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About A Song
The reality bleed in About A Boy
This 2002 film which is essentially about an awkward school kid, with a dysfunctional hippie mother who, crashes the life of a selfish good-for-nothing is emminently watchable and has a pretty decent storyline. There is the odd cringey scene but nothing too distressing. On the whole it maintains the integrity of the plot while the comedic and heartstring elements are woven together beautifully in an easy going Romcom. While critically acclaimed, there is an element that I have found impossible to reconcile after watching it a few times.
One of the critical attributes a film must maintain in order to engage with its audience is that of suspended disbelief. Film audiences generally watch films to be entertained and will quite happily forgive plots and incidents that lack real world credibility so long as they are consistent with the theme and scope of the film and don’t break ontological basics (the essence of things). Fundamental rules can be broken (such as being in 2 places at once) so long as there are extenuating reasons that are passable by the audience. Its almost a contract with the audience whereby they will happily abandon their critical faculties so long as the film gives them no reason to think outside of the box. Its possible to break the rules so long as justification is given for doing so.
