Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I've put off seeing this movie until this past weekend, because having not heard anything about it or not researching at all before viewing, my initial preconceived notion about this flick is "I don't want to be depressed for two hours."

Prepare to be depressed for two hours.

The grandpa scenes were nice...something about an old man hobbling along the streets and tubes of New York City with an 11 year old boy, who is kind of sure but not really sure about the old man's identity, is sort of redeeming.

Otherwise, you have about an entire movie of a bright kid who's kind of weird and says things that no 11 year old would ever say (I'm guessing he's 11, I think it was mentioned in the movie)--smarty pants type stuff with big words and such--going on a quest through New York to find a way to get closer to his 9/11-deceased father (Tom Hanks).

If you could plot your interest and emotion on a line graph while watching this movie, both lines would be near zero and fairly flat. There aren't many highs and the tone of the movie stays somewhere between post traumatic stress and lonesome sadness.