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Alynda Wheat, People: OUTSTANDING (cg) " 'Extremely Loud' is about grief. Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a frank, curious boy, mourns his father (Tom Hanks), who died that day. The movie is also about the New York that I came to know after 9/11, and that's what makes it extraordinary." (Read the full review...) 188 words, 12/29/11 Mary Pols, Time: VERY GOOD "Dodging the twin minefields of preciousness and an exploitative 9/11 premise, Thomas Horn races away with the movie and makes it believably, genuinely sad.... he breaks through the movie's manipulative scrim simply through the sheer force of his emotions." (Read the full review...) 1,244 words, 12/23/11 David Germain, Associated Press: MODERATE (cg) "A cloying exercise in sentimentality, the film also winds up extremely annoying, even infuriating.... As everyone works through their pain, it all sounds so sweet and life-affirming. Yet it feels so extremely soppy and incredibly phony." (Read the full review...) 786 words, 12/22/11 Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: GOOD (cg) "A polarizing load of quirkiness gunks up (at least for this hometown mourner; your results may vary) what is at heart a piercing story..." (Read the full review...) 496 words, 12/30/11 Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "Solidly crafted, impeccably acted and self-important... also incredibly close to exploitation.... A decade after the 2001 event, memories are still raw among the more than 3,000 children whose parents died in the attacks." (Read the full review...) 485 words, 01/06/12 Claudia Puig, USA Today: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "While flawed and sometimes overwrought, 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close's' tale of the effect of 9/11 on a sensitive boy is worth seeing, particularly for its lead performance." (Read the full review...) 535 words, 12/23/11 Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "The events of 9/11 have left indelible scars. They cannot be healed in such a simplistic way." (Read the full review...) 895 words, 01/20/12 James Rocchi, MSN Movies: VERY GOOD (cg) "What makes 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' good is its sense of goodness." (Read the full review...) 745 words, 12/19/11 James Berardinelli, Reel Views: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...emotionally powerful... a story about loss and coping with that loss, but it is even more a tale of fathers and sons, sons and fathers, the bonds that exist between them, and the bonds they wished existed between them." (Read the full review...) 1,261 words, 12/22/11
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: POOR "This is how kitsch works. It exploits familiar images [the Twin Towers] and tries to make us feel good, even virtuous, simply about feeling.... you may cry, but when tears are milked as they are here, the truer response should be rage." (Read the full review...) 1,236 words, 12/23/11 Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: WEAK (cg) "...as with Hanks' performance, what's missing -- subtlety, truth, an earned sense of rebirth - is more notable than what's here. Despite all the connections in 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,' it never connects to us the way we need it to." (Read the full review...) 520 words, 12/23/11 Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "There are certainly big, capital-letter themes explored here: Death. Sorrow. Forgiveness. Reconciliation. But through the boy, Daldry brings it all down to a human level.... won't be the last cinematic word on 9/11, but it proves to be an eloquent one." (Read the full review...) 952 words, 12/23/11 Lou Lumenick, New York Post: POOR (cg) "...pulls out all the stops trying to put the audience through the emotional wringer. It's Oscar-mongering of the most blunt and reprehensible sort." (Read the full review...) 728 words, 12/23/11 Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: WEAK (cg) "In the most genteel way the film has both its hands around your throat, forcing you to choke up." (Read the full review...) 565 words, 01/20/12 Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: VERY GOOD (cg) "A Hollywood version of events, but Thomas Horn is terrific as a boy grappling with a tragedy that still baffles us all." (Read the full review...) 350 words, 12/23/11 David Edelstein, New York Magazine: FAIR "...a tearjerker that doesn't fully earn the right to use such terrible images." (Read the full review...) 562 words, 12/26/11 Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "The events of 9/11 have left indelible scars. They cannot be healed in such a simplistic way." (Read the full review...) 895 words, 01/20/12 Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: FAIR "...an abundance of 'epiphanies,' one after another, amount to a tactical assault on viewer sentiments. The deluge of tears is director Stephen Daldry's idea of pathos, but to these eyes, it's Oscar-trolling 9/11 kitsch." (Read the full review...) 675 words, 12/21/11 Peter Howell, Toronto Star: POOR (cg) "...feels all wrong on every level, mistaking precociousness for perceptiveness and catastrophe for a cuddling session. It's calculated as Oscar bait, but the bait is poisoned by opportunism and feigned sensitivity." (Read the full review...) 