“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” on IMDB
Drama, 129 Minutes, 2011
Let me begin by saying that both my wife and my mother loved this film. They laughed and they cried. They said things like “I just love that Sandra Bullock in everything” and “Tom Hanks is so talented”. Me? I thought it was very, very long. Really – I swear – it was like seven hours long. That’s not to say it was at all bad – just long. And a little dull.
The story revolves around Oskar. An eccentric boy who lost his father in the attacks of 9/11 and desperately needs them to make sense of his loss. after finding a key presumably hidden by his father he embarks on a mission to find the lock that fits the key.
Thomas Horn is excellent as Oskar and obviously both Bullock and Hanks are as well (I have to agree with the ladies: they’re both great, “All About Steve” [IMDB] notwithstanding). One issue is that most of the actual acting is done in the extensive, pervasive and unrelenting narration (plus many of the conversations are essentially one-sided and seem like narration).
As I watched this – and I did enjoy it well enough overall – I couldn’t help but think that it was just unable to really make the story work as a film. I kept thinking “this must be a really good book.” Maybe if I read it I’ll like the movie more.
