Colin Trevorrow's 'The Book of Henry' will make a lot of 'Star Wars' fans very, very nervous
Most bad movies are bad for boring reasons. The acting is flat, or the story is predictable, or the visual effects look cheap.
But every so often comes a movie that's bad in such bizarre ways, it comes all the way back around to being perversely fascinating.
The Book of Henry might be one of those movies, at least if the reviews are to be believed.
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To get you up to speed: The Book of Henry is the new movie by Safety Not Guaranteed and Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, who's about to start shooting (gulp) Star Wars Episode IX.
Early trailers signaled a confusing mix of tones. This one, for example, starts out looking like a cutesy indie drama influenced by Steven Spielberg and Wes Anderson – before it takes a hard left turn into revenge thriller territory.
But hey – trailers get it wrong all the time, right? Surely The Book of Henry can't really be a quirky feel-good drama about a preteen genius who sends his feckless mother on a revenge mission against a sexually abusive neighbor?
Well, the reviews are in, and ...
Hard to imagine a movie being worse or more obnoxious than BOOK OF HENRY
— Evan Saathoff (@evansaathoff) June 14, 2017
Yikes.
In 10 years The Book of Henry will be shown in triple features with The Room and Birdemic. Seriously.
— Emily Yoshida (@emilyyoshida) June 15, 2017
Oof.
The full-length reviews aren't much better. If anything, they suggest The Book of Henry is even stranger than it looks. And not in a good way.
Vince Mancini, Uproxx:
Daniel Schindel, The Film Stage:
The true extent of Book of Henry's misguidedness apparently can't be explained without delving into hardcore spoilers. Those who want to know what the hell happens can find that info at Collider and The Film Stage, among other outlets.
Image: Focus Features
Suffice it to say it gets downright icky, as explained by Dan Callahan of TheWrap:
To be fair, Book of Henry apparently does have a few bright spots, including that cast. According to Owen Glieberman of Variety (in a largely negative review):
All in all, though, The Book of Henry sounds like cause for Star Wars fans to spend the next two years fretting about Episode IX.
Here's John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter:
Lest you be tempted to see this trainwreck for yourself, Kristy Puchko from Pajiba has a warning:
If you're planning to ignore her and go ahead with The Book of Henry anyway, it opens June 16.
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