Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2012)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Lorenzo v

  
  <i>"If things were easy to find, they wouldn't be worth finding."</i> A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center… More
  <i>"If things were easy to find, they wouldn't be worth finding."</i> A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. <center><font size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook"><b><u>REVIEW</u></b></font></center> Precocious, maddeningly inquisitive Manhattan preteen, egged on by his jeweler father/best buddy to be a reconnaissance explorer, finds himself rudderless a year after his dad's demise in the 9/11 disaster--until the accidental discovery of a single key in his father's belongings reawakens the need to explore and find answers, and to keep his father's memory alive. Handsomely-produced drama, adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer's novel by Eric Roth, unfortunately keeps nervous young Thomas Horn in a constant state of paranoia and panic. Horn's Oskar is deeply upset by his father's senseless death, yet his belligerence is alienating to the audience (grieving mom Sandra Bullock can't reach him, and neither can we). Oskar bruises his skin with pinch marks, hides under his bed, and locks himself in the bathroom--that is until Saturday, when he takes it upon himself to storm up to the doorsteps of area residents to ask questions about the curious key (and these people are shown inviting the child in, as if New York City were really just one big daisy chain of lives interlocked by a national tragedy). Horn (who resembles Elijah Wood in his youth) pulls off a handful of difficult scenes with amazing self-assurance, but his mid-movie recap of events (told at top volume via staccato flashbacks and quick cuts to Horn's panicked face) is too much to bear. After this impossible sequence, the film's momentum freezes, congealing into an off-putting boys' adventure tale, one laden with open wounds.

• Liam G

  
  ''Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'' is a great comedy. It provides so many laugh out loud moments and not one joke falls flat. If you're looking for a great comedy in theatres right now, this is the..oh..wait...this is supposed to be a drama?… More
  ''Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'' is a great comedy. It provides so many laugh out loud moments and not one joke falls flat. If you're looking for a great comedy in theatres right now, this is the..oh..wait...this is supposed to be a drama? Crrraaaaapppp.

• Nate Z

  
  The biggest surprise on the morning of the Academy Award nominations was the inclusion of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close in the nine nominees for Best Picture. Critics have universally derided the 9/11 drama, becoming the lowest critically rated Best Picture nominee in the last… More
  The biggest surprise on the morning of the Academy Award nominations was the inclusion of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close in the nine nominees for Best Picture. Critics have universally derided the 9/11 drama, becoming the lowest critically rated Best Picture nominee in the last 30 years, according to some awards pundits. The second lowest rated Best Picture nominee in that same span of time? The Reader, also directed by Stephen Daldry. Under new Academy voting rules, a nominee has to garner at least five percent of first place votes on members' ballots. That means that at least 250 Academy members voted this crass, manipulative, off-putting, wrongheaded, exploitative movie as the best film of the year, thereby voluntarily divulging they must not have seen a single other movie for 2011. Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) was nine years old when his father, Thomas Schell (Tom Hanks), was killed on September 11, 2001. He was in one of the World Trade Center buildings and left six frantic phone messages before perishing. In the ensuing months after the disaster, Oskar is lashing out against his mother (Sandra Bullock) who spends all day in bed. Then one day he discovers a mysterious key in his father's closet inside an envelope labeled "Black." Oskar's father used to send his son on a series of adventures around New York, looking for a fabled "sixth borough," forcing Oskar to confront his numerous fears and insecurities. Oskar looks through the New York phone book and catalogs over 400 separate people with the last name of Black in the five boroughs. He's convinced that his father has left one last hidden message somewhere in the city. My main sticking point was that I found Oskar to be an insufferable, bratty, little jerk. I understand he's hurting and he's trying to work through his pain. I understand he is gripped by irrational fears and has a hard time relating to others. I understand that Oskar's father even tested him for Asperger's, though the results were negative. Some people will try and explain away Oskar's callous behavior in sweeping generalizations having to do with the ignorance of children or some undiagnosed medical problem. I've known people with Asperger's syndrome and while Oskar fits a few of the superficial tics, being a jerk is not a symptom, sorry. He's so mean to his grieving mother and indifferent about other people that I wanted to slap him. I found him to be unsympathetic and wholly irritating. I found his unsupervised journeys for cutesy quests throughout New York City to be dubious. His parents just let their ten-year-old socially awkward kid run around New York City by himself at all hours? The movie goes in a bad direction when it partners this talky nuisance up with a silent old man, played by the wonderful Max von Sydow (the movie's only other Oscar nomination; another stretch I'd say). Here's a breakdown of my thought process: Oskar comes home on 9/11 to find the last recorded messages of his father, including an admission of love for his family. Oskar runs out and buys an identical answering machine and sneakily hides the original, denying his mother, a grieving widow, the chance to hear her husband's voice one last time. Screw that kid. I'm sorry but that's what went through my mind and to me he never recovered. His actions are inexcusable. Then he gets mad because his mom sleeps all day. She's grieving you little snot! And then he has the gall to tell her, "I wish it was you instead!" It's a moment intended to draw gasps, ripping the scab clear off whatever pretensions mother and son have with one another. But it just made me dislike the kid even more. The fact that even by the film's ending emotional catharsis Oskar still hasn't shared the answering machine messages with his mother is reprehensible. The other factor that caused me to despise the main character was how Horn proves to be a dreadful actor. This is the first acting role for the former teen Jeopardy champ. He's able to spit the rapid-fire, idiosyncratic dialogue burdened with cumbersome detail. However, Horn gives a terribly mannered performance. He has this annoying manner of over enunciating every single word, getting lost in a character affectation, always stagy and artificial. You combine a bad actor with an aggravating character and make them the lead of the story, and I'm already daydreaming possible murder scenarios (I don't condone child murder mind you -- I'd make it look like an accident). As for Oskar's parents, Hanks is hardly in the movie and Bullock does shockingly well, nailing her most emotional moments. I'd rather see this movie from her point of view, trying to make sense of the insensible to her challenging son who hates her. Daldry wishes to use the backdrop of 9/11 to talk about important items. It's too bad that his movie has nothing legitimate to say about healing. I was assuming that over the course of the film Oskar was going to run into a diverse collection of people, all healing, all with their own stories of pain, and then he would learn that the real treasure was the community of strangers he had brought together. Nope! Oskar runs into a gamut of fine actors, including Viola Davis, John Goodman, and Jeffrey Wright, but they all become mere baton-passers to a self-involved kid. They and their stories don't matter. The lock to our missing key doesn't matter. There's a final revelation concerning Oskar's mother and her activities to benefit her son that seems entirely implausible. Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Curious Case of Benjamin Button) have transformed Jonathan Safran Foer's novel about collective grief into a strangely myopic narrative given the scale of the suffering. The movie is so transparently manipulative, shamelessly exploiting 9/11 anxieties and trauma to tell its intolerable little quest. In no way is 9/11 meaningfully connected with the overall story of loss. Oskar's father could just have readily died in a war or had a brain aneurism. What 9/11 is used for, however, is an easy device to stir the audience's emotions. Daldry will flash back to it at seemingly random moments in the narrative, to goose the audience into feeling gloomy. I'm sure many people will sit through this movie and feel moments of genuine sadness, but that's because the filmmakers are shamelessly manipulating the raw feelings we have over a national tragedy. It's hard not to feel a lump in your throat seeing the towers smoking, frantic calls to missing or doomed loved ones, and final recordings bearing the weight of compounded dread. It's not too soon to talk about the psychic wounds of that terrible day but I strongly resent people who exploit those memories. There are moments that are so misguided and yet given the Hollywood gloss of an awards-bait picture. The very opening image is of Tom Hanks freefalling to his death. Oskar's little picture book he constructs at the end of his journey includes a final page with the World Trade Center. And there's a little slip that when pulled creates a picture of a man falling up back into the tower. What? Is that supposed to be a good thing? Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is such a misguided, crass venture that's also extremely shameless and incredibly cloying. The main character is unlikable, exasperating, and portrayed by a rather amateurish child actor. Daldry's hackneyed direction will settle on treacle and contrived sentiment whenever possible, but the emotions never feel properly earned. He's pressing buttons and forcing tears, and several viewers will be unaware of how efficiently they were manipulated into having a moving experience at the theater. I know I can't be alone is seeing through the manipulation and feeling indignant about the ordeal. I'm not against tackling the difficult subject of 9/11 in movies (I declared United 93 the best film of 2006). Here's a good question for you filmgoers out there: is there that big of a difference between this movie and 2010's unpleasant teen drama, Remember Me? Both use the 9/11 attacks to cover narrative and characterization deficiencies, vulgarly exploiting our feelings of the events to engender feeling, and both don't belong anywhere near an awards stage. Nate's Grade: C-

