Meggin Watches About a Boy

What's this? Another Hugh Grant film? Yes, I go from Notting Hill to About a Boy, from romance from a guy's perspective to, well, another romance from a guy's perspective. Well, two guys' perspectives.

Based off of the novel by Nick Hornby, About a Boy is narrated from the perspective of two guys:

1. A thirty-some-year-old man named Will Freeman (portrayed by Hugh Grant) living a leisurely life in London without working for a single penny, or quid, as is the currency in England. Living off the heaps of money he inherits from his father, who made a successfully redundant Christmas song, Will spends his leftover free time hitting on women. Will is also, to summarise his character, a jerk. He's very self-centred, and he really wouldn't give two shits of care to anyone else. He also admits that he's really shallow. For example, he thinks he's being friendly and contributing to the soup kitchen for homeless people, but he's actually passed by the kitchen without a single glance. His perspective is muddled by his own vision of what caring is about, hence why he doesn't think so highly of children.
2. A twelve-year-old boy named Marcus whose mum is dealing with the pressures of single parenting and depression. Marcus is also constantly being bullied at school for things such as his haircut, his clothes, and the fact that he randomly bursts into song.

The two guys meet when Will discovers SPAT, or Single Parents Alone Together, a group dedicated to single parents. Will thinks joining the group will guarantee him some play with the ladies, only there's a slight catch: he doesn't have a child. This situation struck me as ironic: how the way for Will get his one-way ticket to the ladies is to care about an imaginary child. He makes up a story for his kid, until it gets out of hand when SPAT decides to have a picnic with the parents and their children. Will hastily makes up an excuse, how his child is at his mum's house for the day, and he manages to get stuck with Marcus, whose mum, another member of SPAT, couldn't make it to the picnic.

Turns out, Marcus' mum was at home attempting suicide, and when Marcus and Will find out, Marcus decides to help his mum in any way possible. For some reason, he thinks that having Will in his life will make her feel happier. After a long succession of stalking, Will is confronted by Marcus, who repeats his theory to Will. Will, seeing no other alternative to get rid of Marcus, reluctantly succumbs. As Marcus makes a daily trip to Will's flat just to hang out and watch TV, Will starts to get soft...

In fact, this whole film is based off of irony. Which isn't bad, it's just very cliche and predictable. Of course, the ending was a bit off from what I originally predicted, but not far off. It's a really great film that's quite depressing and monotonous at first, but gets gradually somewhat more uplifting.