About a Boy (2002)

About a Boy parents guide

Nothing past what a PG-13 promises: some innuendo or implied sex and some strong language.

Our estimate: fine from about 13. Rated PG-13.

Scare

Not scary

Jump scares

None noted

Gore

No gore

Violence

No real violence

Sex and nudity

Mild

Mild means innuendo, or sex implied off screen, with no nudity.

Language

Moderate

Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

What is About a Boy about?

Will Freeman is a good-looking, smooth-talking bachelor whose primary goal in life is avoiding any kind of responsibility. But when he invents an imaginary son in order to meet attractive single moms, Will gets a hilarious lesson about life from a bright, but hopelessly geeky 12-year-old named Marcus. Now, as Will struggles to teach Marcus the art of being cool, Marcus teaches Will that you're never too old to grow up.

Cast and crew

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About a Boy is on our Christmas list.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

• “funny but not stupid, under two hours”
• “a movie that will make me cry”
• “a fun halloween movie, not too scary”

Lists with the same feel: Feel-good and Cozy.