• Tired of P

  
  Question: Have you avoided seeing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close because you know what it's about or the reminder it has in the story? Well, stop thinking that and go see the movie. You probably know this is a story that surrounds the aftermath of September 11th. But… More
  Question: Have you avoided seeing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close because you know what it's about or the reminder it has in the story? Well, stop thinking that and go see the movie. You probably know this is a story that surrounds the aftermath of September 11th. But it's not how the world survives the attack but how one young boy, Oscar, deals with losing one of his parents on that day. The memory of 9/11 may make this film hard to watch - especially for us Americans or anyone connected to that day. However, I saw a deeper meaning to this film and that is why I am recommending it. Question: Do you have one person that understands you completely? No matter what you say, what you do or how you feel about things, this person gets it. They get you! It's a rare thing and if you have it - treasure it! They know exactly what to say, when to pry, when to back off, when to listen, and when to say you are being ridiculous. And you feel safe just knowing that one person is there, by your side. As a child it usually is a parent. As an adult it could be a spouse, a friend, a neighbor or anyone you instantly connect with for whatever reason. There is just something about this other person that makes you feel whole. It doesn't really matter why but a bond exists, and this bond helps people throughout their lives as they deal with things that don't make sense. (Really, does the world make sense to you? I am clueless half the time.) They help you make sense of the senselessness. And you can breathe normally even when life throws those speed-demon curveballs we all get from time to time. Question: What happens when that one person, the one you depend on the most, goes away? Or worse, they die. That is easy to answer: your world collapses. Imagine though if you are an 11 year-old boy and your father, the only person who "got" you, died on "the worst day?" (Grabs tissues) The character, Oscar, loses the one person that he loved more than anyone, the one who understood him best and he does everything in his power to stay connected with him. Oscar is different. He sees the world in his own unique way, a way his father completely supported and encouraged. He is extremely bright and fascinated with treasure hunting, of sorts, because he and his father were always working on discovering some wondrous thing or working on an adventure. In order to keep close to his father and cope with his loss he decides to form a new quest and for the rest of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close we are his companions for his adventure. Yes, the story went in and out of that tragic day; and I was a complete mess anytime a mention, thought or visual came on screen. But as I said the story is not wholly about that day. It's about dealing with the loss of the one person that made you feel special, normal and safe. Saying goodbye is hard enough but letting go and moving on is even harder. I think everyone can relate to a tale like this. Everyone! And the last part of the film really brought it altogether because we humans require that connection to be with others and to have a support system. This should make everyone want to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close because we can all use a guiding hand on how to cope with the senselessness of the world - especially when we are alone or feel all alone. Yes, this movie will make you cry. I sure did - a lot. However, I wish it will give you hope and an understanding that even if you had that one person who made you feel good but they are no longer here, you will survive because....well, I am not going to tell you. You'll just have to see the movie and figure that one out. Directed by Stephen Daldry, Warner Bros., 2011 Starring: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, Max von Sydow, John Goodman and Jeffrey Wright Genre: Drama My favorite part: That movies can teach me things - even how to get over a loss. My least favorite thing: It was a overly sentimental especially towards the end. Rating: PG-13 Length: 123 minutes Review: 6 out of 10

