The trailer for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has finally been released, and to say I've been ignoring this film for the last few months would be an understatement. In fact I'm not sure there's been anything written about it on this blog, mainly because it seemed to be little more than a thinly veiled grab at an Oscar. Now that's not to say other movies don't have similar aims, but it seemed particularly egregious here. Maybe I'm wrong. The trailer proves me right, though, I think.
Based on Jonathan Safron Foer's 2005 novel, the film stars on a Oskar Schell(newcomer Thomas Horn) who two years ago lost his father(Tom Hanks) during the 9/11 attacks. So yeah, there's the 9/11 hook, complete with images of the Twin Towers. Oskar finds a key belonging to his father, and goes off on a city wide adventure to find what he thinks will be one final message from him. Along the way he meets a unique group of people who help Oskar overcome his grief and begin the process of healing. The surrounding cast is great, with Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright, Max Von Sydow, and James Gandolfini.
So all the tear jerking elements are in place, and if you need further evidence of this film's pedigree, note that it was written by Eric Roth(Forrest Gump) and directed by Stephen Daldry(The Hours, The Reader). To me it just looks like a sappy mess, preparing to play your emotions like a fiddle. Hopefully I'm wrong, because I like the look of former Jeopardy contestant Thomas Horn in the lead. We'll see how this one shakes out when it arrives on Christmas Day....
