20 Most Inspiring Movies Of All-Time
19. About A Boy
What? About A Boy an inspirational film? In a list that includes so many Oscar winners and Fresh ratings on Rotten Tomatoes aplenty and films that you can wholly predict that would here (by both deserving it and, well, if you dont think The Shawshank Redemption is going to be high on this list then you dont watch enough inspirational films!).
Why a Hugh Grant film though? Isnt it just a romantic comedy spawn from the boom-time of Richard Curtis? Well, yes and no. Will Freeman lives a dream life of no responsibilities and no work as he lives off the royalties of his fathers Christmas hit Santas Super Sleigh.
The main thing in his life is meeting women, having sex and then breaking up with them before he gets emotionally tied. He even goes to the SPAT group (Single Parents Alone Together) to try and get some single mums. To do this though, he has to invent a son, which he does with panache.
On a SPAT picnic he meets 12 year old Marcus, a lonely boy who gets bullied and, on returning, Will, Marcus and Wills date Suzie, find Marcus mum unconscious after a suicide attempt. From there, Will tries to woo Rachel Weisz and needs Marcus to play his son. Unfortunately for Will, he falls in love with Rachel and, after she dumps him when she realises his life is a sham, he decides he needs to help the one person who means something to him. Marcus.
The film, a witty and as charming as it is, is also a paen to being with other people. Will has shut himself so much into his world of HMV video shopping and one night stands that the Ibiza lifestyle is both lonely and sad. This is a film which shows hope in companionship is everything and is perhaps the most inspiring film for those who are alone in life.
Also, through Marcus, it's a film about answering your bullies and, through its own Rocky moment, even sees Will on stage, eyes closed, rocking out to Killing Me Softly in front of a school hall full of kids. Maybe not the most obvious of inspirational films but, when youre down, this is one to pull you up, close your eyes and realise that no man is an island.