<P> Grant's "immaculate comic performance" (BBC) as the trust - funded womaniser, Will Freeman, in the film adaptation of Nick Hornby's best - selling novel About a Boy received raves from critics . Almost universally praised, with an Academy Award - nominated screenplay, About a Boy (2002) was determined by the Washington Post to be "that rare romantic comedy that dares to choose messiness over closure, prickly independence over fetishised coupledom, and honesty over typical Hollywood endings ." Rolling Stone wrote, "The acid comedy of Grant's performance carries the film (and he) gives this pleasing heartbreaker the touch of gravity it needs," while Roger Ebert observed that "the Cary Grant department is understaffed, and Hugh Grant shows here that he is more than a star, he is a resource ." Released a day after the blockbuster Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones, About a Boy was a more modest box office grosser than other successful Grant films, making all of $129 million globally . The film earned Grant his third Golden - Globe nomination, while the London Film Critics Circle named Grant its Best British Actor and GQ honoured him as one of the magazine's men of the year 2006 . "His performance can only be described as revelatory," wrote critic Ann Hornaday, adding that "Grant lends the shoals layer upon layer of desire, terror, ambivalence and self - awareness ." The New York Observer concluded: "(The film) gets most of its laughs from the evolved expertise of Hugh Grant in playing characters that audiences enjoy seeing taken down a peg or two as a punishment for philandering and womanising and simply being too handsome for words - and with an English accent besides . In the end, the film comes over as a messy delight, thanks to the skill, generosity and good - sport, punching - bag panache of Mr. Grant's performance ." About a Boy also marked a notable change in Grant's boyish look . Now 41, he had lost weight and also abandoned his trademark floppy hair . Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman took note of Grant's maturation in his review, saying he looked noticeably older and that it "looked good on him ." He added that Grant's "pillowy cheeks are flatter and a bit drawn, and the eyes that used to peer with' love me' cuteness now betray a shark's casual cunning . Everything about him is leaner and spikier (including his hair, which has been shorn and moussed into a Eurochic bed - head mess), but it's not just his surface that's more virile; the nervousness is gone, too . Hugh Grant has grown up, holding on to his lightness and witty cynicism but losing the stuttering sherry - club mannerisms that were once his signature . In doing so, he has blossomed into the rare actor who can play a silver - tongued sleaze with a hidden inner decency ." </P> <P> Grant was also paired with Sandra Bullock in Warner Bros.'s Two Weeks Notice, which made $199 million internationally but received poor reviews . The Village Voice concluded that Grant's creation of a spoiled billionaire fronting a real estate business was "little more than a Britishism machine ." </P> <P> Two Weeks Notice was followed by the 2003 ensemble comedy, Love Actually, headlined by Grant as the British Prime Minister . A Christmas release by Working Title Films, the film was promoted as "the ultimate romantic comedy" and accumulated $246 million at the international box office . It marked the directorial debut of Richard Curtis, who told the New York Times that Grant adamantly tempered the characterisation of the role to make his character more authoritative and less haplessly charming than earlier Curtis incarnations . Roger Ebert claimed that "Grant has flowered into an absolutely splendid romantic comedian" and has "so much self - confidence that he plays the British prime minister as if he took the role to be a good sport ." Film critic Rex Reed, on the contrary, called Grant's performance "an oversexed bachelor spin on Tony Blair" as the star "flirted with himself in the paroxysm of self - love that has become his acting style ." </P> <P> In a 2005 speech, British Prime Minister Tony Blair referred to Grant's character, saying: "I know there's a bit of us that would like me to do a Hugh Grant in Love Actually and tell America where to get off . But the difference between a good film and real life is that in real life there's the next day, the next year, the next lifetime to contemplate the ruinous consequences of easy applause ." </P>

Who played the prime minister in love actually