Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011): B-

In adapting Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, for the screen, director Stephen Daldry (a three-time Oscar nominee for his first three films—“Billy Elliot,” “The Hours,” and “The Reader”) and screenwriter Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) have hit on just about every Oscar-friendly idea that could possibly get Academy voters attention: estranged fathers; desceased loved ones; a brilliant but emotionally troubled child; a healing adventure; and a tragedy in the background—in this case, September 11, 2001. It’s a recipe for success with even the most jaded voter, and in a way, audience member. It’s also a dangerous proposition, since we’re barely 10 years removed from the tragic events of that day, and only a handful of films have dared tackle the day head-on, and fewer still with any real success (I’m thinking mainly of “United 93” and “World Trade Center”).

For much of its 129-minute running time, “Extremely Loud” felt gratuitously contrived and emotionally manipulative, especially when you consider that the story of an exceptional and lonely young boy searching for a message from his desceased father in clues that the father left behind was told, with greater profundity, not too long ago in Martin Scorsese’s magical adventure, “Hugo.” However, Daldry’s film has a secret weapon in the role of Linda Schell, the grieving wife and mother played by Oscar winner Sandra Bullock. I’ll be honest, as we see Oskar Schell (played by Thomas Horn in a performance that is technically strong, but didn’t completely win me over) run around New York City trying to find the lock a key he finds in his father’s things belongs to, a journey that takes him unexpected places and forces him to face many of his deepest fears, the narrative similarities with “Hugo” are practically unavoidable, and this film fell very short, even with Oskar’s father, Thomas, played by Tom Hanks. That being said, whenever we see Oskar on-screen with his mother, who has had her own difficulties with losing her husband, and feeling distant with her son, the film really came alive emotionally. Bullock, in arguably her finest performance, brings the best out of Horn in their scenes, as we see a mother trying to make sense of her world, and help her son do the same. It’s heartbreaking, and emotionally healing, to watch, with Bullock leading a stellar supporting cast (including Max von Sydow and Viola Davis), and helping make “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” something palpable, rather than just feeling like overwrought Oscar baiting.

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