Paul Weitz

This is based on the novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, which I first read about six months before seeing it, and enjoyed on the whole. Hugh Grant is excellent as the non-working, rather shallow but immensely likeable Will. Nicholas Hoult is his 12-year-old co-star, as the all-too-responsible Marcus with a flaky mother. Marcus is decidedly uncool and gets bullied at school, and Will comes into his life after inventing a two-year-old son, a ploy that allows him to meet single mothers.

As show more with the book, this is an interesting mixture of pathos and humour. Near tragedy combines with some very amusing moments. Towards the end, the film did rather veer away from the plot of the book (unless I have entirely forgotten some parts of it, which is entirely possible) but it works well. More thought-provoking than a lot of modern films of this genre, and very well done.

I even watched the extras: the deleted scenes gave more that was in the book, but I can see they were not necessary for the film, and the 'making of' was reasonably interesting.

Longer review here: https://suesdvdreviews.blogspot.com/2019/09/about-boy-hugh-grant-and-nicholas-ho... show less

We enjoyed this, but didn't think it was quite as good as the first two films in the 'Meet the parents' trilogy. The twins Samantha and Henry aren't nearly as cute as Jack in the second film, and some of the humour and interaction between the parents feels a tad familiar, or forced.

But still, there's plenty of action, several subplots - albeit a bit far-fetched in some cases - and an excellent cast. There is some semi-comic violence towards the end that is cleverly done, but looks quite show more disturbing. I liked the ending very much, and we'll probably see this again some time; it makes a good concluding film. I don't think it would stand alone so well, as it relies on a lot of connections from the previous films.

Longer review: https://suesdvdreviews.blogspot.com/2025/09/little-fockers-ben-stiller.html show less

I know different movies appeal to different tastes, but this movie was just... so stupid. I watched it as a teenager and couldn't even finish it, it was that stupid. Overrated late 90s movie with a load of toxic masculinity. I had never heard of toxic masculinity before but what I did see had so much of it and it was just fucking stupid.

An emotionally isolated man befriends a 12-year-old boy.

2.5/4 (Okay).

It's pleasant. There are some laughs. It feels like it has a high opinion of itself, which is odd for what's basically a "Big Daddy" remake.

(May 2022)