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75
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Boston Globe Wesley Morris
So all the handsome shots that turn the city into a toyland and all the superb editing and vibrant art direction - all the formal tricks Daldry uses to whip you up and work you over - risk being too much. After 45 minutes, it can feel like junk on a sundae. But the movie has a human coup.
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70
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Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
Director Stephen Daldry has taken great care in looking at it through the eyes of a precocious New York City boy in a film filled with both sentiment and substance.
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67
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Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
A polarizing load of quirkiness in Extremely Loud gunks up (at least for this hometown mourner; your results may vary) what is at heart a piercing story.
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63
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USA Today Claudia Puig
In Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, director Stephen Daldry must walk a tricky line between poignancy and pathos. He occasionally slips into maudlin turf.
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63
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Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Solidly crafted, impeccably acted and self-important in the way that Oscar loves, Extremely Loud is also incredibly close to exploitation.
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63
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Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
No movie has ever been able to provide a catharsis for the Holocaust, and I suspect none will ever be able to provide one for 9/11. Such subjects overwhelm art.
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50
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San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
It's a far better thing to remember Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close than to watch it. Looking back, much of what is irritating, precious and tiresome about the movie recedes and drops away, while all the movie's virtues, which are considerable, rise to consciousness. There are good things here - just be prepared to blast for them.
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40
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The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Yes, you may cry, but when tears are milked as they are here, the truer response should be rage.
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25
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Washington Post Ann Hornaday
There's a fine line between precocious and insufferable, and it's a line continually crossed by Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
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10
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Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The production's penchant for contrivance is insufferable - not a single spontaneous moment from start to finish - and the boy is so precocious you want to strangle him. It's surely not the fault of Thomas Horn, the remarkable young man who plays him.
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company.