Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a story that unfolds from inside the young mind of Oskar Schell, an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker whose discovery of a key in his deceased father's belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open. A year after his father died in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls "The Worst Day," he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears. Now, as Oskar crosses the five New York boroughs in quest of the missing lock - encountering an eclectic assortment of people who are each survivors in their own way - he begins to uncover unseen links to the father he misses, to the mother who seems so far away from him and to the whole noisy, dangerous, discombobulating world around him.

I still don't know what to think of this movie. I loved the story as gut wrenching as it was. I loved the journey of the kid and the different people he met and effected. I loved the coming together towards the end with the kid and the mother. However, I hated the kid. I feel horrible saying that because A - he's a kid and B - look at what he went through in the context of the movie. But - this was seriously one of the most annoying kids I've ever seen. Did they have to make him so quirky? If this is just a random kid doing this, this movie could have made my top ten. Unfortunately, the weirdness of this kid made me want to punch someone in the face and definitely took away from the movie for me.

I don't know that I would recommend people checking this out. I'm baffled by the Best Picture nomination too. Again - the story is great, but easily the most annoying child I've ever seen.