In theaters

ABOUT A BOY, written and directed by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz, based on the book by Nick Hornby, 100 minutes, PG-13.

There isn’t a special effect or a clone to be found in Paul and Chris Weitz’s new film, “About a Boy,” but there is a major collision of worlds.

The film, from a script the Weitzes based on Nick Hornby’s book, is the story of Will Freeman, a self-absorbed, 38-year-old London bachelor who may look like the innocent boy next door, but who’s actually little more than a cold-hearted cad, a man who doesn’t think twice about joining a single parents support group and tricking unwed mothers into sleeping with him.

With his carefully tousled hair, trendy clothes and ultramodern apartment – the entirety of which seems to have been chiseled from a refrigerated block of brushed steel – Will is the very definition of chilly English shallowness, a lay-about lout who has never worked a day in his life thanks to the hefty royalties he’s received from his father’s one-hit-wonder song, “Santa’s Super Sleigh.”

As you might expect from anyone whose favorite word is “brilliant,” Will’s life is anything but, a tedious exercise in empty self-indulgence that’s as lacking in substance as the cineplexes are lacking in good movies.

But “About a Boy” changes all that. When a troubled 12-year-old boy named Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) enters Will’s life with a heavy heart and the baggage of a suicidal mother (Toni Collette), Will gets the kick in the pants he needs – and audiences get a good movie in return.

Digging far deeper into the male psyche than they ever did in their breakout movie, “American Pie,” the Weitz brothers have made a movie that eschews sentiment and skirts the easy cliche – no small feat these days.

What’s great about their film is how content it is to just observe its characters and allow them their foibles, treating them not as people who exist solely to flesh out a script, but as flesh-and-blood human beings who can’t be contained by a script.

On paper, there’s nothing about Will that’s especially likable, so it’s to Grant’s credit that he makes him a sensitive figure nevertheless worth caring for. It’s a tricky performance that stands as a slick sleight of hand, but Grant, backed by an excellent cast that includes Rachel Weisz as his reluctant girlfriend, breezes through the role, leaning on his considerable charm to find the root of Will’s true potential as he unwittingly matures into the man he must become.

Grade: A-

On video and DVD

VANILLA SKY, written and directed by Cameron Crowe, 130 minutes, rated R.

“Most of us live our whole lives without any real adventure to call our own,” says a character in Cameron Crowe’s “Vanilla Sky.” “What is any life if not the pursuit of a dream?”

David Aames (Tom Cruise), the super-rich, ultraspoiled publishing tycoon at the heart of this trippy tale, certainly finds out.

Indeed, when David’s charmed life is ripped apart after dumping his off-and-on girlfriend Julie Gianni (Cameron Diaz) for the softer, prettier curves of Sofia Serrano (Penelope Cruz), he’s tossed into a nightmare of his own.

Without giving too much away, “Vanilla Sky,” which is a remake of Alejandro Amenabar’s 1998 Spanish stunner, “Open Your Eyes,” follows last year’s other head trips – “Waking Life,” “Mulholland Drive” and “Memento” – in that it tackles 2001’s most provocative theme for filmmakers: What happens when our dreams collide with reality?

For David Aames, what happens is a disfiguring car accident, a murder rap, the potential loss of his publishing empire and the nagging idea that the love of his life might be a figment of his imagination. What’s real? What isn’t? Crowe blurs the lines and shakes up the landscape, but he doesn’t show his hand.

As “Vanilla Sky” jackknifes into its wealth of Lynchian twists and Kubrickian turns, most of which make little sense until the film’s final moments, the audience is asked to be patient in ways that most mainstream movies never ask them to be patient.

That decision might kill the film’s appeal for some, but keep in mind that an open mind might also free it for others.

Grade: B+

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, occasionally on E! Entertainment’s “E! News Weekend,” Tuesdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5” and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

THE VIDEO/DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Lantana ? A

Vanilla Sky ? B+

Corky Romano ? D-

From Hell ? C

The Others ? B+

Snow Dogs ? B-

Ocean’s Eleven ? B

Waking Life ? A

Ali ? B+

Not Another Teen Movie ? C-

Behind Enemy Lines ? C-

No Man’s Land ? A

Black Knight ? F

The Deep End ? A

Domestic Disturbance ? C

The Man Who Wasn’t There ?

B+

Mulholland Drive ? A

Spy Game ? C+

Bandits ? D

13 Ghosts ? F

Donnie Darko ? B

K-Pax ? B-

Life as a House ? C

Original Sin ? F

Our Lady of the Assassins ? B+

Riding in Cars with Boys ? B-

Training Day ? B-

Heist ? B+

Joy Ride ? B+

Zoolander ? C-

A.I. ? B-

The Last Castle ? C-

Sexy Beast ? B+

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

? F

The Musketeer ? D-

The Taste of Others ? A-

Don’t Say a Word ? C-

Hardball ? C+

O ? B+

Hearts in Atlantis ? B

Life Without Dick ? D

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin ? D

Ghost World ? A