About A Boy

After producing an incredibly successful Christmas song, Will is pretty much set for life. He's rich, single, and ready to mingle. But then 11 year old Marcus and his mum move in next door and ruin his paradise.

This show is another adaptation of the novel About a Boy by Nick Hornby. The film under the same name was released in 2002 received plenty of positive reception. I had my fingers crossed for this show to be just as good as the movie.

So as I've said before, the film and this series have the same idea going on. Man-boy means boy and they become friends. Man-boy either gains fatherly/big brother feelings or matures in some way. It's cute but I feel like it's a story that we've seen way too many times already. My originality rating for this is gonna be low, ya already know.

The pilot was alright actually. Will is played by David Walton, who also plays Sam (the hot doctor) from New Girl. He plays a much more annoying character here though. Throughout the episode we get to see him make up lies to get laid and be a total inconsiderate ass to his new neighbor. Charming. But, hanging out and being a pal to Marcus does make him more tolerable to watch. Also, it's very fun to watch Minnie Driver play another crazy British woman. This time she's Fiona Bowa, an overprotective, vegan hippie? If you really wanna see her play a frustratingly crazy character, go watch Beyond the Lights. It's pretty good too.

Anyway, this first episode was like a remake of the film condensed into 22 minutes. We got it all - a Marcus-Will friendship montage, Will rejecting his friendship with the boy, and then becoming true friends in the end after saving him from social suicide at the talent show. My concern now is where this show is going to go. What kind of story is it going to tell? Is every episode just going to follow the same outline with Will acting like and ass and then showing maturity at the end? Is he going to get with Fiona and become one big family? I'm afraid that this idea might not have enough oomph left to make a great show. Nevertheless, I still think this episode was light and fun and I'd watch the next one.

RATING

Originality: 2/5
Attention Lock-ability: 3.5/5
Soundtrack: 4.5/5
Ep. 2 Worthy?: Yeah sure why not