• Raymond W

  
  I'm not really sure what everyone is complaining about. In regards to the comments saying it's too heavy-handed, I think it's a pretty heavy story. For me, the direction worked well. Now, I can see why people are saying it's too manipulative or pretentious, and… More
  I'm not really sure what everyone is complaining about. In regards to the comments saying it's too heavy-handed, I think it's a pretty heavy story. For me, the direction worked well. Now, I can see why people are saying it's too manipulative or pretentious, and I agree about that to a certain extent. I don't think you can call the direction by Stephen Daldry pretentious, but if you think something about it is possible pretentious, I think that may be the story in general, and it was told how it was supposed to be told. The story or subject matter is definitely not for everyone. Jonathan Safran Foer, and Eric Roth have written about these characters and events very truthfully. The 9/11 scenes in the film are not even depicting real-life events although people probably were falling off the buildings as depicted, but in the film, those shots take place in Oskar's mind as he thinks about his father. Some people are still grieving about that event. For a lot of people, it may even still be too soon to bring up the subject so vividly. Anyways, I just think that there is some truth in what most other people say about this film, but for me, it worked brilliantly. Thomas Horn, Sandra Bullock, Zoe Caldwell, and especially Max von Sydow portrayed their characters wonderfully. Also, for those who are saying they don't know why Max von Sydow received an Oscar nomination for his role as the mute renter, I think it's pretty clear: it's such a subtle performance. We understand every emotion and every gesture even though he never says one word. That is the sign of great acting. For those criticizing Thomas Horn on being too weird, I say this: The kid most likely had mild Asperger's Syndrom and acted it out very well. The obsessive searching for the lock, his extreme boldness and shyness, his vocabulary, his actions, the way his parents were treating him, etc. His character is indeed different and unique, but he is so likeable and vulnerable that my heart just went out to him. On a whole, this film is very difficult to watch, it's emotionally draining, but worth every penny. It was for me at least. I just have to talk about the way the filmmakers portrayed all the various characters that appeared in the film. It was so authentic and so well done, that I think if everyone was not as afraid to do what Oskar did, and go out and actually socialize with the people or somehow get connected would bring communities closer together. The range of characters (those willing to help, and those unwilling), was great to see. Viola Davis was really wonderful for the few scenes she was in. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close hit me hard and close to me. I'm going to remember it for a long time.

• Jay H

  
  I'll start by saying I enjoyed this film. No, it wasn't the masterpiece it confidently made itself out to be as it coursed its way through its tale. But after much thought, I still can't tell what the film wanted itself to be. Was it a story about a grieving kid after… More
  I'll start by saying I enjoyed this film. No, it wasn't the masterpiece it confidently made itself out to be as it coursed its way through its tale. But after much thought, I still can't tell what the film wanted itself to be. Was it a story about a grieving kid after his father dies in 9/11? Or was it a story about a kid adventuring after a puzzle he believes his dead father has left him? Either idea could've been the basis for a good film on its own merits, but the film wants it both ways. Desperately trying to forge a link between the two plots, the film leaves several stones unturned, creating not one quality, well-balanced, well-crafted theme as it hoped, and creating not two quality, well-crafted themes as it also could've ended up, but two decent, unrelated stories that make Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close nothing more than moderately enjoyable. Admittedly, I found that the film did a fine job building its emotional side. If it had stuck to that particular side of the plot, it could've been worthy of its Best Picture nomination. But it didn't, sadly. It tried to throw in some other plot elements that were neither necessary nor helpful and distracted itself from realizing the ideas the film begged to realize. And because of that decision, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close falls short of the acclaim it could've had.

• danny d

  
  emotionally draining, but in all the right ways, but way too serendipitous in all the wrong ways. i really enjoyed the film, and most of the performances were wonderful, but the way the protagonist sort of stumbles into resolution in the end despite his massive effort to figure… More
  emotionally draining, but in all the right ways, but way too serendipitous in all the wrong ways. i really enjoyed the film, and most of the performances were wonderful, but the way the protagonist sort of stumbles into resolution in the end despite his massive effort to figure things out the right way left me a bit disturbed. overall almost every performance was amazing, and the film really affected me as a father. at points i wanted to run home and hug my kids, or just sit and watch them sleep, as a film like this brings a person to the realization that there are so many things in life that are so much more important then most of what we waste our time doing. wonderful message, only decent execution, leading to a very good film that falls just shy of great.

