"About a Boy"

I rented this movie about a week ago. It stars Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, and some boy that hasn't been in much. I liked it a lot, and will probably buy it down the road.

Grant plays a commitment-phobic Londoner who lives handsomely off of royalties from a crappy Christmas song his dad wrote. So, naturally, if he doesn't have to do anything, he doesn't. He spends his time going from relationship to relationship, breaking hearts and not caring. Then, a friend hooks him up with a single mom who ends the relationship just at the time he does. So, he thinks that all single moms would be like that and goes out trying to find some to date.

In his pursuit, he goes to a meeting for single parents, inventing a two year old son. His behavior is horrible, but watching him try to live up to this lie is amusing enough. He gets a date with one of the moms and when they go to a picnic, she has to bring along the twelve year-old boy of a friend suffering from depression. This boy, is, well, weird. And I mean singing random 80s pop songs in class weird. When they take the kid home at the end of the day, they find his mom on the couch after a failed suicide attempt.

After that, the boy begins following Grant around town, showing up at his house, and they form an unlikely friendship. They help each other out with girls, friends, and life in general.

The premise of this movie could go either way. But, they did an excellent job with it. Grant was perfect for the role, going from a selfish late 30s man to someone who has something to care about. It also spoke beautifully on how we do need to have others around us to help us be happy and how we can cheer up someone else's life. Selflessness was a huge theme of the movie. Definitely a movie that can bring some tears to your eyes, it really touched me. I think it was a great movie. It is rated PG-13, and I think that's because there are a few swear words here and there. But I would definitely give this movie a 5 out of 5. It relates a great message about caring for others which, I'm afraid, we don't see much in the world of movies anymore.

"Benchwarmers"

Now, generally I'm into much more intelligent comedy than this slapstick nonsense, but being a huge fan of "Napoleon Dynamite" and Jon Heder, I thought I would give this movie a chance.

First off, it is funny. The whole premise is that 3 adult losers, 2 of which had never even had dates before, form a baseball team to kick the butts of all the little league bullies. They get financial help from a billionare who was a loser as a kid, too, and away they go. The only person who can actually play is Gus, and along the way, Clark and Richie learn and get pretty good.

Clark tends to throw the bat when he tries to hit the ball. This results in many broken windshields, the death of three squirrels, and a few other mishaps. The first time Richie throws a ball, it ends up landing on his head. Or when Clark throws a rock at Gus mowing the lawn, well, let's just say someone gets hurt. These moments are really some of the funniest. Guffaws might even ensue.

The movie does try to have a moving end, letting some kids get into the game. Unfortunately, I think it fails to really move anyone anywhere. I guess the guys' hearts are in the right place, but that message really doesn't come out that much.

So, would I recommend buying this one? No. I recommend watching it once. It is funny, but I can't see that any enjoyment can be gotten out of seeing it more than that. Now, like I said, I don't really go for this brand of comedy. It was good, but I didn't walk away from it all that impressed. So I give it 2 1/2 popcorn kernals out of 5.