Mawkish 'Extremely Loud' is incredibly phony

Review

It's no surprise that the grief-drenched Sept. 11 drama "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" should turn out incredibly mawkish. A cloying exercise in sentimentality, the film also winds up extremely annoying, even infuriating.

Director Stephen Daldry's film, featuring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, centers on the worst day most Americans have lived through, an event whose memory still pains even those who suffered no personal loss in the terrorist attacks.

Yet it exists in some bizarrely contrived alternate reality through which Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth, adapting Jonathan Safran Foer's novel, fabricate the perfect cleansing ritual for a Sept. 11 Manhattan family in mourning. Perfect for them, that is, not for a movie audience.

This story is not a catharsis. It's a cheat that has nothing to do with overcoming sorrow in the real world, where Sept. 11 happened.

That said, in fairness, fans of the book might like Daldry's approach, which is a true class act in its production and the talent involved. Along with Hanks and Bullock, the compelling cast includes Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright and John Goodman in small but effective roles.

Newcomer Thomas Horn, the 13-year-old star who was cast after the filmmakers saw him on a "Jeopardy!" kids episode, is a mixed bag, holding his own among the adult actors but, through no fault of his own, forced to behave with excessive shrillness much of the time.

That's because his character, Oskar Schell, may or may not have Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism (his medical tests, we're told, were inconclusive).

Oskar is a compulsive, unsociable kid, whose difficulties relating to the outside world are tempered by imaginative mind games and pastimes engineered by his father, Thomas (Hanks).

In flashbacks throughout the film, Thomas appears as teacher, guide and nurturer for Oskar.

After Thomas dies in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, Oskar is left adrift. Alone with his mother, Linda (Bullock), with whom he's always had an awkward relationship, Oskar finds home life more strained than ever, his mom mired in her own grief.

Then Oskar discovers a key among his father's belongings with the name "Black" attached. Convinced it's a clue to a vital secret his dad left for him to reveal, Oskar sets forth to visit everyone named Black listed in the New York phone books in hopes of finding the lock that key will fit.

"Extremely Loud" has heartfelt moments of redemption and reconciliation, particularly in scenes with Davis and Wright as a couple of the people Oskar encounters on his search. And it's hard not to tear up as Bullock's seemingly callous Linda reveals what she's been up to while Oskar wanders the city.

Hanks is at his most lovable as the finest dad a troubled kid — any kid, really — could ever have.

As everyone works through the pain, it all sounds so sweet and life-affirming. Yet it feels so extremely soppy and incredibly phony.