• Tracy K

  
  I wasn't sure if having read and loved Jonathan Safran Foer's book would put me at an advantage or a disadvantage when it came to seeing this film. On one hand, I ran the risk of finding fault with the movie for not capturing the intense and deeply moving grief and anguish… More
  I wasn't sure if having read and loved Jonathan Safran Foer's book would put me at an advantage or a disadvantage when it came to seeing this film. On one hand, I ran the risk of finding fault with the movie for not capturing the intense and deeply moving grief and anguish of the novel; on the other, I'd be able to forgive the movie's mis-steps since I could fill in the weak bits with my own recollections. The critics have been rough with this movie, calling it exploitive, pretentious, cloyingly sentimental, crass, manipulative and even offensive. Having now seen it, I find that I am in agreement with those critics who have tentatively suggested that this movie's only real crime is being about September 11. While it did slip into overt sentimentality on occasion, and while I could have done with less of the voiceover narration, I did not find this movie in the least offensive or disrespectful. It isn't about September 11 so much as it is one unusual boy's attempts to come to terms with his father being brutally ripped from his life. This is a difficult book to film, and while it doesn't work 100% of the time, it comes pretty close. Maybe I'm getting soft in my middle years, but I don't care. I think this movie deserves a bit more respect than it's been getting.

• Everett J

  
  "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" was the last of the 9 films up for Best Picture at the Oscars I had yet to see. So, I was pretty excited to see it, especially since this is the only movie considered "rotten" by rotten tomatoes to be up for Best Picture.… More
  "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" was the last of the 9 films up for Best Picture at the Oscars I had yet to see. So, I was pretty excited to see it, especially since this is the only movie considered "rotten" by rotten tomatoes to be up for Best Picture. It's good, and bad all at the same time. The movie is about Oskar(Thomas Horn) who has lost his father(Tom Hanks) in the World Trade Center during 9/11. After a year Oskar finds a key in his fathers closet and sets off on a journey to find the lock for it. He encounters lots of people, and discovers things about his family and himself. The premise is good, but it's borderline melodramatic. Oskar sometimes is annoying, and other times very likeable(I guess like a real kid). Max Von Sydow is up for best Supporting Actor for his role as "the renter", an old German who can't speak. His nomination is a joke, he never speaks and is on screen for around 15 minutes. I can't lie, I almost teared up a couple times, I have a soft spot for movies where kids have emotional breakdowns after losing their parents. Don't know why, but I do. Its worth a watch, but it's not the type of movie that will leave a big impact. Don't think it's "Best Picture" worthy, but it is above average and better than most.

• Mark H

  
  Extremely Loud is a picture of undeniable heart and it honestly moved me. Oskar's hike through the streets of New York City is quite stirring. It starts out as a seed of an idea, but the concept develops into a full fledged scavenger hunt, much like the interactions he used to… More
  Extremely Loud is a picture of undeniable heart and it honestly moved me. Oskar's hike through the streets of New York City is quite stirring. It starts out as a seed of an idea, but the concept develops into a full fledged scavenger hunt, much like the interactions he used to have with his father when he was alive. It takes time, but the purpose slowly germinates until before you know it, it has developed into a quietly poignant emotional journey. His interactions form the basis of the story with actors Max von Sydow, Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright logging the most screen time. They're interesting as well, but the biggest surprise is that Sandra Bullock provides the film's best scenes. By the end, I was overcome by emotion. There's one particular moment of such pure virtue, it made the film for me. http://fastfilmreviews.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close/

