The new film “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” the surprise entry in the Best Picture race at the Academy Awards, desperately wants to be a film that audiences respond to.
And while it did illicit a response from me, I’m certain it’s not what the film makers had in mind. This isn’t a film where I left inspired and uplifted, instead I had anger and disdain – shameful for a film that manages to exploit on every level.
“Extremely Loud” is told from the point of view of a nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn). Oskar is trying to cope with the loss of his best friend and father Thomas (Tom Hanks) who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
When Oskar finds a key in an envelope labeled ‘Black,’ he sets out to find out what the key is for – convinced that it holds some kind of message from his father.
There are so many directions I could go in describing how much this film angered me. For starters, I found Oskar to be rather annoying – a major problem since his character is in every scene and narrates the film. The film hints that he may have Asperger’s syndrome or is mildly autistic, but even that can’t compensate for a character that is every annoying kid cliche crammed into one overly dramatic performance from newcomer Horn. I didn’t root for this kid, I wanted him to go away.
Horn gets to work with a lot of talent with a cast that includes Hanks (although he is barely in the film), Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, and John Goodman. But even a strong supporting cast can’t overcome Horn’s stunningly bad performance.
It probably doesn’t help that he is in a story that feels even more manipulative than his character. I found the use of 9/11 in this film to be unforgivable – nothing more than a cheap gimmick used to illicit even more tears and sadness. Hanks character could have easily died in a car wreck and Oskar’s story arc could have arrived at the same point. I realize this is an argument that can be countered with the fact “Extremely Loud” is based on a novel, but I can’t base my review on that book. I have to base it on the film I saw and that film is one where Stephen Daldry stages one horrible false note after another – a two-hour manipulation that is about as subtle as repeated shots to the head with a sledgehammer.
About the only thing that does work to a certain extent here is Academy Award nominee Max von Sydow, as the mysterious mute neighbor who helps Oskar on his quest, but this subplot also veers into half-baked melodrama with an unsatisfying conclusion.
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” isn’t worthy of being among the best pictures at next month’s Academy Awards. It belongs on another list – as one of the worst film experiences from 2011.
Grade: D
mcompton
