Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

They should have changed the name of this film to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Annoying, for that phrase sums up perfectly the major problem with the film; that its main character is a verbose, obnoxious, and thoroughly unlikeable brat who never seems to shut up. I was able to deal with it for a while but sooner or later you just wanna scream. I don't mean to pile on, for the young boy played by Thomas Horn, has a nearly impossible task of carrying an entire film and delivering screenwriter Eric Roth's page-long speeches at 100 miles an hour. Whats worse is all the supremely talented actors around him (Tom Hanks, John Goodman, Viola Davis, Jeffery Wright, Max Von Sydow) have almost nothing to do. I left out Sandra Bullock because surprisingly, her brief scenes, as the mother/widow are by far the highlight of this mess. Her tear-full moments are the only ones that ring true and she deserves the lion's share of the credit for keeping this disaster watchable. But even her efforts can't salvage this pompous, preachy love-letter to a post 911 New York.