• Markus R

  
  Extremely Powerful & Incredibly Underrated. There comes a movie every year that critics seem to hate, if for no other reason than to be contrarians, and unfortunately "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is that movie. Superbly directed by overwhelmingly talented… More
  Extremely Powerful & Incredibly Underrated. There comes a movie every year that critics seem to hate, if for no other reason than to be contrarians, and unfortunately "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is that movie. Superbly directed by overwhelmingly talented Stephen Daldry (The Hours, The Reader) and flawlessly adapted from a Jonathan Safran Foer novel by Eric Roth, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", is a powerful story about a nine year old boy named Oskar who has Aspergers Syndrome and his coming to terms with the sudden death of his father, who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. His father Thomas Schell, played by Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan), connects with his son on a very deep level, understanding that Oskar doesn't function like other boys his age and needs activities, they rename "expeditions" (which send him all around the city of New York to find certain items) to learn how to be sociable. But, when Thomas dies tragically in the aforementioned 9/11 attacks, Oskar still believes that a mysterious key (he finds in his father's room) holds the clue to one last expedition that's conclusion will help Oskar keep his father's memory alive; in his mind. There is also a subplot with a mute elderly man who may or may not be Oskar's estranged grandfather, accompanying Oskar on his mysterious key expedition, and his widowed mother, played by Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), who cannot seem to connect with Oskar in the same way his father had. Ok, does the film come off as a little far-fetched (at times) as nine year old Oskar scours New York City to find what lock this key fits? Yes. And does the boy's mannerisms and visual sense of the world take a little time to adjust too? Yes, in fact, it took me a good twenty minutes to get comfortable with the Oskar character. And yes, it does have that slight odor of pretentiousness throughout in a New York is way, way, way better than your hometown kind of way, but surprisingly all of that is FORGIVABLE because the heart of the storytelling here is not only emotionally engaging, but structured in a visually compelling manner that will stay with audiences long after they have left the theater. Every facet of this film seems to elicit a veritable cornucopia of talent. From the acting of the co-stars Hanks and Bullock, who both play bit roles as the mother and father respectfully and give subdued yet still excellent performances; to Jesus himself, recent Oscar nominee Max von Sydow (The Greatest Story Ever Told) playing the mysterious elderly man, who just very well may be Oskar's grandfather. But the actor here that is on everyone's lips when it pertains to this film (mainly because he is in almost every shot) is newcomer Thomas Horn (who is 2011's answer to Haley Joel Osment). Horn (who's only claim to fame is that he was a winner on Jeopardy Kids) plays the Oskar character, giving an emotionally draining performance as a young boy with Asperger's syndrome. Many criticisms of Horn's performance have stated that his acting was so over-the-top that it will be hard for mass audiences to connect with Oskar's emotional plight, let alone root for the child. But my argument is, when it is taken into account that his character is dealing with a syndrome which (by definition) "is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction as, well as restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests", said character will be assuredly easier to accept, allowing those who would have been distracted by the abnormality of Oskar's mannerisms or speech tones to take that aspect as just a part of the story. And it does help that Horn is nothing short of spectacular here, spouting off seemingly pages of dialogue with such emotional fire all while keeping the integrity of the film intact. As for the direction, it is some of the most expressive and impressive of the year. Daldry gives a mass audience the chance to see through the eyes of a young boy with Asperger's, rather than using a third person narrative, which at times only works to disconnect the audience with the subject. And although the movie never comes right out and says that Oskar has Asperger's disease, the film does allude to it a few times verbally, but mostly in his mannerisms and the visually unique way Daldry displays how Oskar envisions and functions in the world. Daldry also demonstrates his talent in the way he handles the very touchy, visually heavy events of 9/11, at the same time without pulling any punches, lacing the entire film with the emotionally abrasive sights and sounds of that tragic day. Before seeing this film, it may have run through my mind (and the minds of many others who have seen the trailer) of how if might be too soon for an in-depth/melodramatic/9/11 piece having to do with a child, but "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and Stephen Daldry quickly erased that notion. Because what he has done here, is created yet another masterpiece. Final Thought: At times joyous, at times haunting, at times touching and at times incredibly sad, there is something that is all together truly captivating and need I say brilliant about "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"; something that many notable critics, who have been railing against this film, are missing, simply because they can't get past the fact that a character with Asperger's syndrome is running the show. Furthermore, that this gem of a film only pulled a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes (even after it was just nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture on Sunday), only proves that if a few notable critics dismiss a film for no rational reason (only alluding to their aggressive dislike for little Thomas Horn) many audiences (like mindless sheep) are sure to go into this film with drastically low expectations; or not see it at all. My suggestion is that you go see it for yourself, because (in this critics opinion) "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" may not only be the most well done (well structured) film surrounding the events of 9/11, and not only does it have one of the best child performances in recent movie history, but would have undoubtedly made my top ten movies of the best films of 2011 list, if I could do it all over again. Side Note: If this subject matter interests you, read a book called "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon. I know, the title alone is enough to send one running for the hills. But even though this novel is about a subject matter not nearly as extreme as 9/11, it is still a great accompaniment piece to understand and learn how someone with a learning disability sees the world. Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland Please visit my page on Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/x-52464-San-Jose-Indie-Movie-Examiner and leave any comments you have about this or any review. The more hits I get the better. Thank you. Follow me on Twitter @moviesmarkus

• KJ P

  
  "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" is placed conveniently in a slow movie season, and it is a pleasant surprise to see another take on a true event from the tragic event of 9/11. This film follows a young boy after the death of his father (Tom Hanks) as he finds a key… More
  "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" is placed conveniently in a slow movie season, and it is a pleasant surprise to see another take on a true event from the tragic event of 9/11. This film follows a young boy after the death of his father (Tom Hanks) as he finds a key in his father's closet a year later. His mind is set on finding the proper place for the key. He searches high and low for weeks and weeks, until he realizes that he might as well just give up! Max Von Sydow plays a man who is unable to speak, due to the events in his life. He is truly deserving of recognition with his terrific performance, as he helps him along on his quest. This film does every emotion right, the acting is fantastic, and the story is definitely worth telling. The only problem I had with this film was the dialogue, which seems a little too simple for a concept this large. Still, this film shows the emotions of a family through the events of 9/11 with perfection. I would have hired a different writer for the film, but for what it is, it is a great drama!

• Matt G

  
  Thomas Schell: You rock. A good way to start off a review is to spill out my main verdict on the film. After viewing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I could not factor in on what I would score it. On one hand, the film features a wide variety of excellent performances from the… More
  Thomas Schell: You rock. A good way to start off a review is to spill out my main verdict on the film. After viewing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I could not factor in on what I would score it. On one hand, the film features a wide variety of excellent performances from the adult cast and a few well-placed sentimental moments. Then again, our main character is unbelievable, and is hammered severally by an awful script along with a lack of impressive direction from Stephen Daldry. The film becomes uneven at times, where sentimentality turns into a cliché in the long run, leaving Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in the average zone, which did not serve the film around when the atrocious "twist" came around towards the film's climax. I guess it is true when they say that January releases never go above average. Read the whole review at creedsdelight.com

