My boy (film, 2002)

Will Freeman (Grant) is a 38-year-old bachelor. He lives on royalties for a song created long ago by his father-composer. His only hobby is shopping in music stores. Once, Will chose for himself a convenient way to change girlfriends: he began to attend meetings of the society of single parents and start fleeting novels with young mothers. For himself, he came up with the image of an allegedly abandoned father with his two-year-old son Ned. At one of the meetings, he agrees with Susie, her friend Fiona and the son of Fiona, 12-year-old Marcus. With Fiona, the romance did not work out, but unexpectedly for himself, Will became close to Marcus. For the boy, he became something like an older brother or father. He protects Marcus from bullies, buys sneakers and CDs. He in response entrusts him with his secrets. Thanks to Marcus, Will meets another attractive single mom, Rachel. An affair begins between them, and Will has to confess his lies - he is not Marcus's father. Rachel quarrels with him, but then forgives.

Fiona begins a period of depression. Marcus is very worried and he has no one to go but to Will. In response, Will refuses the boy, believing that this is already too much, yet he is an outsider in this family. Desperate, Marcus decides to fulfill his mother’s dream and sing her favorite song at a school concert, although he does not have vocal abilities. Will tries to stop him, believing that he will be humiliated in the face of the whole school, but Marcus is adamant. Marcus, to the whistle of the public, begins his performance alone (his friend refused to play along with him). Suddenly, Will appears next to the stage, accompanies the song on the guitar and sings along. The performance ends with liquid applause, but the boy managed to avoid shame.

After the concert story, Will gets close to Rachel. Marcus is initially opposed, but then resigned to the fact that they will soon get married.

Hugh Grant received several awards for his role in this film, including: Empire Magazine Award for Best British Actor, Germany’s Golden Cinema Home Film Award for Best Foreign Actor, and London Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor.

The film itself and its crew were nominated in various categories more than 20 times, including the Academy Award for Best Screenplay and the BAFTA Award in the same category , but did not receive any awards.

In 2003, the filmmakers were awarded the St. Christopher Prize "for the best feature film that carries the ideas of humanism."

“You should not pretend that“ My boy ”does not make us warm and beautiful in our hearts, of course. But the potential of the film could be much greater. The merit of the success of the painting is in its literary basis, Nick Hornby’s novel "Kenneth Tyuran // Los Angeles Times (May 17, 2002) ^[1]

“Most of us know the phrase: a film is not as good as a book. “My boy” runs counter to this statement. The film is fresh and dynamic, like the book on which it is based. "Claudia Puig // YueSay Tudey (May 16, 2002) ^[2]

• Brad Pitt refused this role due to the lack, in his opinion, of reliability. A handsome and charming man does not need to resort to the described method of dating.
• In the novel, Will puts for Marcus the composition of the Nirvana group. In 1993-1994, when the novel was created, the topic of Kurt Cobain's suicide was extremely discussed. The name of the novel itself ( Eng. About a Boy ) is the beaten name of Cobain’s song “About a Girl”.

• Official movie website
• My Boy on the Internet Movie Database  
• My boy on allmovie  
• My Boy on Rotten Tomatoes