May is shaping up to be a pretty spiffy month for Nick Hornby.  First, his beloved Arsenal (see Fever Pitch) won the double (Premiership and FA Cup titles), and now, just a couple of weeks later, the feature-film adaptation of his novel About a Boy is poised to hit screens.  It's funny and very faithful to the book...assuming you don't pay any attention to the last 15 minutes.  The film is opening against Attack of the Clones – a fate similar to that of Hugh Grant's last big romantic comedy (Notting Hill), which was pit against The Phantom Menace three years ago as counterprogramming for those who just don't feel the Force.

Grant (Bridget Jones's Diary) plays Will Freeman, a useless, self-centered, 38-year-old bastard from North London who, thanks to the royalties from his one-hit-wonder father, hasn't worked a day in his life. Will's days are filled with taxing chores like long baths, shopping, hair appointments and watching television, while his evenings are spent trying to line up what we can only imagine is a near-endless string of one-night stands with beautiful women.  Will explains that he needs no one, seeing himself as a self-sufficient island (the European playground of Ibiza, specifically).

When he discovers his latest conquest is a single mother, Will quite accidentally stumbles on what he believes to be an important cache of dating information - single moms are actually the ideal temporary mates (they're extra needy and eager to please, on account of being dumped by the guy who fathered the child; they make you feel like you're a superhero because you're not off banging models; and they ultimately dump you to spend more time with the kid, so you don't have to feel guilty about cutting them loose).  He even goes so far as to pretend he's a single dad, just to peruse the selection at a local SPAT (Single Parents Alone Together) meeting.

Long story short, Will's SPAT meetings lead to him befriending a miserable boy named Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), whose suicidal vegan hippie single mother (Toni Collette, Changing Lanes) dresses him funny so he doesn't become a sheep like the rest of his classmates.  Marcus is definitely the Weird Kid at school, so Will tries to teach him the ins and outs of being cool, but Marcus helps Will do a bit of growing up of his own, especially when he meets and falls for the lovely Rachel (Rachel Weisz, The Mummy Returns).  It all sounds horribly clichéd, but it's done quite tastefully as it gracefully sidesteps the nausea that would ordinarily run rampant through a similar film.

I had two fears as Boy unspooled:  (1) They'd make the novel's dual third-person narrative into first-person via Grant's character, and (2) the non-screen-friendly ending to the book might necessitate a change that could potentially stick Grant and Collette together romantically.  The first part nearly came true, as Grant's narration opens the film, but then it switches into a joint narrative with Hoult's Marcus (it's kind of clunky, especially when, along with the narrative, you can hear their thoughts, as well).  I don't want to talk about the second fear, as that could ruin the ending for everyone else.  Suffice it to say that the last 15 minutes have very little to do with Hornby's original work.

The book (adapted by directors Chris and Paul Weitz and What's Eating Gilbert Grape?'s Peter Hedges) was set in 1993 and 1994, and had a lot to do with Nirvana and the suicide of Kurt Cobain (the title – a spoof of Nirvana's "About a Girl" – makes more sense if you know this).  Here, Nirvana is replaced with Mystikal's "Shake Ya Ass" (the horror!), while Damon Gough's Badly Drawn Boy provides a thoughtful score.  Everything is very nicely photographed by Remi Adefarasin, the Oscar nominee for Elizabeth who recently dazzled us with his spectacular work on Band of Brothers.

Hoult does well here and isn't merely a scene-stealer in what is the best performance by a British juvenile since Jamie Bell in Billy Elliot. Though he's entirely too charming to be a proper Will, Grant shines when finally given a role that situates him in the middle of his bumbling good guy and odious prick range.  Collette, who has perhaps become the greatest single mom on the big screen, clocks in with another strong supporting performance, and is even on the receiving end of a clever Haley Joel Osment joke that's even funnier when you remember that she played his mom in The Sixth Sense.

1:40 -

for brief strong language and some thematic elements