The Best Worst Movie of the Year

June 22, 2017 9:13 AM

Finding Meaning in The Book of Henry, the Best Worst Movie of the Year. FULL SPOILERS WITHIN. Dave Holmes delightfully reviews/recaps Colin Trevorrow's bonkers project between Jurassic World and Star Wars Episode IX.
posted by kmz (45 comments total)

I have a good nose for these types of films and usually when I see the trailer, I know enough to just NOOOPE right out of them. This looks too bonkers to even enjoy.

But I'm glad that there are others out there who do the hard work of watching these films, review them, and analyze all of their faults so that others are saved that trauma.
posted by Fizz at 9:23 AM on June 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

The tone shifts in the trailer reminded me of Radio Flyer and Jack the Bear, from back in the 90s. Is that about right? Since the whiplash from those imprinted on me and I liked Safety Not Guaranteed, I was on board for this until the terrible horrible no good very bad reviews started rolling in.
posted by Flannery Culp at 9:25 AM on June 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

So then Naomi Watts goes to the treehouse to kill Hank from Breaking Bad at a great distance with a sniper rifle, because she listened to a 90-minute tape from her dead son and now she's in the Mossad.

I am suppressing lols at my desk, badly, and I blame you kmz
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 9:27 AM on June 22, 2017 [18 favorites]

This is one of the greatest movie reviews I have ever read.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 9:31 AM on June 22, 2017 [16 favorites]

I will not watch this movie. But I will listen to the How Did This Get Made? episode about this movie with great interest. If it lives up to the review, should be any day now.
posted by Diablevert at 9:33 AM on June 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

I've been collecting reviews of this movie because it is apparently so hilariously bad in such surprising ways. This one is a gem. Thank you kmz.
posted by The Bellman at 9:34 AM on June 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

This sounds like the truly rare form of bad. I mean, anyone can slap together a shitty, lazy horror movie full of cheap scares or an Adam Sandler comedy, but every now and again there comes along a "people had lots of chances to put a stop to this madness, and yet nobody did" sort of film.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:36 AM on June 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

I preferred this writeup by Austin Elias-de Jesus for Slate:

The Book of Henry is a tonal mix of My Dog Skip and Rear Window. It is the banana and mayonnaise sandwich of movies. It mixes two things that should never be mixed, and it is the whitest thing you will come into contact with on whatever day you happen to consume it.

posted by Faint of Butt at 9:39 AM on June 22, 2017 [37 favorites]

"people had lots of chances to put a stop to this madness, and yet nobody did" sort of film.

I was also searching to see if this was actually based on a book of some kind, thinking to myself, maybe it's better in book form, maybe there's some sense of satire or commentary that is being made that makes sense in the realm of literature that we're just not getting by adapting it.

Nope. Just a thing some writers and producers put together and stamped off on.
posted by Fizz at 9:41 AM on June 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is so true:

Anyway, Colin Trevorrow will direct Star Wars Episode IX, a movie everyone on Twitter will be furious about because some character's laser helmet will be the wrong color, and that's if we're lucky and our game-show host president doesn't get us killed before then.
posted by Pendragon at 9:42 AM on June 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

acidic's comment about BOH is pretty classic
posted by lalochezia at 9:48 AM on June 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

Ok that is not a movie. That is straight up a machine-learning exercise in trying to understand magical realism.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:54 AM on June 22, 2017 [32 favorites]

I saw the preview for this movie and thought "huh, looks like some sappy trash" but then I read this review and now I actually want to see the movie because I hope it makes me laugh as hard as this review did.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 9:55 AM on June 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

For those of you keeping score on new Star Wars films we have:
--solid but somewhat familiar JJ Abrams picture
--good but not great prequel saved from disaster by extensive/expensive Tony Gilroy reshoots
--second prequel with directors quitting halfway through, status unknown
--second sequel by Rian Johnson
--third sequel by guy with a shaky resume

I'm putting my hopes on Rian Johnson because the rest varies between narrowly good and possibly terrible.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:59 AM on June 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

--second prequel with directors quitting halfway through, status unknown

Looks like Ron Howard is taking over.
posted by octothorpe at 10:04 AM on June 22, 2017

Folding Ideas did a great hot take as well.
posted by SoundInhabitant at 10:09 AM on June 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

second prequel with directors quitting halfway through, status unknown

They didn't quit, they were fired, and filming was something like 90% complete when it happened. Uh-oh!
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:13 AM on June 22, 2017

This is the best thing I have read in several years. I said it.
posted by shockingbluamp at 10:15 AM on June 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also, the plot of this movie could have been lifted straight out of a Richard Bachman book.
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:17 AM on June 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

--second prequel with directors quitting halfway through, status unknown

Looks like Ron Howard is taking over.

**Ron Howard Arrested Development Narrator Voice**: "No I'm not."
posted by Fizz at 10:17 AM on June 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

"people had lots of chances to put a stop to this madness, and yet nobody did" sort of film.

The screenplay is like twenty years old so presumably lots of filmmakers took a pass on it before Trevorrow decided that he could make a film out of it.
posted by octothorpe at 10:18 AM on June 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

I saw this trailer twice and have not thought about it for a single second except during the time I was watching it, but wow it looks like a mess. Honestly the first bit of the trailer (before the multiple whiplash tone shifts) made me think the story was about Henry being abused by his mother, and despite watching the rest of the trailer and reading the linked reviews I am still not 100% convinced otherwise. "NO MAN WILL EVER BE AS GOOD AS HENRY!!!" Just. No.

