History Literature / AboutABoy

** IronicEcho: Marcus's use of it shows that he has taken it seriously, whereas Will prefers to defy it.

* CharactersMostHatedSong: Will [[IdleRich does not need to work]], instead living off the royalties of a successful Christmas song that his father wrote. Naturally, hearing the song in question is a BerserkButton for him (and was for his father as well, a composer who hated being pegged as a OneHitWonder).

** EarnYourHappyEnding: This is after nearly everyone was put through the emotional ringer.

--> '''Christine:''' I just thought you had hidden depths.
--> '''Will:''' No. No. You've always had that wrong. I really am this shallow.
* IdleRich: Will lives off royalties from his dad, a OneHitWonder.

* MustHaveLotsOfFreeTime: Will, but it's justified.

* PickUpBabesWithBabes

* BookEnds: The film both opens and closes with said quote.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Will, who lives comfortably from the royalties of his father's hit song, Santa's Super Sleigh.

* DeadpanSnarker: Will. Naturally as it's Hugh Grant.

* IntergenerationalFriendship

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Will.

* UnclePennybags: Whilst he is nowhere near as rich as most of the examples, Will is able to afford a really nice apartment in the middle of London and really is fun to be around, despite never having a job thanks to the royalties from his dad's song.

* ArtifactTitle: Partly true of the movie, which loses the references to Nirvana that added to the meaning of the book title. Of course, the movie still is literally about a boy (in more ways than one).

** The title is an homage to both the Music/{{Nirvana}} song "About a Girl" and Music/PattiSmith's Music/KurtCobain tribute "About a Boy." The book makes countless references to Nirvana and Cobain (Ellie idolizes Cobain, Marcus thinks Cobain is a British athlete named Kirk O'Bain, Cobain dies near the end of the book). Due to being a slight SettingUpdate, the movie omits these references entirely.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Will after Marcus gets him the joke gift of a Single Parents handbook.

* CharacterDevelopment. Almost all the major characters undergo it--Marcus learns to take care of himself and fit in better with other kids, while his mother gets a handle on her clinical depression and stops trying to run Marcus's life for him--but it's Will (who begins the film as a selfish, lying hedonist who's never held a job) who has the farthest to go, and he does rise to the task.

* HiddenDepths: Initially subverted early in the film, prior to his [[Character Development]]:

* OneHitWonder: Deconstructed. Will lives well on the money "Santa's Super Sleigh" earns him, but breaks into frothing-at-the-mouth fury whenever he hears it. His father, on the other hand, buried him self in work and at one point writes a musical in a day as one of a long series of desperate and futile attempts to have his work taken seriously.

* SchoolStudyMedia: One of the more recent books studied in UK secondary schools.

* BookEnds: the film both opens and closes with said quote.

* {{Narrator}}: both Will and Marcus provide voice-overs.

** In the epilogue, Will invites one of his ex-colleague because he thinks this man would be a good match for Marcus's mother.

** Will watches TV a lot: ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', ''Series/Countdown'', ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein''...

* ShoutOut: The title is an homage to both the Music/{{Nirvana}} song "About a Girl" and Music/PattiSmith's Music/KurtCobain tribute "About a Boy." The book makes countless references to Nirvana and Cobain (Ellie idolizes Cobain, Marcus thinks Cobain is a British athlete named Kirk O'Bain, Cobain dies near the end of the book). Due to being a slight SettingUpdate, the movie omits these references entirely.

* RevisedEnding: Owing to the film's new chronological setting, its ending is completely different from the book's. To wit: instead of an altercation at a police station and a TakeThat at Joni Mitchell, Marcus uses the ConcertClimax to sing his mother's favorite song in the hopes of cheering her up, with Will as [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther last-second back-up]].