The Book of Henry (12A)
Two stars
Dir: Colin Trevorrow
With: Naomi Watts, Lee Pace
Runtime: 105 minutes
FROM the writer-director of the hit family film Jurassic World, this drama looked like another winner from Colin Trevorrow. Starring Naomi Watts as the devoted single mother of two adorable children, one of them hugely gifted and possessing a delicious line in sarky wit that he practises on mum’s pal Sheila (Sarah Silverman), what could possibly stand in the way of this being a hit?
Therein lies a tale. Since the second rule of film reviewing is to avoid spoilers (the first being to steer clear of Danny Dyer films), I will not go into the ins and outs of the wildly improbable story. Enough to say that like the cinema adaptation of The Lovely Bones, along the way The Book of Henry takes a distressing turn from which it would be impossible for any film to recover.
It starts promisingly, with Henry (Jaeden Lieberher) being a good, kind, kid to everyone he meets. Like a modern day Holden Caulfield, Henry sees a world that is messed up and cruel in places, and wants to put everything right. Had Trevorrow carried on in this vein things might have turned out differently, but there is no accounting for some decisions.
Certainly, his film is handsomely shot and boasts a back to form performance from Watts, who needed a hit after the equally disastrous Diana. By the end, he even manages to get the movie back on some semblance of track. But good luck getting there. Too much Mr Trevorrow, too much.
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