The Book of Henry

I was looking forward to seeing The Book of Henry ever since I first saw the trailer. It had an intriguing premise and I was a big fan of the director Colin Trevorrow's previous two films, Safety Not Guaranteed and Jurassic World, so I was stunned when it was getting all these bad reviews. Not just mixed bad, more of they hated, hated, hated this movie bad. Armed with a free pass and nothing to lose but 100 minutes of my life, I decided I needed to know if it really was that terrible. And you know what? I don't think it was. 

Henry Carpenter (played by Jaeden Lieberher) is a young boy with amazing intellect and intelligence as well as a caring and compassionate person. He has the presence of mind to know that overall he would function better in a regular school than a gifted one as it offers him more social development. He oversees his family's finances and is so good at it, his mother Susan (played by Naomi Watts) wouldn't have to work if she didn't want to. He lives with his mother and younger brother Peter (played by Jacob Tremblay) and for the most part have a relatively happy life. The illusion of happiness is shattered when Henry realizes that the girl next door, Christina (played by Maddie Ziegler), is being abused by her stepfather, Glenn Sickleman (played by Dean Norris). At first, he tries to go to the authorties but reaches a dead end as Glenn is the Police Commissioner and no one believes the accusations (also Sickleman's brother oversees Child Protective Services, which doesn't help). Seeing no other option, Henry develops a bold and daring plan to take out Glenn Sickleman for good and one that Susan finds herself at the center of since Henry can't carry it out all on his own.

After the big and epic Jurassic World, this film is a return to form for director Colin Trevorrow as he works on a smaller and more intimate canvas from a script by Gregg Hurwitz. The film is ambitious in it's own way, juggling several different genres at one, going from whimsical, offbeat family comedy to very dark thriller along with another I won't mention due to my desire to keep this as spoiler free as possible. They damn near get away with it to, although some may find the shifts in tone more jarring than others if the critical response is anything to go by. Still, there are moments in the film when things just go a little to much to plan that had even me, one of the most forgiving moviegoers ever, thinking, "Oh come on!" The film really does stretch the limits of suspension of disbelief, especially during the climax of the film that Henry has set up and Susan is carrying out, with prerecorded instructions from Henry guiding her along the way that she frequently responds to. Henry's planning works out almost exactly as dictated and it would've been nice and more suspenseful if maybe things didn't quite go to plan and Susan had to think on the fly instead. Yes, Henry is a very clever boy but you can't predict human behavior that exactly and it would have been a nice twist if it hadn't gone exactly as planned. 

Still, it's the performances that really save the show. Naomi Watts is fantastic as Susan, who works as a waitress and is also an aspiring children's book author. Also, since Henry takes care of many of the household responsibilities, she is a bit more of a free spirit as she plays video games after work and hangs out with her friend and co-worker Sheila (played by Sarah Silverman). Even though chronologically she's the adult, in many ways Susan is another one of the kids as well and over the course of the events of the film grows up a lot, which made for an interesting story arc. Jaeden Lieberher is an actor I've been seeing turning in some great performances as well and is great here as well as Henry. He is able to convey Henry's intelligence but also his incredible compassion in a very touching performance. Jacob Tremblay was also quite good as younger brother Peter, who looks up to Henry and wants to be more like him. I also liked Dean Norris' performance as Glenn Sickleman, resisting the urge go outright villainous with his role, making the plot point of the authorties shrugging off the accusations against him seem at least somewhat plausible. Lee Pace shows up as a neurosurgeon Susan meets and the film does seem to imply some romantic interest there, but it doesn't really develop much. Despite a few endearing scenes between Pace and the two boys, he's a bit wasted here which is a shame. Still, a movie with token Lee Pace is better than a movie with no Lee Pace in my book.

Yes, The Book of Henry is a flawed film. But it's not the trainwreck the critics so viciously made it out to be. The story strains credibility and the ending probably works out just a little too neatly. But the film contains some fantastic performances and some genuinely beautiful cinematography. Besides, at it's core it holds a bold new idea for a movie. For all it's flaws, it was something that I had not seen before. In an era of endless sequels, remakes and "re-imaginings", I welcome anything that is original regardless of it's imperfections.