::: Jeff Resnick
Hugh Grant stars as the last hero of the dot-com era, the Sun-Tzu of Nothing, the one who lived the Seinfeldian Dream. Can the dot-commers join the grown-up world? ::: Click here to read the full text.
Great take on a really funny flick!
It brings up the ironic point that it takes a lot of work to place someone(s) in a position where they'll free to do nothing.
For instance:
1) In 'About a Boy' it was only because of Will's father's
musical work, writing that catchy Christmas song that
Will picked up his 'do nothing' inheritance. (If you think
it was easy for Will's dad to write that song, you're wrong.
Cause, as Will tells us, his father tried numerous time to
repeat-the-feat with no success.)
2) Likewise with Seinfeld. Although the show was supposedly
about nothing, it was extremely well constructed: plot
(how about the backwards eposide?), characters
Neuuuman), and especially dialogue ('Not that there's
anything wrong with that!'). It took a lot of work to come
up (and continue) a great sit-com like Seinfeld!
Not sure how close Seinfeld is to About a Boy...
Granted both stories revolve around fascination with vapidity...
But Seinfeld has a certain superficiality to it. Seinfeld thrives as a show based around a group of people talking about nothing. What is funny to the audience is the notion that a group of people can form a tight-knit community based on the trivial. Seinfeld is an unexamined About a Boy.
The closing monologue of the film version of About a Boy shows that the characters have recognized the meaning, structure, stability, and accountability that the other characters provide for them. About a Boy is a strong affirmation of familial, if non-traditional, relationships.
Seinfeld the series ends with this final thumb-on-nose to the world. Almost as if the characters make a choice to eschew everything because there is ultimately nothing but hopeless existence.