The Best of Hugh Grant: About a Boy and The Gentlemen

Hugh Grant is back in theaters with The Gentlemen and in it he has delivered one of the best performances of his career. Grant is electric in the role of a private investigator hired by a newspaper magnate to dig the dirt of a big time drug dealer played by Matthew McConaughey. Grant’s PI is flipping the script on the newspaperman and his deception is insanely good fun in a movie with a wonderfully unique sense of humor.

It’s great to see Grant back in a role that is worthy of his immense charm. It’s been awhile since Hugh Grant has been at the top of his game. The last time Grant was this good in a movie was all the way back in 2002 when Grant teamed with Chris and Paul Weitz for the middle aged coming of age comedy, About a Boy.

For my money there wasn't a better film in 2000 than High Fidelity starring John Cusack and based on the book of the same title by Nick Hornby. Hornby has shown in his writing a great insight into the mind of the grownup man who still acts like a child. In About A Boy, Hornby, with help from directors Chris and Paul Weisz, paints the ultimate portrait of the perpetually teenaged man inside every self-involved male on the planet and in the form of the pitch perpetual lost boy, Hugh Grant.

Hugh Grant is Will Freeman, the ultimate bachelor. As he puts it, he’s the star of The Will Show, which is not an ensemble piece. Will's life is made up of a series of meaningless short-term relationships that he squeezes in between TV shows, facials and playing with his many big boy toys. After being setup on a date with a single mother, Will discovers a goldmine of guilt free relationships, playing the rebound guy of single moms trying to get over bad marriages and using him.

Usually it's the other way around but with single moms he gets to be the good guy. He was there when they needed him and once they’re ready, they dump him. The trouble is, how do you meet single moms? Will decides to attend a single parent support group where he invents a fictional son and uses him to meet a lovely woman named Suzy (Victoria Smurfit).

Parallel with Will's story is that of Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), a 12-year-old wise beyond his years who takes care of his mom, wonderfully played Toni Collette. Collette’s Fiona is a little strange but well meaning. Fiona’s goal is to push Marcus to be and remain unique. This is a lovely goal in theory, except that Marcus is almost a teenager and in the world of the schoolyard unique means getting beaten up and ostracized.

At a single parent’s picnic, which Will attends with Suzy, Will meets Marcus. Suzy is Marcus's neighbor and Fiona is also a member of the same single mom support group as Suzy and now Will. Marcus is immediately drawn to Will, probably because they are both children. Will on the other hand wants nothing to do with Marcus. Nonetheless, Marcus is persistent and he begins to wear Will down.

The bond between Grant’s Will and Hoult’s Marcus is genuine and Grant is amazing in his charming selfishness, allowing the kid to become his friend while doing his best not to get too attached. Hoult was a real find in 2003 and has continued to prove himself so ever since. As a child actor in About a Boy, Hoult demonstrated an amazing, realistic quality. Hoult was not your typical precocious Hollywood kid, he didn’t mug for the camera or try to be cute, he was genuine.

In 2002 It was quite surprising to see the directors of American Pie deliver such a beautiful, touching film. There were only inklings of depth in their prior work. American Pie had its moments of genuine sweetness. In About A Boy however, that sweetness is teamed with great performances, especially Hugh Grant in the lead, and wonderful source material. Nick Hornby’s work is rich with detail, sparkling dialogue and insight.

I cannot praise Hugh Grant enough for About a Boy. Roger Ebert, in his review of About a Boy, compared Hugh Grant to his namesake, Cary Grant and the comparison is a good one. Like Cary Grant, Hugh has effortless charm and brilliant timing. He may have been, in 2002, the best romantic comedian in the business, just as Cary Grant was of his time. High praise and deserved.

See Hugh Grant in The Gentlemen and watch him age into the remarkable character actor that Cary Grant never became as he chose retirement rather than aging away on the big screen. Grant is aging into an even better and more complex comic actor whose expert timing and wit are only getting sharper.