Review of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011) by The Big P — 08 Apr 2014

More like Extremely Boring and Incredibly Cloying. Stephen Daldry, beloved for adapting popular books into self-important prestige pictures, directed this inoffensive 9/11 melodrama, based on the Jonathan Safran Foer novel, that is quite possibly the most insufferable movie I've ever seen.

Thomas Horn is relentlessly shrill as the nine year-old New Yorker whose jeweler father (Tom Hanks) perished in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Unable to deal with his grief, Horn discovers a mysterious key left by his father that leads him on a quest throughout New York in search for the lock.

The mystery leads to a revelation that is anticlimactic and the filmmakers, perhaps unintentionally, exploit the tragedy for pathos that becomes unbearably mawkish. How Horn emotionally deals with his grief is glumly predictable.

Tom Hanks is bland as the fuddy-duddy father; Sandra Bullock is charmless as the mother; Max von Sydow gives the only memorable performance in the movie as a mute neighbor who writes answers down with pen and pad, and has the words 'yes' and 'no' tattooed on each hand.

One of the worst movies to ever be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Written by Eric Roth. Cinematography is by Chris Menges. Overbearing score is by Alexandre Desplat. With the usually dependable Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, and John Goodman, who are all largely forgettable here.