The Title of This Movie Could Describe Many Things

I have now seen all but one of the films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2011, the one unseen film being “The Tree of Life.” I saw “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” this weekend. I am glad I saw it so I may continue my attempt to see every Oscar nominated film. That is the only reason I am glad that I saw it. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is a very off-putting film. It thinks it is telling a heart-warming tale of a boy who loses his father on 9/11 and who discovers the key, literally, to a secret his father may have had. The sentimentality it attempts to elicit comes off as very artificial, no help from the performance of the film’s lead, Thomas Horn as Oskar Schell, an 11 year old boy who goes on a journey through New York City to find out what a particular key opens.
Said key is discovered by Oskar one year after his father, played by Tom Hanks, is killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy. The way in which Oskar discovers the key is just one of several eye-roll inducing scenes in the film. The script of this film is very generic and feels like it was written by someone who had no desire to come up with anything fresh, but rather, to simply play on the audience’s sympathy for and gut reaction to the events of 9/11. In other words, it is a very manipulative film. There are several gaps in logic throughout the film. Oskar must have a darkroom in his house. Either that or he is given a lot of money by his mother. You will see what I mean if you see the movie. Even if one were to take the gaping in logic parts of the film and interpret them as simply representing something, but not really happening, they would still come across as annoying. The bad performance of Horn makes matters worse. I never was interested at all in his journey. The boy, during the course of the film, is suggested to have Asperger’s Syndrome. Now aren’t I an ass for disliking the boy? Not really. Such a character could likely have been played by another actor and could have been toned down a bit more. Horn is like a child version of Steve Railsback. Anyway, the film is not about the boy’s Asperger’s Syndrome. It is about his search for what the key opens and his ability to accept his father’s death. The fact that the boy does have Asperger’s or any other malady, seems like a screenwriting cheat. It is as if the screenwriter is asking us, “How dare you not like this boy? He has Asperger’s Syndrome, so you are not allowed to dislike him.” This is what I mean when I state that the film is manipulative, and that is lazy screenwriting. Add in the fact that some highly unlikely instances occur and you have a bad script, which, obviously makes for a bad film.
Max Von Sydow, as one may expect, delivers the only bright spot in the film as a mute man who is a boarder in Oskar’s grandmother’s house. I felt bad for Von Sydow for having to share all of his scenes with such a poor performance by Horn. Tom Hanks as Oskar’s father, Thomas Shell, a jeweler, is good in the film in his few scenes. As well, Sandra Bullock as Oskar’s mother, Linda, delivers a good performance, again in a limited amount of scenes. Bullock’s performance is actually quite restrained and could have been much more over the top. She does a good job of expressing emotion but not beating you over the head with it. Another good thing about this film is that Hanks and Bullock are true supporting characters in the film, as the film is about the boy. It is not a “Tom Hanks movie” or a “Sandra Bullock movie.” Unfortunately, having seen the bad performance by the boy, I now wish there would have been more of Hanks and Bullock in the film, or at least, less of the boy. The mystery in the film regarding the key is not as interesting as it could have been either. Oskar meets an enigmatic man near the end of the film who works in a futuristic-looking office area. The resolution of the story of the key and what it unlocks is underwhelming and not terribly surprising.
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is not a very good movie, however, I am not completely dumbfounded as to why it is nominated for Best Picture. It is a supposed feel-good movie, even though I disliked almost everything about it, and…come on….it’s a 9/11 movie. You can’t argue with that (says the studio). “50/50” is a much, much, much better movie. See that instead. “50/50” will leave you 100% satisfied while “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” will give you a 50/50 chance of wanting to scream. I invite you now to look at the above picture of a cat in a sink as a token of my appreciation.