Londons most frequently eligible bachelor gets some lessons in growing up from a maladroit 12-year-old boy in this third big-screen adaptation of a Nick Hornby novel, directed and co-written by siblings Chris and Paul Weitz of American Pie fame. About a Boy concerns the parallel coming-of-age stories of the thirtysomething Will (Hugh Grant), a layabout serial nice guy living a posh, carefree lifestyle off his deceased fathers fortune; and the preteen Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), a bright but awkward youth whos tired of his mom Fionas (Toni Collette) depressed, boyfriend-less state. Their paths collide when Will, deciding that single mothers are the easiest romantic conquests on the dating scene, fabricates a two-year-old son and joins a group called S.P.A.T. (Single Parents Alone Together). Marcus is wise to Wills scheme, however, and through some incessant pestering and blackmail, he contrives for Will to date Fiona. Though Will doesnt hit it off immediately with either Marcus or his mother, he gradually begins to open up to the people around him -- so much so that he attracts the attention of another attractive single mom (Rachel Weisz). A U.S./U.K. co-production of Robert DeNiros Tribeca Films and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellners Working Title (the company responsible for the Grant-related Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Joness Diary), About a Boy was co-written by Whats Eating Gilbert Grape creator Peter Hedges. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide