The Book of Henry 2017

The best metaphor I have for the quality of this film is the trajectory of United 93: It starts out great, then abruptly takes a sharp dive straight into oblivion. It's a real disappointment, because I wanted to see it as soon as the trailer came up in the cinema last time I went. (Apparently I don't go to an actual cinema very often…) Now I'm just glad it was a $6 rental on iTunes watched (at least in part) by about ten people, instead of an $80+ trip (not including popcorn) to the cinema.

This movie's crying shame lies in its waste of a compelling premise on flat characters—or even caricatures.

Henry is an incredibly interesting character who gets nowhere near as much screen time as he should. He dies at the end of the first act, but not before Sheila kissing him (romantically) on his death bed completely disintegrates any shred of believability the movie might have started out with. And if that didn't do it, the second and third acts certainly will.

Susan is so over the top with the childish behavior that it strains credibility in every single one of her scenes. (In particular, there is no way any human mother could possibly suggest, except as a joke, that the whole family will eat nothing but dessert for every meal for a week. But she appears to do it, as evidenced by Peter's school lunches.

Christina is really nothing more than a pretty young face, who happens to be a pretty good dancer. Her character has zero depth. There's really not much to say, in part because she doesn't really say much in the whole film.

Glenn is more or less type-cast—the last role I saw Dean Norris in was as the self-appointed sheriff of Chester's Mill in Under the Dome, and Glenn Sickleman is kind of just a watered down version of Big Jim Rennie. His suicide is nothing more than a weak, convenient plot device to tie up the ending with a "twist" of sorts.

Dr. David Daniels (how many Ds do you need, man?) might be the most believable character in the film, though mostly I was just enjoying seeing Lee Pace outside of his role as Joe MacMillan on Halt and Catch Fire (which I also enjoy more and more as I make my way through that series). He seems like a real guy with real care and affection for his patient (and his patient's family), though he's written pretty flat in the hospital scenes.

Finally among the "main" cast, Sheila… I don't know where to start. She's all over the place from the beginning, never establishing any character traits beyond "alcoholic". We don't find out why she is one, at that.

Matthew Lickona, writing for the San Diego Reader, might have said it best: "However hard the talented cast may try, those aren't people up on the screen; they're candles, balloons, and marbles." (https://www.sandiegoreader.com/movies/the-book-of-henry/)

I haven't even touched on the plot itself, only the characters. Suspension of disbelief goes out the window within about 20 minutes at the latest, and by the time we reach the third act… You couldn't even hold up your disbelief with a Saturn V firing at full thrust. Try it, I'll wait.

Done? Good. You see my point.

What starts as a family drama turns into a not-very-taut thriller at the drop of a hat. The tonal shift falls flat, and "bewildering" is the word that comes to mind when I try to think of ways to describe the transition. It's abrupt, it comes out of nowhere, and it's impossible to take Susan seriously when she's telling off Glenn in the woods. Simply impossible.

I already mentioned the weak, convenient plot device that ties up the feel-good ending, but I just have to mention it again: Glenn kills himself when he finds out that someone called Child Protective Services on him. There's no motivation, or even a hint at what his inner thoughts might be, just the act itself and abbreviated aftermath.

If you want a fantastical feel-good story about a smart kid who does something heartwarming for another kid, watch The Blimp Trap (2016) instead. If you want a thriller, watch literally any other thriller. If you want a dumpster fire, watch The Book of Henry (2017).

It’s difficult to go too much into the story of the Book of Henry without completely ruining it for anyone who has yet to see the film. So, for the purposes of this ‘opinion’ I will entirely outline how the film was made and performed.

Simply said the Book of Henry appears to start off as one type of film or story and ends up as another, only to flip back at the denouement. That is the who films great strength and equally its biggest weakness. The idea is fascinating and the story somewhat different, but the execution is poor, really poor, and actually in hindsight really sloppy.

Despite some reviews I saw after the event Jaeden Martell, the Nazi-teen in knives out, is good in the pivotal role of ‘Henry’ and from my limited experience of a prodigy gets it more or less correct. If nothing he is too nice at points, annoying his peers with facts in a ‘matter of fact’ I have actually seen being done in real life. The role of Peter, by Jacob Tremblay is a cinematic artifact, he is only there to show how kind and nice Henry is, he could have been a pet cat and therefore the actor, no matter how young, is left with little to work with. Naomi Watts plays her role well and looks the part of a slightly dippy world-worn single mum, she isn’t glamourous and does not have even, ceramic, glow-in-the-dark teeth, all good. The journey Susan goes on, particularly at the end is frankly ridiculous, does not play to the character or how she is throughout the story and makes little to no sense.

Here in lies the rub. Henry and his mother, has no real proof of what is going on next door, Christina, who mainly looks sad and says ‘I’m fine’ for most of the film never tells anyone or confirms the heinous events that are supposed to be happening. Therefore, the crux of the story, the reason, for us watching, are sort of nebulous and looking at in a cold manner, illegal. Although it must be said Maddie Ziegler who plays her is a superb dancer, so she does get to show that off even though she is another actor given little to work with. Henry’s solution seems illogical and does not follow his way of thinking as demonstrated prior to the ‘events’ beginning.

If you are in the right frame of mind this film is light and interesting entertainment but like a lot of output these days, particularly in this frame, ten minutes after the film finishes the first thing that comes to your mind is ‘hang on a gosh-darn minute’.

The plot-holes and inconsistent tone are big enough to drive two very big trucks through, side by side.

The surprises, suspense and tugging of the heartstrings are all there in this film and work well, I never got bored, but the adult logic, the ‘you’re supposed to take this seriously’ side is barely clinging on at the start and has dropped into the void as we get the final third.

The Book of Henry gets weaker as it progresses and certain ideas and scenes do not ring true, even within the universe of the film, and here days later I’m still trying to figure out what Lee Pace was doing in the story or why and how the school principal got or indeed kept her job as she seems to go from playing by the book with Henry to acting on one single hunch, at a dance performance, at the end. Of course, we also have a scene with the poorly used and written Sarah Silverman that is a bit yukky or ‘WFT?’ considering the topic on display. Ludicrous.

Writer Greg Hurwitz has some clunkers in his credits and seems to have great ideas that he either lacks the support of production or his own confidence fails him to fully flesh them out and create a decent story. A film featuring adult themes, with real-world things happening apparently made for adults, so treat us like adults.

Director Colin Treverrow is clearly king of the ‘wow that looks cool dude’ directors but absolutely does not care at all if anything you see on the screen for two hours or so makes any logical sense whatsoever, unfortunately, he is not directing surrealist arthouse. He directed Jurassic World, enough said.

The Book of Henry is an interesting premise and I watched it from beginning to end without losing interest so from this point of view it works, but it is tone-deaf, illogical and afterward annoyed me more than it should.

A great idea ruined by what I feel was lazy and sloppy execution, shame. Must try harder.