Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is some sort of mushy, sentimentalist crap. A film that's so overwrought, so full of utterly one-dimensional emotions, that it's almost offensive. It's got a star who is utterly punchable (except punching kids is bad!). And guess what? I freaking liked it. A lot. Believe me, I'm as surprised as you are.

The film is directed by Stephen Daldry, who always manages to turn trite into something better. This guy is some sort of miracle worker. He directs the hell out of his films and makes them connect to an audience even when they don't want to be connected. I went into this movie expecting the worst. I read the reviews. I was as shocked as everyone else when it got nominated for Best Picture. Plainly speaking, I didn't want to see it. Maybe it was because my expectations were so low. I don't know. But I ended up liking the damn thing.

It's the story of a young New York City boy (Thomas Horn) who may or may not have Asperger's. He lives with his mom (a plain looking Sandra Bullock) and jeweler dad (Tom Hanks). He and his dad are incredibly close. They go on expeditions, which are sort of scavanger hunts with dad making up stories about a mysterious sixth borough of the city so that his son will have to traverse Central Park and talk to strangers (which is the real mission, of course, since he has so much difficulty with this) and try to solve the mystery. They have a perfectly sweet, if not completely nerdy family. Then, 9/11 strikes and dad had a meeting in the World Trade Center. Oscar's life changes. Struggling with grief and guilt and all kinds of things that he's not emotionally equipped to deal with, he finds a key in his father's closet and decides it's his dad's final way of trying to reach out for him. His final mission, and the only way he can keep his father close. The key is in an envelope marked "Black" and he sets out to speak to everyone named black in New York City, trying to decide if they knew his father and what the key means. Along the way, he meets Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright and the movie stealing Max Von Sydow.

I know what you're all thinking. The fact that I like this movie is very suspect. I mean, after all, I have impeccable, IMPECCABLE, taste in films! But there was just something about this film that struck me. It's not perfect, not by a long shot, but it's emotional in such a way that makes you want to like it more than you should. I went into this thing wanting to hate it, just like everybody else. But, despite myself, I just couldn't do it. Something about it just got to me. Bullock is solid and since Hollywood loves her so much, I'm surprised her name hasn't been thrown around more during award season. Horn is a great find. As much as I wanted to punch him in the face in the beginning, he grew on me (especially since he's sort of a younger male version of me... I mean I'm scared of EVERYTHING too). But Von Sydow is what sealed the deal for me. As a man who never speaks a word (there's a lot of that going around this award season), he is absolutely riveting to watch. He's astounding really and I'm glad he got nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Overall, I know there's a lot of hatred out there for this movie, but I just couldn't bring myself to hate it. Believe me, I tried.

Grade: B