I'm not sure if I'm amazed or appalled. Maybe a bit of both.
As I sit here, after seeing The Book Of Henry, I feel like I've just experienced something truly unparalleled. This is the rare movie that makes you lean back and wonder for all the wrong reasons. Director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World) dusted off Gregg Hurwitz's 20-year-old screenplay and filmed what can only be described as one of the most disastrous sentimental Oscar-bait family dramas ever put to film. Why was there no one around to stop him?
It's hard to even begin putting this madness to words. I just have to start at the beginning and hope I can convey a semblance of the catastrophe I just witnessed. This has to be more spoilers-heavy than I usually like, because there's no way to convey just how absurd this movie gets without detailing it.
Henry (Jaeden Martell) is your typical movie-genius 11-year-old kid. He's quirky and wise beyond his years - building random Rube Goldberg machines, acting as a master in day-trading on the stock market ($680k cash, more than that in stocks, though no one uses it) and as an advisor to his mother Susan (Naomi Watts) and younger brother Peter (Jacob Tremblay). His mother respects him as a genius but sometimes struggles to be a parent to him - spending her evenings playing Gears Of War on XBox instead (...seriously). The Book Of Henry starts off as something innocent - a slice-of-life story with a touch of imaginative whimsy, but with grounding in Henry's morality on being concerned for other people. In particular his concern for his neighbor's daughter Christina (Maddie Ziegler, a Dance Moms alum who has under 10 lines despite being central to the plot). Henry might be a genius, but he doesn't really understand how people work.
Now we get to the thriller part of The Book Of Henry. You may want to sit down for this, I'm not kidding. Henry's concern for Christina is rooted in the fact that her father Glenn (Dean Norris), the police commissioner and 'upstanding citizen' according to the school principal, is abusing Christina (note: they never show the abuse or even bruises). Henry had previously tried to get the local authorities involved, but it turns out Glenn's ties run deep in the local area and no one is going to stop him. Rather than trying to find concrete proof of the abuse, Henry just jumps straight to the conclusion that murder is the only option and begins planning out how to kill Glenn without getting caught. But oh no, Henry gets sick and can't do it himself! Thank God for stopping this madman!
You can't have a family drama without dying children, or at least that's what most Oscar bait movies have taught me. Unfortunately, Henry's mild headaches that he's been suffering through turn out to be something far more serious: death by plot contrivance. The tone immediately shifts into pure drama and the whimsy stops dead. With the prognosis of imminent death due to brain cancer (hello Dr. Lee Pace!), Henry uses what little time he has left to try and make sure his struggling mother and brother will be okay after he's gone. When he finally does pass it is a sad moment that reminds you that even if he's an adult-talking genius that he's also just a child with a mother who loved and needed him. It's a rather well done sequence of events showing how grief can overcome us, no matter how hard we deny it.
Then, the last 45-minutes happen. If you weren't sitting down before, please do so now.
This is where the titular Book comes in. Henry, knowing Susan will better cope with his death if she has something else to focus on decides to give her one last task from beyond the grave: murdering Glenn so she can adopt Christina via a forged custody document. If you have to pause for a second, I understand.
The plan written in Henry's book is basically a step-by-step guide for a targeted assassination, including pre-recorded audio instructions down to the minute! Susan is dismissive at first, but after finally seeing Glenn hurt Christina (again, we only see Susan's reaction) she immediately jumps on the murder train. I am not kidding, this really happens. A sentimental story of a small family struggling with grief within a few minutes turns into a story about a kid's elaborate plan to murder a police commissioner. I was on the edge of my seat for all the wrong reasons.
Oh, and this assassination climax, shot as an action-thriller now, is cross-cut with a school talent show featuring burping the alphabet and tap dance. Thankfully Susan starts using her brain again - aided by a random Rube Goldberg contraption showing her kids photos - so no murder, but the result is basically the same. As the movie ends, with the clear expectation that the audience should feel uplifted by this "moving" tale, the only thing I felt was bewilderment and disgust.
This is the kind of mind-numbing insanity that one cannot believe is happening. You just give in to the madness that plays in front of you. Colin Trevorrow plays this story so straight that it does legitimately come across as if it he's advocating this murder for the longest time. That first hour wasn't anything overly special, perhaps your standard award-chasing screenplay that hopes to find its way to some film festival Jury prizes while some reviewer calls the film "profound and moving." The last half of the movie, though, is so ill-conceived and mystifying that it almost transcends taste.
