Review of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

This movie was on the verge of something great. To people criticizing its use of 9/11 just to evoke emotion: the focus of this movie is not the tragedy that happened, but how a young, autistic child copes with the loss of his father. Could the story have revolved around a different tragedy, such as losing his father in car crash or to disease? Sure, but that's been done. The reason this movie uses a global tragedy is because it's beyond what a child can understand and cope with (I myself was also in middle school when 9/11 happened, and didn't truly understand what happened until years later). I think this movie was close to something great. Sure, it was gimmicky at times, especially with the voice messages that Oskar listens to of his father, slowly revealing them to the audience one by one until its eventual climax with the final message. I think this is the greatest weakness of all in the movie, not the inclusion of 9/11.

The characters are compelling, especially Oskar, even if he is obnoxious and frustrating at times: Thomas Horn nails his role. Children with autism (or Asperger's for that matter) have an extremely difficult time expressing emotion, so imagine having to deal with the loss of their father in a global tragedy that they can't possibly comprehend? I think the portrayal is remarkable, especially for such a young actor. So, bottom line, does it accomplish what it set out to do (or at least what I said earlier that I think it attempted to do)? Certainly. Could it have been better? Yes. Is it worth seeing? Definitely.