• William D

  
  "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" has many special qualities, and it is a beautiful story. But something is off. A little something about the direction was off right from the beginning, and it never really righted itself. Director Stephen Daldry ("Billy… More
  "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" has many special qualities, and it is a beautiful story. But something is off. A little something about the direction was off right from the beginning, and it never really righted itself. Director Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliott," "The Hours") just seemed unable to find his footing and clue into this family's experience well enough. But he got very close to something amazing. The main character (who is on-screen about 90% of the time) is a Manhattan boy with Asperger's trying to process his grief after his beloved father's death in the World Trade Center on 9/11. The idea of trying to look at 9/11 through the eyes of a child who lost a parent is brilliant and profoundly humane, and we have Jonathan Safran Foer to thank for that (the author of the novel on which the film is based). To give that child Asperger's is also inspired. Foer is nothing if not ambitious as an artist. First-time actor Thomas Horn, as the boy, does a good job, but there's a touch of phoniness and excessive sentiment to the portrayal. Too often I felt like I was watching an actor trying to pretend he had Asperger's. It just didn't feel real enough to really take off as a film, especially given the fact that the film is almost overly fixated on the boy. Tom Hanks does a good job as the father, but he's killed off very early in the film. And he's a smidge too sentimental in his portrayal, too. The great Max Von Sydow does what he can as the boy's grandfather, but his character never speaks! Sandra Bullock is pretty flat as the boy's somewhat distant mother. There were some raw and brutal moments, such as when the boy tells his mother that he wishes it was she who was in the World Trade Center that day, and not his father. Another is when the boy shows his grandfather photos from the Internet of people plummeting from the Towers. The boy is trying to make out if one of the falling bodies was his father. But the film has no idea what to do with moments like that. They just get dropped in our laps, and then the movie moves onto something else. There's an odd unfinished quality to the film, and paradoxically an overcooked feeling to it. It is certainly worth seeing, and the film hopefully will find a sizable audience. Its flaws are unmistakable, but so are its sublime and devastating moments, such as when the boy draws a picture of a man falling upward from the ground to the top of the Towers. Wrapping one's mind and heart around this boy's grief is enough to make you feel at times that you are breaking into pieces. We have all thought a lot about those who died in the Towers. Thank you, Jonathan Foer, for helping us direct some attention to the thousands of children who lost a parent that day. This film pays loving tribute to those children.

• Eric H

  
  The voiceover is a controversial weapon in a film-maker's armoury. I'm not a fan of it but so long as it merely supplements the visuals rather than describing them I'm fine with it. For a good example see "Sunset Boulevard", for a bad example watch this (no… More
  The voiceover is a controversial weapon in a film-maker's armoury. I'm not a fan of it but so long as it merely supplements the visuals rather than describing them I'm fine with it. For a good example see "Sunset Boulevard", for a bad example watch this (no actually don't, take my word for it). When the voiceover narration comes from a child it's particularly irksome, as if the film-makers think we'll pay more attention because hey, kids tell it like it is. If said child is nine years old and describes himself as a Francophile and a pacifist yet believes his father's story of how New York once had a sixth borough which vanished, I'm not getting on board. This is without a doubt the most offensive piece of work I can recall having the displeasure of sitting through. It's offensive to me as a filmgoer that a writer and director think I'm such an idiot that they have to hammer home the plot every five minutes in the most crude, artless fashion possible. In practically every scene Horn reminds us his father died in the World Trade Center, sometimes almost straight to camera. At one point halfway through he recounts the entire first half of the movie just in case we weren't paying attention. If a screenwriter has such little faith in his ability to tell a story with pictures he needs to become a novelist. Of course a novelist probably won't make as much money so we have to suffer through verbose movies written by hacks who have no place in the medium. The writer here is none other than Eric Roth who between this, "Forrest Gump" and "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" has committed enough cinematic atrocities to warrant the drafting of a UN resolution. It's bad enough insulting cinemagoers, we pay our money, we take our chance. What's deeply offensive is the 9/11 factor used here. This is simply the story of a boy coming to terms with his father's death, there is absolutely no reason to bring that horrific occasion into play, it's nothing more than a case of tragedy as marketing tool. I really hope anyone who suffered a loss that day never has to sit through this cheap and nasty exploitation of their grief. You would think it impossible not to sympathise with a child who lost his father but Horn's character is deeply unlikable, the sort of product of liberal parenting who grows up to be a serial killer. If any kid spoke to me in the tone he addresses adults with he'd have a few more bruises to add to his self-imposed collection. Hanks, playing his father in flashback, comes across as the sort of parent who thinks his sperm is somehow made of a better formula than anyone elses, thus raising his kid with a sense of self-entitlement that will only be rectified with a good hiding somewhere later in life. As if things couldn't get any worse, Von Sydow enters the action as an elderly German who refuses to speak, the implication being he saw some "bad stuff" in the old country. This means we have to endure endless scenes of him writing his dialogue in a notepad and holding it up to us, further proof that Roth is working in the wrong medium. Even the warmth of Von Sydow's grizzled face can't give this sick movie a pulse. Oh, and American writers, I know 9/11 was the worst atrocity in your history but don't try and equate it with the holocaust, sorry but you just don't get to do that. This despicable piece of cynical Hollywood marketing should be avoided by anyone with a conscience. The only reason I'm not giving it a zero out of ten rating is the fact that it wasn't shot in 3D. How dare you Hollywood, how dare you.

• Kevin M

  
  The film's title uses adjectives that do not accurately describe the quality of the film: it is not extremely bad and it is not incredibly good. It was on the lower part of just okay. Everyone is saying how annoying or how good main protagonist Oskar (played by Thomas Horn) is,… More
  The film's title uses adjectives that do not accurately describe the quality of the film: it is not extremely bad and it is not incredibly good. It was on the lower part of just okay. Everyone is saying how annoying or how good main protagonist Oskar (played by Thomas Horn) is, but he wasn't extremely annoying, or extremely good. Just okay. Now I'm not saying he wasn't annoying: because he was. I tried to but up sort of a barrier to block his obnoxious flamboyant voice, and it worked... a little. Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock don't break any ground with their performances either, they were good but not great. Max von Sydow was one of the only things that strayed far from okay. He played a mute guy who tries to help Oskar find what he was looking for. He was great, a pleasure to watch. There were a few scenes that I thought were great as well. For example, there's this part where Oskar is explaining the things about New York that scare him (loud noises like trains and construction sites, crowded sidewalks). This scene effectively connected to me because I can completely understand why someone would be "scared" of New York. The last time I was there I had a panic attack and I haven't been back since. That was about five years ago. I personally didn't like the ending. It was pretty unfulfilling: for most of the movie I was curiously waiting to see what the key unlocked, and when they revealed what it was for I was disappointed. The problem with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is the fact that it brings absolutely nothing new to the table. A good drama is one that takes every element of a film and then takes it to new heights, new standards. Despite von Sydow's performance, that didn't happen here. Instead, we get a drama that's not even good, but almost painfully mediocre.

