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Critics on Aspie Character in New Movie: Extremely Rude and Incredibly Ignorant

Submitted by Landon Bryce on Thu, 12/22/2011 - 09:05
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Trailer for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

 

If I wanted to makes the most shamelessly manipulative movie ever, it might involve Tom Hanks, an autistic child, and September 11, 2001.  So I'm not that enthused to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which uses that recipe, adds Sandra Bullock, and opens on Christmas.

But it was fun to read what critics said about Thomas Horn's possible aspie character.

David Germain for the AP finds autistic people annoying, especially in movies:

Newcomer Thomas Horn, the 13-year-old star who was cast after the filmmakers saw him on a "Jeopardy!" kids episode, is a mixed bag, holding his own among the adult actors but, through no fault of his own, forced to behave with excessive shrillness much of the time.

That's because his character, Oskar Schell, may or may not have Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism (his medical tests, we're told, were inconclusive). You make allowances in life for people you encounter with autism, but spending two hours with a fictional character possessing autistic qualities can be grating.

Thanks, Dave!
 
Todd McCarthy makes pretty much the same point without being offensive:

Through it all, the dominating presence is Horn as Oskar. A non-professional discovered when he won Kids Jeopardy on television (he has also been a repeated finalist in the National Geographic Geography Bee), Horn has torrents of complicated, verbose, highly charged dialogue to reel off, is paired with a host of extremely accomplished actors, is in virtually every scene and must be entirely convincing as a bright, driven, emotionally convulsed kid who is likely on the outer edges of the spectrum of either austism or Asperger's Syndrome. For all these reasons, it is entirely possible that some will find him annoyingly precocious. Given his real-life accomplishments, it's likely Horn is just as articulate and intellectually advanced as Oskar is supposed to be and is therefore a perfect fit for the role. Whatever the case, it's an exceptional natural performance, entirely convincing and exhilarating to experience.

Edward Douglas just finds Horn annoying, without blaming Aspergers:

Oskar is a neurotic young man who suffers from every phobia under the sun, from crossing bridges to riding subways, making his quest that takes him all across the city that much more difficult. It's not exactly easy on us, because Horn is easily one of the most annoying young actors we've seen on screen. He's able to easily pull off the doe-eyed looks of a young Freddie Highmore that will make viewers tear up, but the character is so obnoxious, one of those too smart for their age brats who always seems to be one step ahead of the adults. Because Oskar never feels like a real kid, his situation seems just seems that much more implausible, so spending two hours with him on this journey is trying, especially so soon after watching a similar quest in "Hugo."

 
Drew McWeeney compares this film to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in a general consideration of characters with autistic traits:
 
Lisbeth Salander is a superhero by virtue of the fact that she's super-smart with a computer and seemingly unstoppable in close-quarters physical confrontation.  She's a machine, a Terminator for the anti-psychotics age.  And Oskar Shell is the opposite, an autistic angel, a healing spirit, incomplete on his own but able to repair other in small ways from encounter to encounter.  He does a a world of good simply through the process of looking for answers that may not even exist.  He has to do things his own way, and he has to arrive at his answers in whatever process gets him there.  The film is about that journey for him, that effort to make sense of nonsensical violence.  Both films offer these new archetypes, and I think it's fascinating that we've reached this point now in the mainstreaming of this seemingly-increasing population.  We've started saying that they're fair game for comedy in things like "Big Bang Theory" and that they can be treated in this sort of mythologized way.  None of these things are "about" autism in any direct way, but that's what makes it notable.
 
Jack Giroux seems not to understand that Asperger's syndrome sometimes impacts people's behavior:
For the first half of the film, it’s difficult to engage with Oskar, and not because he has Asperger’s syndrome. There’s something very unlikable about a kid who makes fun of a doorman – a doorman played by John Goodman, nonetheless – and who tells his mom, played by a wasted Sandra Bullock, “I wish it was you,” referring to the death of his father – in 9/11. Kids are capable of saying mean things – and there’s an intention to convey that – but a line such as that pushes you further away from Oskar, making one care less about his journey.