadequacies, like the youth Mark Twain writes about, has a vision unhampered by experience or so-called science. Marcus is perhaps a modern day Huck Finn, commenting in his own awkward way on the real nature of things. And that purity and innocence will beat science and the “facts” every time.

Would the film be banned today because it finally concludes that children need two parents? That single motherhood or fatherhood is not the idealized notion we constantly extoll today? Marcus intuits it at last:

Suddenly I realized – two people isn't enough. You need backup. If there are only two people, and someone drops off the edge, then you're on your own. Two isn't a large enough number. You need three at least.

It is time to watch this little comic gem again. We need its brave truth now more than ever. And laughing our way to it is the spoonful of honey that makes the medicine go down.

–Kathy Borich
🥁🥁🥁🥁1/2

Trailer

Film-Loving Foodie

Lots of the humor in the film centers on Fiona’s super healthy vegetarian food versus Will’s carnivore choices. Marcus gets Coco Puffs only on Saturdays, and his mother worries that he might sneak off to McDonald’s after school one day. When they invite Will over for dinner, they feast on nut rolls with parsnip gravy. Yum!

Here are a few alternatives:

Brideshead Revisted: Beef Wellington Recipe

The Counterfeiters:

Sin City: Carnivorian Steak Recipe

American Sniper: Texas Chicken-Fried Steak Recipe

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back: Diner Style Salisbury Steak Recipe

The Man from Snowy River: Aussie marinated Steak Recipe

Gloomy Sunday: Hungarian Beef Roll Recipe

Phoenix: German Jagerschnitzel Recipe

Prisoners: Pan Seared Venison with Wildd Mushrooms Recipe

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles: Hunan Orange Beef Recipe

Rocky Balboa: Italian Beef Recipe

However, let’s split the difference with our featured side dish today: Mouth watering Old Fashioned Onions Rings. Delicious and decadent enough for Will, and maybe even getting past Fiona, too. I suppose she would prefer sweet potato fries, but Different Drummer is in charge of our menu, so it’s the onion rings, ok?

Old-Fashioned Onion Rings

Ingredients

· 1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch slices

· 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

· 1 teaspoon baking powder

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 1 egg

· 1 cup milk, or as needed

· ¾ cup dry bread crumbs

· seasoned salt to taste

· 1 quart oil for frying, or as needed

Directions

· Step 1

Heat the oil in a deep-fryer to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).

· Step 2

Separate the onion slices into rings, and set aside. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

· Step 3

Dip the onion slices into the flour mixture until they are all coated; set aside. Whisk the egg and milk into the flour mixture using a fork. Dip the floured rings into the batter to coat, then place on a wire rack to drain until the batter stops dripping. The wire rack may be placed over a sheet of aluminum foil for easier clean up. Spread the bread crumbs out on a plate or shallow dish. Place rings one at a time into the crumbs, and scoop the crumbs up over the ring to coat. Give it a hard tap as you remove it from the crumbs. The coating should cling very well. Repeat with remaining rings.

· Step 4

Deep fry the rings a few at a time for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to paper towels to drain. Season with seasoning salt, and serve.

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