817 words, 12/23/11 Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...frustrating... Some may find themselves vulnerable to its weepy invitation, but most, I suspect, will be left dry-eyed, perhaps wondering if only humans can cry crocodile tears." (Read the full review...) 716 words, 12/25/11 Josep Parera, La Opinion: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Confirma que Stephen Daldry es un cineasta de considerable y notable sabiduría cinematográfica." (Read the full review...) 467 words, 12/23/11 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "Director Stephen Daldry ('Billy Elliot,' 'The Reader') is surprisingly restrained and less patronizing than usual, though he still does that thing where he ignores the movie's natural ending to pound his lessons into the audience." (Read the full review...) 187 words, 12/22/11
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: POOR (cg) "...extremely labored and incredibly crass.... Daldry hijacks 9/11 for his own aestheticized agenda, in this case to invest an act of nihilistic murder with unearned healing and false uplift." (Read the full review...) 487 words, 01/20/12 Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD (cg) "Daldry's movie opens with bits of detritus and particulate matter falling from the Twin Towers. It ends by putting these bits and particles back together in a meaningful way." (Read the full review...) 561 words, 01/20/12 Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "Taking a cue from its over-amped title, the film virtually shakes us by the shoulders to drive home its significance." (Read the full review...) 491 words, 01/20/12 Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: VERY GOOD (cg) "...manipulative as all get-out... Luckily, Thomas Horn is so good -- as is Max von Sydow, in a wordless role -- that the film resonates in spite of the tear-jerking strings director Stephen Daldry pulls." (Read the full review...) 660 words, 01/20/12 Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD (cg) "Thomas Horn bursts with passionate speech. This isn't a child set loose on a set, determined to rule the proceedings with his kidness. This is an actor giving a performance, and the performance is close to great." (Read the full review...) 1,115 words, 01/20/12 Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: MODERATE (cg) "A sentimentalist with pretensions, Stephen Daldry seems to have become what Lasse Hallstrom once was - a colorless filmmaker to whom big producers turn when they have a book-club bestseller to bring safely to the screen." (Read the full review...) 520 words, 12/23/11 Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE (cg) "...a lousy experience, and yet a good memory. Only you can decide if one is worth the other." (Read the full review...) 725 words, 01/20/12 Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: VERY GOOD (cg) "...without soft-pedaling what happened, the film is kind to its audience, letting us leave with just a bit of hope that this child -- and we -- will become whole again." (Read the full review...) 562 words, 01/20/12 Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: GOOD (cg) "...a well-made but strident, shrill and airless film that aspires to greatness but too often just grates." (Read the full review...) 589 words, 01/20/12 Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: MODERATE (cg) "...a dubious premise, made worse by heavy-handed execution.... 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' is supposed to promote healing, but as they say in New York: close, but no cigar." (Read the full review...) 329 words, 01/20/12 Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: MODERATE (cg) "...maudlin and manipulative. This movie wants to rip out your heart like nothing has since the twin towers collapsed. Yet the falseness of whimsy and coincidence in Stephen Daldry's film constantly conflicts with harsh reality." (Read the full review...) 534 words, 01/19/12 Tom Long, Detroit News: POOR (cg) "...the kind of movie you want to punch in the nose." (Read the full review...) 327 words, 01/20/12 Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: POOR (cg) "...good performances can't save a movie this artificial and off-putting.... renders an extraordinary tragedy into something banal.... isn't just a bad movie: It's also offensive and patronizing, in a way that makes you angry." (Read the full review...) 695 words, 01/20/12
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: FAIR "...an abundance of 'epiphanies,' one after another, amount to a tactical assault on viewer sentiments. The deluge of tears is director Stephen Daldry's idea of pathos, but to these eyes, it's Oscar-trolling 9/11 kitsch." (Read the full review...) 675 words, 12/21/11 Katey Rich, Cinema Blend: MODERATE (cg) "...by condensing it and excising many elements, Daldry has untangled a substantial knot that needed to stay exactly the way it was. It's not just that the movie isn't as good as the book; it's that the movie makes no argument for existing in the first place." (Read the full review...) 764 words, 12/23/11 Brett Michel, Boston Phoenix: POOR (cg) "Outrageously manipulative... writer Eric Roth has adapted Jonathan Safran Foer's much-loved novel into the extremely exploitative and incredibly bad tale of a grieving nine-year-old..." (Read the full review...) 