Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (the movie)

I should have read the book first. It's on my to-read list on Goodreads, at the bottom with a bunch of other books I can't seem to get around to. Books that are best sellers, but I don't know anybody personally reading them.

I didn't expect it to become a movie so soon. I probably wouldn't have seen it, if not for Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, even though I knew from interviews they each spend less than 15 minutes on the screen. But they sold it to me.

They didn't sell it to Tinker. Anything about 9/11 has to be depressing. The reviews said it was uplifting. I asked him if he wanted to go to see it with me. He said, I don't want to, but I'll go with you.

I expected a story about a precocious nine-year-old in search for something about his father who had died on that "worst day." The boy turns out to be a little "Monk, the detective." Obsessive Compulsive, Aspergers, Savant, you name it. If you watch "Monk" you know how Trudy's death affected him. Halfway into the movie, I looked at Tinker, and I knew he hated it. I started thinking, "shoulda read the book first."

Then something changed (no spoilers here). The movie became uplifting. Hint: Max von Sydow received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in this film.

Tinker still hated it. I give it four stars.