The Book Of Henry has no business attempting to hide behind the guise of a quirky family drama. It's almost disgusting to think about the way Trevorrow attempts to manipulate the audience into siding with Henry's plan. I had to just laugh when the pieces of the murder plot were being put together - how much thought went into this one act of violence arranged by an 11-year-old boy for his own mother to complete. With a less competent director this might have played out more as a dark comedy, but it does feel like Trevorrow truly thought he was making something profound. The key tip-off for Trevorrow's love of this screenplay is in its use of technology, or should I say, lack of use - Henry uses a Polaroid camera and never video tapes Glenn's crimes, despite cellphones, laptops, and iPads being around - all because Trevorrow didn't want to change a thing. Trevorrow makes this the best movie he can; this earnestness is the movies most worrisome aspect.
In a way I have to praise The Book Of Henry for its madness. Where other films might have just stopped at having Henry collect evidence, this film goes out of its way to make the manipulation of a grieving mother by their dead child seem right. It's just bizarre to see so many skilled actors, in a pretty well made movie, never bat an eye at what they are doing. When young Jacob Tremblay, who at the time of filming was 8-years old, literally ran down the stairs and proclaimed to his mother "I think Henry wants us to kill Glenn," I burst out in laughter even before Susan's 'comedic' response. This movie is in so many ways morally reprehensible, but it's an unbelievable experience to watch it.
The Book Of Henry is something I'd say you have to see to believe, but only those die-hard fans of bad cinema can ever appreciate how off-the-rails this movie gets. The ill-conceived message it presents is flabbergasting to sit through. The Book Of Henry is so tonally inconsistent and at times repugnant that I honestly feel sorry for all the actors in this movie. One can easily rewrite this movie into a murder mystery thriller, or just a straight family drama about grief; it should not be both of those things. In terms of misguided efforts, The Book Oh Henry is in the top-tier of disasters. The Book Of Henry is a total catastrophe wrapped in the disguise of a noble message, done in by a lack of ability to just be one thing.
As I sit here, after seeing The Book Of Henry, I feel like I've just experienced something truly unparalleled. This is the rare movie that makes you lean back and wonder for all the wrong reasons. Director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World) dusted off Gregg Hurwitz's 20-year-old screenplay and filmed what can only be described as one of the most disastrous sentimental Oscar-bait family dramas ever put to film. Why was there no one around to stop him?
It's hard to even begin putting this madness to words. I just have to start at the beginning and hope I can convey a semblance of the catastrophe I just witnessed. This has to be more spoilers-heavy than I usually like, because there's no way to convey just how absurd this movie gets without detailing it.
Henry (Jaeden Martell) is your typical movie-genius 11-year-old kid. He's quirky and wise beyond his years - building random Rube Goldberg machines, acting as a master in day-trading on the stock market ($680k cash, more than that in stocks, though no one uses it) and as an advisor to his mother Susan (Naomi Watts) and younger brother Peter (Jacob Tremblay). His mother respects him as a genius but sometimes struggles to be a parent to him - spending her evenings playing Gears Of War on XBox instead (...seriously). The Book Of Henry starts off as something innocent - a slice-of-life story with a touch of imaginative whimsy, but with grounding in Henry's morality on being concerned for other people. In particular his concern for his neighbor's daughter Christina (Maddie Ziegler, a Dance Moms alum who has under 10 lines despite being central to the plot). Henry might be a genius, but he doesn't really understand how people work.
Now we get to the thriller part of The Book Of Henry. You may want to sit down for this, I'm not kidding. Henry's concern for Christina is rooted in the fact that her father Glenn (Dean Norris), the police commissioner and 'upstanding citizen' according to the school principal, is abusing Christina (note: they never show the abuse or even bruises). Henry had previously tried to get the local authorities involved, but it turns out Glenn's ties run deep in the local area and no one is going to stop him. Rather than trying to find concrete proof of the abuse, Henry just jumps straight to the conclusion that murder is the only option and begins planning out how to kill Glenn without getting caught. But oh no, Henry gets sick and can't do it himself! Thank God for stopping this madman!
