I am still rather confounded after watching the shamelessly sentimental, borderline exploitive "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" last night. While I was indeed reduced to a puddle of blubbering, emasculating tears during the movie's balls-out final act, I was also thoroughly irritated by the certainly autistic protagonist, played with effortless earnestness and annoying realism by Jeopardy prodigy Thomas Horn.
This kid runs around New York in the months following 9/11 -- "The Worst Day," as he refers to it, justifiable given that his dad Tom Hanks was killed in the attack -- with a tambourine to keep him calm (he gets "panicky," you see, so he walks everywhere, from Brooklyn to Ground Zero to the Bronx and back again, and we are supposed to just believe this) and a key, left behind by said dead father, which the little socially retarded genius believes will unlock something monumental. The metaphor is obviously meant to symbolize his ability to emotionally comprehend loss, and his father's key is actually a manifestation of paternal encouragement, designed to push the kid out of his Rain Man comfort zone and get him to socialize.
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" was made by serious pros, yet it was inexplicably deemed the obligatory "surprise" Best Picture nominee when the announcement came late last month. Producer Scott Rudin is inarguably the best and most prolific producer making movies today, and he routinely competes against himself every year at the Oscars. Among Rudin's horses in this year's Gold Derby is "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," for instance, so don't buy the full-press PR push branding "EL&IC" an underdog. Its director, Stephen Daldry, has been nominated for Best Director three times consecutively for each of the three films he had made so far before this one: "Billy Elliot," "The Hours," and "The Reader," which famously pitted producer Rudin against studio boss Harvey Weinstein during the 2008 Oscar season, ultimately causing Rudin to remove his name from the finished product and allowing Big Papa Harv to take full credit for the film's Best Picture nomination and Kate Winslet's Lead Actress win.
"Extremely Loud" was always going to be Oscar bait but got an Eleventh Hour ravaging from critics just before its primetime Oscar bait release date (in six NY/LA spots on Christmas Day) and so suddenly it became the underdog. The whole thing is very slick and well-produced, and the acting is notably strong, especially from Sandra Bullock as probably the world's most patient parent given her nightmarishly intelligent offspring and dead husband haunting their distant relationship. Max Von Sydow is the only one nominated for Oscar, however, and at 82 he and Christopher Plummer (from "Beginners") will face off in the battle of Octogenarians for Best Supporting Actor on Oscar night. The old man in this movie plays a mute neighbor who is obviously this Chatty Cathy's grandpa, and Von Sydow is very good with no words. He's a nice antidote to the hyperarticulate, hyperannoying lead.
In any case, see this thing so we can talk about it. It's very hatable but should probably be seen by all, for conversational purposes if nothing else. Apologies to any New Yorkers who are offended by a sloppy and shamelessly sentimental portrait of post-September 11 pain & reconciliation, by the way. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Exploitive," fair enough.
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