• Bradley W

  
  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close was mich better than I had expected, but it still succeeded on some factors and failed on many others. Do not get me wrong it was a decent film but it still did not for me what I was expecting, seeing as its nominated for Best Picture at the 84th… More
  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close was mich better than I had expected, but it still succeeded on some factors and failed on many others. Do not get me wrong it was a decent film but it still did not for me what I was expecting, seeing as its nominated for Best Picture at the 84th Academy Awards. After I saw it was nominated I had to go see this film, and now I understand completely why it was nominated over better films of 2011, but its hard to explain what I mean unless you have seen the film. I got emotional at two scenes of the film where he talks about voice messages his father left on 9/11 and it just got me when I realized that was the last chance he will ever hear his fathers voice, and in the end the film wrapped up good enough for most of the audience to try and just deal with it, but I still felt like he died in vain and I was not totally satisfied. No matter what my reaction was to the film, just remember that it is worth a watch even if it was not perfect. The story follows Oskar (Thomas Horn) who is on a search to find the answer to a key his father (Tom Hanks) left him after he died in 9/11. Meanwhile he meets an old man (Max von Sydow) who decides to help this boy but little does Oslar know this man is connected with his father. His mother (Sandra Bullock) is also trying to protect her son and trying to be a good single parent. Oskar meets many people on his journey, but what he seeks most of all is answers to his questions. The plot of the film is where the film is great at times but then crashes and burns. I will start by saying that this film will not set up a story, you will be dropped into this boys depressing life and then be shown flash backs which I found just to be annoying at times. As the story went on I guess I got used to it all and went along with it, and even I got emotional at times due to the great performances and if you think about this boys life in perspective, but I still was very bored at times and I could predict many things that happened and ended up being right. The characters were a bit of a let down for me. Oskar is a bit annoying at times and some I think will find him incredibly unlikable with how cruel and mean he is to some people, but my father did not die at when I was at a young age so maybe I have no right to speak. His father is explained to us through this boy which I found very interesting, but the problem was he never talks about his mother. I am serious he must go on forever about his dad and never once talked about his realtionship with his own mother. She seemed like a good mom but we do not get the full view of her until like an hour and a half into the film, which bugged me to no end. The elderly old man that he befriends was incredibly great, and by far the best character. We known nothing about this man other than he wants to help the boy, and I was most interested in the film when he was there and only using a notepad to talk, I wish he had been in the film longer. The story overall was just ok, it succeeded for me to make me feel emotion for the characters but fails into making me love whats going on in the story. The cast is where the film succeeds the most. Thomas Horn played a character that I did not enjoy, but he played a performance that I will not forget, he was incredible, he made a really unlikable boy seem interesting and that is the reason that I learned to like the kid a little bit. Tom Hanks does not get much screen time and the film lies when they say he is the star, but for what I did see he was pretty good. Sandra Bullock played an amazing role in this, which makes me mad when I say that they hardly ever talk about her or ever go into detail about her. Max von Sydow has the best performance in this entire film. He is Oscar worthy with his emotions and his love for this kid but does not even talk and we have no idea his back story until later on, he is such a great actor. This cast really did not dissapoint me other than never showing Tom Hanks even though he is supposedly the main star according to the internet and the posters. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close has something missing in its story that I cannot put my finger on it. Maybe it was the flawed characters or the (at times) very dull story, but it just did not fill all my questions or my expectations I had for it. The cast won me over even if some of their characters did not, and overall was pleased on that level. Its hard to explain a film like this, on some level with the whole key from his dad story I thought I was watching the incredible Hugo all over again, but maybe it was just me. As I can tell many critics are agreeing with me, but many very much liked it, so its up to you whether you had a more positive experience with it than I did. I recommend to those who wish to see well acted movie, but I do not recommend if you are hoping for a genius story that will effect your emotions, although it did with me at many scenes.

