About A Boy (based on an acclaimed novel by Nick Hornby) is so smart in execution and tone that its abhorrent subject matter becomes irrelevant. In his best performance, Hugh Grant is Will Freeman, a slacker in his late 30s who has never had a job or been involved in a steady romance, and instead lives off the royalties of "Santa's Super Sleigh," a festive hit that his father wrote many years ago. When his plan to date as many single mothers as possible leads to his befriending of grade-school outcast Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), Will concocts a plot to pass Marcus off as his own son in an attempt to entangle with another single mother (Rachel Weisz). Inevitably, Will and Marcus teach each other to be better people, as Will's philosophy that "every man is an island" is crushed. Whatever. The basic story--a cynic awakens to the potentials of life from his friendship with a child--is the same pablum Cameron Crowe tried to pull off in Jerry Maguire. But here everything is observed with such sharpness that the question of what will happen takes a backseat the joy of watching it play out. By allowing Will to be somewhat likeable before steering him from his misanthropic comforts, the movie exerts a precious nobility. Directed with unexpected panache by the Weitz brothers (American Pie), About A Boy balances comedy and sentiment without resulting in the strained pandering to which this kind of effort often falls victim.