Anyway these reviews have me cackling at my desk so thanks.
posted by sunset in snow country at 10:22 AM on June 22, 2017

Also, the plot of this movie could have been lifted straight out of a Richard Bachman book.

Hey, hey! What did Stephen King ever do to you? (In all seriousness, the Bachman books are largely quite straightforward, although there are some bits of standard SK tropes in this movie: the bizarrely-precocious child, and child molestation as a plot device.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:44 AM on June 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Funny I saw this post. I still have the Vulture's review open in another tab, reminding me to keep track of the film.
posted by Samizdata at 10:56 AM on June 22, 2017

I keep seeing The Book of Henry and every time I see it I think it's actually Hardcore Henry so imagine my surprise when I opened this article.
posted by Tevin at 11:10 AM on June 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

Also, the plot of this movie could have been lifted straight out of a Richard Bachman book

Sounds kind of like it was lifted from inspired by a John Irving book.
posted by rodlymight at 11:28 AM on June 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

Can we start appending National Treasure to Dave Holmes's name now too?
posted by penduluum at 12:52 PM on June 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

Anyway, Colin Trevorrow will direct Star Wars Episode IX, a movie everyone on Twitter will be furious about because some character's laser helmet will be the wrong color,

Um there is no such garment as a "laser helmet" and in Star Wars the energy-beam weapons are called blasters and furthermore
posted by officer_fred at 12:54 PM on June 22, 2017 [35 favorites]

Todd VanDer Werff at Vox also reviewed:

At all times, The Book of Henry feels like a screenwriting exercise gone horribly wrong. All of the characters are cranked up to 15. The dialogue is always, always quirky for no good reason. And every other scene features a new bit of story from what seems like another movie entirely. This is probably the only feel-good family comedy you’ll see this year that features an Alfred Hitchcock-inspired subplot about child abuse.
posted by chaoticgood at 1:01 PM on June 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

By the way, here's the British version, complete with the exhortation to see the film despite how ridiculous it is.
posted by Naberius at 1:11 PM on June 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm left wondering if the screenplay was written by a 12 year old. Maybe it was a Make a Wish foundation project.

"Kid, are you sure you wouldn't rather meet a baseball player or a movie star? Maybe drive a racecar? OK, screenplay it is. Time to call in some favors."
posted by Cranialtorque at 1:27 PM on June 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

So this is some kind of [spoilers, based on information from TFA] Phenomenon/Reverse-Leon mashup plot? Amazing.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:59 PM on June 22, 2017

Wait. You guys are making this movie sound worse than Collateral Beauty, but that can't be right.
posted by straight at 4:53 PM on June 22, 2017

Can we start appending National Treasure to Dave Holmes's name now too?

After reading his book Party of One, in which he introduced me to the much needed kick in the ass that is Frank Turner's "Positive Songs For Negative People," I endorse this nomination.
posted by dnash at 8:40 PM on June 22, 2017

Tonal Shifts: The Movie!
posted by Chrysostom at 8:59 PM on June 22, 2017

I realize piling on is all the rage nowadays, especially about media or products that the mobmind hasn't actually experienced. However, I went to see The Book of Henry before reading any reviews and found it to be a good movie. It is definitely offbeat and sentimental, and if it weren't so pleasantly unpredictable it might even be called old-fashioned. I'm not surprised it doesn't appeal to the cynical corporate media reviewers who give their highest ratings to movies that appeal to the lowest common denominator, but as with the recent discussion of King Arthur, I am disappointed to see that the MeFi appears to have joined the throng.
posted by fairmettle at 11:36 PM on June 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Just out of interest, fairmettle, which reviewers would you recommend as worth following?
posted by Devonian at 1:29 AM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I've been collecting reviews of this movie because it is apparently so hilariously bad in such surprising ways. This one is a gem. Thank you kmz.

I now realize I have been overly focused on The Mummy and letting things slide.
posted by Artw at 6:33 AM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

When you say a movie is "not really for critics", generally what you're saying is it isn't really for people who like movies.
posted by Artw at 8:20 AM on June 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

This movie sounds so much like August Rush.
posted by kurumi at 9:28 AM on June 23, 2017

Having a working knowledge of what patterns can form a well-put-together movie versus those patterns (or anti-patterns) which will often result in a bad-to-cultBad movie is not the domain of "cynical corporate media reviewers"; it's something that people who like like a certain approach to thinking about media do. It's obviously not the sole way to engage with films, but critical engagement is emphatically not the same thing as cynical or reflexive snark, let alone somehow "corporate" in motivation.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 10:04 AM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

And don't get me wrong, I do love me some cynical and reflexive snark.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 10:06 AM on June 23, 2017

I was also searching to see if this was actually based on a book of some kind, thinking to myself, maybe it's better in book form, maybe there's some sense of satire or commentary that is being made that makes sense in the realm of literature that we're just not getting by adapting it.

There's definitely a style of trailer you see and think "this was based on a Christian inspirational novel of some kind that's probably huge amongst people who like that kind of thing" - this thing very much had that smell, but nope, turns out it's original from the writer of the V miniseries?

Safety Not Guaranteed has a different writer, which is probably why it's good - that and Aubrey Plaza. Though that guy did write Jurassic Park which was... well, I kind of liked it, but it certainly wasn't the best.
posted by Artw at 10:10 AM on June 23, 2017

Not the old V miniseries, BTW. The new bad one.
posted by Artw at 10:11 AM on June 23, 2017

it is the whitest thing you will come into contact with on whatever day you happen to consume it.

Well it looks like someone hasn't just seen Radiohead at Glastonbury
posted by fullerine at 4:13 PM on June 23, 2017 [2 favorites]