• Andy S

  
  A film like this is one that I find to be unusually difficult to review. In certain ways, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a truly great film, while little more than dramatic exploitation in others. I will attempt to break down this dichotomy as best I can, because I believe… More
  A film like this is one that I find to be unusually difficult to review. In certain ways, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a truly great film, while little more than dramatic exploitation in others. I will attempt to break down this dichotomy as best I can, because I believe that is the only way I can fairly critique this movie. The film begins with a funeral for Oskar's (Thomas Horn) father (Tom Hanks). Oskar's anger at the lack of an occupant of the coffin is plain in his face and his voice. He clearly was incredibly distraught by his father's death in the 9/11 incident, and it is this emotion that fuels his almost-epic scale journey to find the answer to his father's last riddle. Oskar is very frequently depicted as being far smarter than most kids his age. He can recite seemingly random facts from the Encyclopedia Britannica and thinks of very creative solutions to puzzles (like using a rock as an object from every decade in the last century to solve one of his father's riddles). However, his ADHD (or something) leads him to being nervous around a rather large multitude of things, like moving vehicles, sloppy dentistry, and bridges. This of course being a bit of a debilitation, he apparently has shunned most human contact, making his very socially awkward. However, once his father is gone, he finds he must face his fears, to quote Max von Sydow's character in the film. Sandra Bullock portrays Oskar's mother. Oskar generally shuns her, blaming her for not dying rather than his father. Though it makes the kid come off as more than a bit cruel, it is genuinely powerful, especially once htey engage in an all-out shouting match. All the while, Oskar is trying to find what a key left behind by his father fits into. He ends up racing across most of New York in this quest. Of course, the idea that it might not be safe for a twelve-year-old to be wandering NY streets alone is never brought up. But, that doesn't matter that much. Back to the good stuff. The acting is very good. Every actor, be their parts high or low, does a great job with what they are given. von Sydow, Hanks, Horn, and Bullock are constantly vying for the spotlight, as each one of them could easily steal it on their own. The acting carries the film, and it's good for the movie that it does, because this film would be sort of unremarkable otherwise. What drags this film down is it's manipulative tendencies. At every single opportunity, it gives you an excuse to feel bad for Oskar. However, this happens so often that you eventually become desensitized to it. Oskar starts the film talking far too much, babbling on even while his partner in conversation is walking away from him. Even though he establishes that he is not the most sociable person, the fact that he is scared speechless by a conversation and so many other things makes him seem to alternate between smart and stupid. Ultimately, though its heart is in the right place, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close tries way too hard to be a frequent tearjerker. At first it works, but the impact is lessened over the course of the film enough so that by the end, you struggle to really care. This film is one that I feel will be a polarizing one, so I will leave it to fellow viewers to decide upon its quality.

• Glenn G

  
  Have you heard? There's a new genre of films that exploded out of the gate this year, and it's called KIDS AND THEIR KEYS. First there was HUGO, and now EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE, which I must say is the inferior one of the KIDS AND THEIR KEYS movies.… More
  Have you heard? There's a new genre of films that exploded out of the gate this year, and it's called KIDS AND THEIR KEYS. First there was HUGO, and now EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE, which I must say is the inferior one of the KIDS AND THEIR KEYS movies. It's not that it's bad. It's just not much. A story about a boy who, after his father is killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11, goes on a CATCHER IN THE RYE adventure through New York in search of a lock to a key he found in his father's closet. I normally love films like these, because I assume that the revelation will blow me away. Like if the key were to open a portal into Kim Kardashian's ass where the secret to eternal fame lies. What we get here instead is a young man predictably coming to terms with a tragic loss. No more, no less. For those who need this sort of catharsis, you could do worse. Stephen Daldry knows how to spin good images around, creating a swirling tapestry of cinematic splendor. [And yes, I can't believe I just wrote that.] He has assembled a wonderful cast here, and for the most part, given them little more to do than look sad. Only Tom Hanks acquits himself nicely as the father, because his character never mopes around. To be fair, 9/11 was one of the saddest collective experiences of our lifetimes, but there are many shades of grief, and here we get one big beige hue. One after the other - Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright - just look wan throughout. Max Von Sydow is getting raves for his worldless performance as a mysterious man who lives with the boy's grandmother. I thought he was fine, but didn't really get all that much out of this "B" storyline. Apparently this is much more fleshed out in the book, whereas here it feels tacked on because there just isn't much else to do. The boy, played by a wonderful actor, Thomas Horn, is unfortunately used here by Daldry to yell a lot of his voiceover lines almost incessantly throughout the movie. This actor has a great presence and a sure hand, but I just wanted him to shut the f**k up around the 30 minute mark. The storytelling is very strange as he walks all over NYC and is able to enter homes and strike up conversations with strangers who for the most part just casually engage him. There's an explanation for this, but don't get too excited. It just isn't very interesting. It's sweet and touching, but not to the point where I cried...and man does this movie WANT you to cry. It' a gentle breeze of a movie when I wanted and expected, because of its central mystery, to be hit by a gale force wind.

• Jeff B

  
  Despite it's extremely earnest and incredibly ambitious intentions, this interesting Loud & Close drama never rings completely true. Obviously, the film is posturing for a victory lap around the awards season. Consider the pedigree: Academy Award nominated director Stephen… More
  Despite it's extremely earnest and incredibly ambitious intentions, this interesting Loud & Close drama never rings completely true. Obviously, the film is posturing for a victory lap around the awards season. Consider the pedigree: Academy Award nominated director Stephen Daldry (The Hours, The Reader) helms 2-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks (Philadelphia, Forrest Gump) and newly-minted Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) in a heart-tugging drama about 9/11. Oh, this wannabe Oscar winner COULD be everything that it portends if the man in charge didn't make such a hard sell. Daldry crafts a lovely looking puppet but the audience can feel him pulling their strings from a mile away. Plus, the film is just that--a plastic plaything dancing to the often melodramtic whims of an overzealous puppeteer. In this PG-13-rated heart-tugger, a young boy (Thomas Horn) is convinced that a key left by his father (Hanks), who died in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, will lead him to a message somewhere in the city. Oftentimes, this boy's journey provides the audience with an enthralling through-line thanks to the Jonathan Safran Foer novel on which it is based. Daldry's overly syrupy and highfalutin handling of the source material proves to be the film's rub, however. For all of his inventive frenetic flourishes, much of this mix between a harrowingly real event and whimsical coming of age story - from the tell-don't-show narration to the thinly-veiled subtext - feels manufactured save for Max von Sydow's effortless soul-bearing performance. Bottom line: Lock, stock, and fallow.

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