[yasr_overall_rating]
A single mother discovers a scheme in her son’s book to rescue a young girl from the hands of her abusive stepfather and sets out to execute the plan at any cost.
“The Book Of Henry” is part drama, part thriller, and it grabs you from the very beginning and never lets go. Director Colin Trevorrow (“Safety Not Guaranteed,” “Jurassic World”) proves to the world that his first two movies were not flukes and that he is more than capable of helming the final installment in the Star Wars saga, come December 2019. Mr. Trevorrow was in Dallas recently to promote the movie and I got the opportunity to interview him (listen to it here) and he is one of the most down-to-earth people I’ve ever met, and believe me, with over 30 years experience in the film industry, I’ve met all sorts of people.
The movie takes place in a small suburban American town where Susan Carpenter (Naomi Watts) lives with her two young boys, Henry (Jaeden Lieberher), 11, and Peter (Jacob Tremblay), 8. Susan is a waitress at a local diner and works many shifts in order to keep their house and both boys in school. While they appear to be typical American kids, Henry is different, he is special. He is smart beyond his years and has the capability to create whatever he puts his mind to. He takes care of the family finances, calculates his mother’s taxes, and over the years, has somehow managed to take from her meager weekly paycheck, enough money to put into savings which has accumulated several hundred thousand dollars, unbeknownst to Susan. The kid is a pubescent genius. His younger brother Peter constantly lives in his shadow, as Henry constantly transcends every assignment administered to him in school. At home though, Henry has a crush on his next door neighbor, Christina (Maddie Ziegler), who sits in his class but he knows that she is not very fond of her stepfather, Glenn (Dean Norris), the local Chief of Police. And he quickly discovers why.
One night, while peeking out of his bedroom window, he witnesses Glenn enter Christina’s bedroom and in his mind, that is all the proof he needs. When he tries to convince his school principal about what happened, she is powerless to do anything without hard evidence so Henry takes matters into his own hands. He devises a plan, a big undertaking that, should it come to fruition, will bring about justice for Christina while at the same time, taking care of Glenn so that he never hurts another human being. But when Henry collapses and is brought to the hospital and diagnosed with a brain tumor, with an uncertain future ahead of him, he manages to complete the concept for his master plan and leaves it all, in meticulous detail, in his little red book, in the hopes that his mother will find it.
Director Colin Trevorrow successfully achieves the right balance of emotions, part drama, part thriller, and as a result, the film thankfully never veers off too much in either direction. Trying to calibrate two vastly different genres is difficult enough for any filmmaker but Mr. Trevorrow infuses just the right amount of drama, humor, and tension at just the right moment, allowing you time to wipe the tears away, or to laugh, or to sit nervously, biting on your lip as Susan tries to outsmart Glenn on his own turf. You cannot take your eyes off Naomi Watts, she is electrifying as a mother trying to balance all the mayhem in her life, while Dean Norris emanates pure evil, through and through. Sarah Silverman appears occasionally as Susan’s best friend Sheila, bringing much-needed humor to some of the movie’s more dramatic elements but “The Book Of Henry” belongs squarely to its two leads, Jacob Tremblay and Jaeden Lieberher, as the film’s titular character. They immediately bring to mind the naiveté of a young Henry Thomas in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” at once filled with wonderment but also encompassing a maturity that at times, prevents them from enjoying life as kids, as they live their day-to-day lives without a father and the constant threat of losing their home.
“The Book Of Henry” is by far, one of this year’s most captivating films. It misleads you into thinking you know exactly where the story is going, imbuing a sense of been there, done that and then just as quickly, transposes everything to a place of uncharted territory. With deft direction, and unforgettable performances, “The Book Of Henry” is not likely to be forgotten anytime soon.
In Theaters Friday, June 16th
