The Book of Henry (2017)
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
Susan, a single mother of two, works as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances but acts as emotional support for his mother and younger brother. When Henry discovers that the girl next door has a terrible secret, he implores Susan to take matters into her own hands.
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5 films that influenced The Book of Henry
What critics say influenced The Book of Henry
But director Colin Trevorrow ( Jurassic World , Safety Not Guaranteed ) is also attempting to emulate the tone of pictures like The Goonies , Radio Flyer and Stand By Me while also mixing in more elements that are as equally upsetting, making this one of the more unusual feel-good tales of self-discovery and familial empowerment to ever see the light of day.
The influence of Spielberg can be felt in some of the misadventures Henry and his younger brother get in to, which are reminiscent of “The Goonies,” to an early poster that mimicked the work of Spielberg artist Drew Struzan, to Michael Giacchino‘s music, which hums with the warmth and earnestness of the very best John Williams‘ scores.
If the movies produce a more disjointed effort in 2017, it’ll be a dysfunctional miracle; that they’ve already produced one as scattered as this, Colin Trevorrow’s follow-up film to his thunderously stupid 2015 box office colossus, Jurassic World , is baffling enough.
Emotionally and tonally, it's hard to figure out what the heck Jurassic World and future Star Wars 9 director Colin Trevorrow is trying to pull off.
Directed with Hallmark-movie superficiality by Colin Trevorrow ( “Jurassic World” ) from a phony-sweet screenplay by novelist Gregg Hurwitz, it’s about a precocious 11-year-old genius named Henry Carpenter (Jaeden Lieberher).
It’s one of those films in which Bad Things Happen, but director Colin Trevorrow (who directed Jurassic World and is in charge of the 2019 Star Wars movie) doesn’t let the emotional pain turn his film’s life-affirming message into a bummer—a copout.
Director Colin Trevorrow ("Safety Not Guaranteed," "Jurassic World") has such a firm grasp of his material he almost hurdles Hurwitz's big obstacle, the crosscutting of his climax reminiscent of "The Godfather's" Baptism massacre, the stamping of children's feet on stage adding tense urgency to events happening elsewhere.
That is only the first crime that director Trevorrow (Jurassic World) and writer Gregg Hurwitz commit against their audience, but it’s not the last.
In other words, something like 2006’s Little Children this motion picture certainly is not.
Themes of child sexual abuse belong in coruscating, properly upsetting films like The Silence (2010) or Michael (2011) or The Treatment (2014), and ought not to be utilised as mawkish plot points in whimsical tales of wunderkinds.
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A book left behind by Henry guides Susan step-by-step into a complicated, intricate murder plot (!!!) that has her training with a rifle like she's Ben Affleck in The Accountant.