141 words, 01/19/12 Scott Tobias, AV Club: POOR (cg) "...an appalling adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel... processes the immense grief of a city and a family through a conceit so nauseatingly precious that it's somehow both too literary and too sentimental, cloying yet aestheticized within an inch of its life." (Read the full review...) 425 words, 12/22/11 Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline: FAIR (cg) "...there's something cloistered and cushy about it, as if it were a movie made by [New York City] Upper East Siders for Upper East Siders..." (Read the full review...) 1,007 words, 12/23/11 R. Kurt Osenlund, Slant: POOR (cg) "This film buries its soul beneath its own pretentious rubble, and the youthful, labyrinthine mind in which it places viewers feels less like an offbeat vehicle for healing than it does a kaleidoscopic prison." (Read the full review...) 915 words, 12/22/11 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "Director Stephen Daldry ('Billy Elliot,' 'The Reader') is surprisingly restrained and less patronizing than usual, though he still does that thing where he ignores the movie's natural ending to pound his lessons into the audience." (Read the full review...) 187 words, 12/22/11 Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: WEAK (cg) "...ultimately pulls its punches in the name of 'healing.' In fact, it's downright lousy with healing." (Read the full review...) 550 words, 01/19/12
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: POOR "The production's penchant for contrivance is insufferable -- not a single spontaneous moment from start to finish -- and the boy is so precocious you want to strangle him." (Read the full review...) 374 words, 12/23/11 Manohla Dargis, New York Times: POOR "This is how kitsch works. It exploits familiar images [the Twin Towers] and tries to make us feel good, even virtuous, simply about feeling.... you may cry, but when tears are milked as they are here, the truer response should be rage." (Read the full review...) 1,236 words, 12/23/11 David Denby, New Yorker: MODERATE "At the craft level, the movie is skillful. Yet whimsy and sentimentality blight whatever is good in it. Oskar's grandmother (Zoe Caldwell) lives across the street; the two of them chat over walkie-talkies. ('Did I wake you up? Over.') A little of that is more than enough." (Read the full review...) 1,061 words, 01/09/12 Ella Taylor, NPR: VERY GOOD "...a dark but warm and captivating movie for kids. Intentionally or not, it has all the ingredients of a child's fable: It's an action adventure edged with grief for a loss so terrible, only signs and portents will serve to comprehend and contain it." (Read the full review...) 679 words, 12/22/11 Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "There are certainly big, capital-letter themes explored here: Death. Sorrow. Forgiveness. Reconciliation. But through the boy, Daldry brings it all down to a human level.... won't be the last cinematic word on 9/11, but it proves to be an eloquent one." (Read the full review...) 952 words, 12/23/11 Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: POOR "...unconvincing Hollywood mush.... It's not a terrible film, exactly, but something worse, an irritating and enervating one.... [has] a hero you constantly want to smack, mixed with an after-school special about grief and healing." (Read the full review...) 915 words, 12/23/11
Peter Debruge, Daily Variety: GOOD "...addresses the confusion, anger and emptiness [the World Trade Center terrorist attacks] forced upon New Yorkers.... With a heavy heart and even heavier hand, director Stephen Daldry addresses the tragedy through the experience of a boy struggling to accept the death of his father." (Read the full review...) 1,213 words, 12/18/11 Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: EXCELLENT "An emotionally potent, noticeably literary story of a precious boy's reaction to his father's death on 9/11.... dominated by the performance of a 13-year-old with no previous acting experience, Thomas Horn..." (Read the full review...) 1,229 words, 12/18/11 Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "There are certainly big, capital-letter themes explored here: Death. Sorrow. Forgiveness. Reconciliation. But through the boy, Daldry brings it all down to a human level.... won't be the last cinematic word on 9/11, but it proves to be an eloquent one." (Read the full review...) 952 words, 12/23/11 Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: EXCELLENT (cg) "...ambitiously flawed but ultimately rewarding... entrepreneurial producer Scott Rudin and director Stephen Daldry deserve credit for tackling head-on what is still an open sore in the American collective consciousness." (Read the full review...) 1,409 words, 12/20/11 Manohla Dargis, New York Times: POOR "This is how kitsch works. It exploits familiar images [the Twin Towers] and tries to make us feel good, even virtuous, simply about feeling.... you may cry, but when tears are milked as they are here, the truer response should be rage." (Read the full review...) 1,236 words, 12/23/11 Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: POOR "The production's penchant for contrivance is insufferable -- not a single spontaneous moment from start to finish -- and the boy is so precocious you want to strangle him." (Read the full review...) 374 words, 12/23/11
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