About a dad: DVD offers tidbits about Grant’s role

“About a Boy”

Hugh Grant, Toni Collette

Universal, $27

Paul and Chris Weitz, the directors of this funny and touching comedy, admit that star Hugh Grant is much more like the charming but cynical London bachelor he plays in this film than the adorable, sensitive guys he portrayed in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Notting Hill.”

In fact, the directors say that in the scene where Grant’s character acts very uncomfortable when he has to hold a newborn baby, the actor wasn’t acting. He doesn’t like children. In fact, he’s afraid of them.

Still, Grant and Nicholas Hoult -- who plays a suicidal mother’s young son, whom the bachelor befriends -- have a wonderful chemistry.

The digital edition also features deleted scenes with director commentary; a better-than-average “making of” featurette; music videos; a translation of the British slang used in the film; and funny, perceptive commentary from the Weitz brothers, who previously wrote and directed “American Pie.”

*

“Undercover Brother”

Eddie Griffin, Denise Richards

Universal, $27

Malcolm D. Lee, a cousin of Spike Lee, directed this good-natured, silly comedy starring Griffin as the goofy, ‘70s-inspired Undercover Brother, who is recruited by the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. (an African American justice league) to foil the Man’s plans to stop a popular black general (Billy Dee Williams) from running for president.

The DVD includes a blooper reel, deleted scenes, the dreadful alternate ending, writer John Ridley’s original animated Internet films on which the movie is based and decent commentary from Lee.

You can skip Griffin’s commentary track, however: It’s boring and not at all funny.

*

“Blue Crush”

Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez

Universal, $27

Although the surfing footage is pretty impressive, this teen flick about a young woman’s (Bosworth) attempts to become a champion surfer while raising her kid sister is mind-numbingly mundane. And not a moment goes by when the soundtrack doesn’t feature a loud rock or hip-hop tune. At least the music drowns out the wretched dialogue.

The best thing about the digital edition is the presence of co-writer and director John Stockwell, who not only supplies a breezy commentary track, but also offers interesting comments for the deleted scenes, a mini-documentary (about the techniques used to shoot the surf footage) and a featurette chronicling the best wipeouts and action scenes in the film.

*

“Muhammad Ali the Greatest”

Muhammad Ali

Facets, $30

Frenchman William Klein’s hard-hitting, fly-on the-wall 1974 documentary covers the boxer’s life from 1964 to 1974. The first half of the film, shot in black and white, follows Ali during his 1964 and 1965 fights with Sonny Liston. The second half, in color, covers his 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” bout in Zaire with George Foreman.

Klein got incredible access -- mostly, he says, because he was in the right place at the right time -- to Ali and his entourage, and the result is simply exhilarating. Klein even captures the Beatles clowning around with Ali in 1964 while he was in training. The film is even more engrossing than Leon Gast’s Oscar-winning “When We Were Kings.”

Klein offers splendid scene-specific commentary. It’s too bad he didn’t do a commentary track for the entire film.

-- Susan King