You can't have a family drama without dying children, or at least that's what most Oscar bait movies have taught me. Unfortunately, Henry's mild headaches that he's been suffering through turn out to be something far more serious: death by plot contrivance. The tone immediately shifts into pure drama and the whimsy stops dead. With the prognosis of imminent death due to brain cancer (hello Dr. Lee Pace!), Henry uses what little time he has left to try and make sure his struggling mother and brother will be okay after he's gone. When he finally does pass it is a sad moment that reminds you that even if he's an adult-talking genius that he's also just a child with a mother who loved and needed him. It's a rather well done sequence of events showing how grief can overcome us, no matter how hard we deny it.
Then, the last 45-minutes happen. If you weren't sitting down before, please do so now.
This is where the titular Book comes in. Henry, knowing Susan will better cope with his death if she has something else to focus on decides to give her one last task from beyond the grave: murdering Glenn so she can adopt Christina via a forged custody document. If you have to pause for a second, I understand.
The plan written in Henry's book is basically a step-by-step guide for a targeted assassination, including pre-recorded audio instructions down to the minute! Susan is dismissive at first, but after finally seeing Glenn hurt Christina (again, we only see Susan's reaction) she immediately jumps on the murder train. I am not kidding, this really happens. A sentimental story of a small family struggling with grief within a few minutes turns into a story about a kid's elaborate plan to murder a police commissioner. I was on the edge of my seat for all the wrong reasons.
Oh, and this assassination climax, shot as an action-thriller now, is cross-cut with a school talent show featuring burping the alphabet and tap dance. Thankfully Susan starts using her brain again - aided by a random Rube Goldberg contraption showing her kids photos - so no murder, but the result is basically the same. As the movie ends, with the clear expectation that the audience should feel uplifted by this "moving" tale, the only thing I felt was bewilderment and disgust.
This is the kind of mind-numbing insanity that one cannot believe is happening. You just give in to the madness that plays in front of you. Colin Trevorrow plays this story so straight that it does legitimately come across as if it he's advocating this murder for the longest time. That first hour wasn't anything overly special, perhaps your standard award-chasing screenplay that hopes to find its way to some film festival Jury prizes while some reviewer calls the film "profound and moving." The last half of the movie, though, is so ill-conceived and mystifying that it almost transcends taste.
The Book Of Henry has no business attempting to hide behind the guise of a quirky family drama. It's almost disgusting to think about the way Trevorrow attempts to manipulate the audience into siding with Henry's plan. I had to just laugh when the pieces of the murder plot were being put together - how much thought went into this one act of violence arranged by an 11-year-old boy for his own mother to complete. With a less competent director this might have played out more as a dark comedy, but it does feel like Trevorrow truly thought he was making something profound. The key tip-off for Trevorrow's love of this screenplay is in its use of technology, or should I say, lack of use - Henry uses a Polaroid camera and never video tapes Glenn's crimes, despite cellphones, laptops, and iPads being around - all because Trevorrow didn't want to change a thing. Trevorrow makes this the best movie he can; this earnestness is the movies most worrisome aspect.
In a way I have to praise The Book Of Henry for its madness. Where other films might have just stopped at having Henry collect evidence, this film goes out of its way to make the manipulation of a grieving mother by their dead child seem right. It's just bizarre to see so many skilled actors, in a pretty well made movie, never bat an eye at what they are doing. When young Jacob Tremblay, who at the time of filming was 8-years old, literally ran down the stairs and proclaimed to his mother "I think Henry wants us to kill Glenn," I burst out in laughter even before Susan's 'comedic' response. This movie is in so many ways morally reprehensible, but it's an unbelievable experience to watch it.
The Book Of Henry is something I'd say you have to see to believe, but only those die-hard fans of bad cinema can ever appreciate how off-the-rails this movie gets. The ill-conceived message it presents is flabbergasting to sit through. The Book Of Henry is so tonally inconsistent and at times repugnant that I honestly feel sorry for all the actors in this movie. One can easily rewrite this movie into a murder mystery thriller, or just a straight family drama about grief; it should not be both of those things. In terms of misguided efforts, The Book Oh Henry is in the top-tier of disasters. The Book Of Henry is a total catastrophe wrapped in the disguise of a noble message, done in by a lack of ability to just be one thing.