It is at that point Foster stops reacting to the attempts of Whitaker, Leto and Yoakam and starts becoming proactive in finding away to stop the intruders. It is also here that Fincher begins to increase tension using a combination of extreme close ups, tilting, panning, reverse,over the shoulder shots and even using slow motion shots that would have looked like a film directed by a four year old if even attempted by a less competent director than Fincher. For the first time in the film Foster attempts to exit the panic room and find her mobile to call for help, upon doing this tension rises between the intruders and Junior reveals the exact amount of money in the panic room, he then attempts to leave the house and the action really starts. Following this Stephen Altman (Patrick Bauchau), Meg's ex-husband turns up at the house and the police not long after.
Before the police arrive Foster shows her maternal side again when trying to save Bachau from the same fate as Junior. Foster really stands out as the films protagonist risking everything for someone who recently divorced her, one of flaws of this part of the film is Foster's clothes miraculously change from being slightly dirty to looking as if she had been in a war. In the end the Altmans reunited and the film resolves all the problems they had faced and they emerge relatively unscathed and makes for a bog standard film. Ultimately, the only reason Panic Room was nominated for eight awards and even managed to win one was because of Jodie Fosters performance bring the portrayal of a single mother out of the dark ages and into the twenty first century and not becoming the typical damsel-in-distress waiting to rescued by the hero, in fact Fincher has reversed these roles making Bauchau the damsel-in-distress and Foster the hero. This film is far from a five star rating however, it fairly entertaining even if it not convincingly scary enough to make anyone get a panic room for themselves.
About a Boy is film by acclaimed director Paul Weitz, probably best known for his work in American Pie (1999) with his brother Chris Weitz, who also wrote the screenplay for About a Boy. The Weitz brothers experience in American pie generally help them to do justice to the original Nick Hornby book in this more than average comedy drama. The opening shots in the film make good use of voice over shots and establish the basis for the entire film, a man is an island. The rest of the camera shots are fairly average for a film like this. Unlike many films that highlight issues faced by single parents About a Boy goes about it with comedy and Weitz and made sure that there is a steady supply of laughs for both Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) and Marcus Brewer (Nicholas Hoult) throughout.
In the first fifteen minutes of this film Weitz sets the scene for an unlikely set of events by forcing the characters on the viewer, Will with his 'Every man is an island. I stand by that.' beliefs, Marcus with his ideas that he should be happy even if society doesn't approve of what you do and Fiona Brewer (Toni Collette), Marcus's mum with her beliefs that she only needs Marcus and that Marcus only needs her. It is also made clear that Will is a womaniser and is always looking for ways to find a new girlfriend.
It is when Will dates a single mother and gets dumped, something has never happened to him before,that his roller coaster journey starts. It must also be said that Weitz used a technically simple albeit highly effective series of close-up and over the shoulder shots to give more insight into Will's life and the use of voice overs, something done constantly during About a Boy, used as a narration for those find the film to complicated to follow just by watching it. He then discovers the wonderful world of single mothers and the single parent support group SPAT, it is here he meets Suzy who leads him to Marcus, the son of a depressed single parent - who also brings out Will's paternal side with the killing of a duck. After Fiona (Marcus's mum) attempts something drastic Marcus realises he needs a father figure and decides Will is the one to be it.
In the next thirty minutes the acting quality decreases somewhat with, at some points, Hugh Grant sounding like a machine and only poor Nicholas Hoult trying to carry the film to the end, the quality of the film towards the end becomes so bad better would be expected of an independent film with a budget a fraction of the twenty million used in this. At times, the film redeems itself with the occasional unusual camera shot or the occasional underplayed punchlines that Grant makes the most of. But these moments, excellent as they are, are few and far between, a shame- About A Boy could have been an excellent film to rival the likes of Notting Hill. The one constantly solid performer, Toni Collette giving a slightly more than adequate performance of a single parent and providing support for Grant during the low points of the film was one of the only reasons to keep watching .The positive aspects of the film outweigh the negative aspects, but there will always be the feeling that the Weitz brothers could have done more to make this film a true classic, winning all of the twenty six awards it was nominated for, not just eight.
These films both show a convincing view of a single parent and the difficulties that they face, I just cannot help but get the feeling the directors could have done more and I hope that any directors planning on doing a similarly themed film will easily reach the standard and overtake these films in being some of the best tackling this issue. Are these parents perfect? far from it. However if these films stop one parent from committing suicide or stops one burglar from burgling a single parent home these films will have been worth it.