This is one of the better films that extrapolates from that horrible day on September 11, 2001 in a moving fictional story. Although sentimental in tone, it is difficult not to admire the stellar cast and the clever plotting of the film.The principal conceit of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is the process of a search that is foreshadowed at the start of the film of the young Oskar Schell taking the challenge of his dad to search for a non-existent sixth borough of New York. That search transitions into a search for the missing box that will be unlocked from a key left by the father prior to his death on 9/11.The little kid who plays the role of Oskar was described in the DVD bonus segment as a child genius who learned Mandarin and won a bundle on the television show Jeopardy, prior to being recruited for the film. The mantra of Oskar is "never stop looking"--words that were circled on a newspaper clipping left behind by the father.My favorite character in the film was the Renter, an elderly man from the old country who befriends Oskar and helps him on his quest. Max Von Sydow was terrific in the role of the "silent" character, whose past life is never revealed in the film. Could the Renter be the father of the dad, whose name appears on the logo of the family jewelry business, Schell & Son Jewelers?SPOILER ALERT: The mother character, played effectively by Sandra Bullock, loved the son so much that she was shadowing his every move in the long search through the boroughs of New York for the missing lock. She met with the various Black members on the son's checklist, preparing the people for his visit. Unfortunately, this moving part of the story led to a major plot hole, as the couple who owned the vase and ran the estate sale should have been alerted to the importance of the key by the mother's visit, prior to the arrival of the son. There were other instances where the film stretched credibility. It tended to venture into the area of the supernatural, just falling short of a film like "The Sixth Sense" in the improbable search of young Oscar and the connection of sixth borough plot with the lock-and-key. It was almost as if the Renter could have been a figment of Oskar's vivid imagination. At some point, the filmmakers had the obligation to have everything make sense in such a realistic film.

I'm not quite sure how to review Stephen Daldry's "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close". It focuses on a number of different things at once: 9/11, Asperger's syndrome, and a quest for an answer. I understand that several reviewers found the movie exploitative in how it focused on the first two. I didn't see it that way. I guess that the gist of the movie is that sooner or later, we all must realize that it's a harsh world out there. In the protagonist's case, it took the 21st century's most famous - or infamous - event to make him realize that. As his mother reminds him, we can't always explain why these things happen.* As to the issue of whether the movie deserved its Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, I don't think that I would've nominated it. Of course, I haven't seen as many 2011 releases as I would've liked to, so I don't know what I would've nominated in its place. In the end, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and the rest turn in fine performances, so that saves the movie more than anything.*There have in fact been countless explanations as to why Osama bin Laden directed his followers to hijack the planes, but it would take too long to discuss here.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a decent movie with a reasonably well developed plot and a talented cast. It is a very sweet, enjoyable adventure that follows a young boy who embarks on a journey after finding a key left by his father, who died in the September 11 attacks. Tom Hanks' scenes are very effective and add great depth to the film, the phone call scene between him and Sandra Bullock is very hard hitting, powerful stuff. It tries to be more than it really is, while it should have simply been handled as a family drama, it strives to me be more. It was clearly written as a much simpler film, but when the studio saw Oscar potential, they made it far more pretentious, making it in to a far less enjoyable experience overall. Oskar is an unlikeable protagonist. He is naive and thinks he is far more clever than he is, which was clearly intended to be his charm, but I the way it was showcased, and how Thomas Horn portrays it, just made him an unpleasant character to follow. While its good, it could have been great. Sweet but pretentious, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is worth the watch if you are looking for a good drama or adventure, just do not go out of your way to see it. A nine year old boy finds a key two years after the death of his dad but must hunt for the lock that matches it. Best Performance: Tom Hanks

As was the case with the equally excellent movie "Everything Is Illuminated", also adapted from a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, we follow the journey of an intellectually gifted but socially awkward (Autism? Asperger's Syndrome?) young man who is attempting to unravel a family puzzle of great personal importance. In both instances the circuitous pathway which slowly takes shape ultimately significantly touches more lives than just the seeker of truth, ending not only in bittersweet knowledge, but also in personal reconciliation. Both movies contain moments of situational humor, but are predominantly infused with the sadness and confusion which are at the core of each young protagonist. This movie had many strong performances (especially the lead actor, Thomas Horn, in his debut- and only- movie role to date) and, to my eye, not a truly false note. I realize that this film has received more than its share of negative reviews, being called terms such as "9/11 Porn" and "extremely exploitative", but I found it to be incredibly moving, well crafted and certainly worth seeing.