The only thing I knew about The Book of Henry before seeing it was that it had been critically lambasted. I’m not sure what I was expecting, then, but it certainly was not what I witnessed.
I don’t think I have seen another film with so many changes of tone and gear shifts. It starts out as an affable family drama involving a precocious kid, Henry (Jaeden Lieberher), his brother Peter (Jacob Tremblay) and their Mum Susan (Naomi Watts). It starts to veer into much darker territory when a child abuse storyline involving Christina (Maddie Ziegler) and her step Dad (Dean Norris) is added. Then it becomes a mawkishly sentimental ‘disease of the week’ tale when a serious illness befalls one of the main characters. After getting bogged down in that plotline, it flirts briefly with being a black comedy before setting into thriller mode for much of the rest of the movie.
The comedic elements probably work the best, though they are few and far between. The thriller element has a lot of promise but it fizzles out as the film limps to its end. The rest of it is average to poor.
The blame for the mess that the movie ultimately becomes has to be shared between screenwriter Gregg Hurwitz and director Colin Trevorrow, who fails to get a grip on the material. Michael Giacchino’s schmaltzy score also does not help matters.
Surprisingly the performances are mostly good. Watts once again puts in a better performance than the material deserves, Lieberher is not too annoying, the reliable Norris is suitably scary and Ziegler does well in her underwritten role. But, all of their efforts are in vain as the film never finds a consistent mood and it ends in a whimper.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10