drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
directed by
Colin Trevorrow
Colin Trevorrow (;) is an American filmmaker. He made his feature directorial debut with the science fiction comedy ''Safety Not Guaranteed'' (2012) to critical and commercial success. Trevorrow achieved mainstream recognition for his work on the ...
and written by
Gregg Hurwitz
Gregg Andrew Hurwitz is an American novelist, screenwriter, and comic book writer. Most of his novels are in the thriller fiction genre. His script writing work includes a film adaptation of his book '' Orphan X'', a TV adaptation of Joby Warri ...
. The film stars
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama '' For Love Alone'' (1986) and then appeared in three television series, '' Hey Dad..!'' (1990), '' ...
Jacob Tremblay
Jacob Tremblay ( ; born October 5, 2006) is a Canadian actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Canadian Screen Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award, tw ...
,
Sarah Silverman
Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer.
Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...
,
Lee Pace
Lee Grinner Pace (born March 25, 1979) is an American actor. He is known for starring as Thranduil the Elvenking in ''The Hobbit'' trilogy and as Joe MacMillan in the AMC period drama television series '' Halt and Catch Fire''. He has also a ...
,
Maddie Ziegler
Madison Nicole Ziegler (; born September 30, 2002) is an American actress and dancer. She was initially known for appearing in Lifetime's reality show ''Dance Moms'' from 2011 (at age 8) until 2016. From 2014, she gained wider recognition for ...
, and
Dean Norris
Dean Joseph Norris (born April 8, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for playing DEA agent Hank Schrader on the AMC series '' Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2020). He also portrayed town councilm ...
. The story concerns a plan hatched by a young genius, dying of cancer, to save the girl next door from abuse.
The film premiered at the
Los Angeles Film Festival
The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...
on June 14, 2017. It was released in theaters by
Focus Features
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...
on June 16, 2017, was unsuccessful at the box office, and received generally negative reviews from critics, mostly focused on the film's plot twists and tonal shifts, and Trevorrow's direction, although the cast and the film's ambition received some praise.
Plot
In a small suburban town in the
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...
, eleven-year-old genius Henry Carpenter and his younger brother Peter are being raised by their single mother Susan, a waitress who is working on writing children's books. Henry has used his intellect to invest successfully in the stock market, building up a very substantial nest egg for his family. He also protects Peter from a school bully and builds
Rube Goldberg machines
A Rube Goldberg machine, named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is a chain reaction-type machine or contraption intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and (impractically) overly complicated way. Usually, these machi ...
in their tree house. Henry and Susan are both fond of their next-door neighbor and Henry's classmate, Christina Sickleman, who has recently become glum.
Henry believes he sees Christina being abused by her stepfather, Glenn, the local police commissioner. He reports the abuse to
social services
Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...
and the school principal, Janice Wilder, but Glenn has connections throughout the local government, and Wilder is reluctant to challenge the commissioner without "conclusive evidence". Henry is unable to get the authorities to launch a serious investigation that would protect Christina. Henry tells his mother that when someone is in trouble, those who can help must take action. He develops a detailed plan to rescue Christina that he details in a notebook. After a violent seizure, he is taken to the hospital, where he is diagnosed with a brain tumor and undergoes surgery. Anticipating his death, he tells Peter to give Susan the notebook. Days later, Henry dies.
Susan is distraught at Henry's death and has difficulty functioning, but when Peter gives her the notebook, she focuses on Henry's plan. She tries, unsuccessfully, to interest a nearby social services agency in opening an investigation. One night, from the boys' bedroom window, she sees Glenn in Christina's room and decides to carry out the plan. The notebook and an accompanying cassette tape describe Henry's step-by-step plan to kill Glenn with a sniper rifle while covering Susan's tracks so that it will be impossible to trace the murder back to her. Her alibi is to be provided by executing the murder while Christina and Peter are performing at the school talent show.
Susan slips away from the show, putting the plan into motion. As she is about to pull the trigger, she realizes that Henry's plan, though ingenious, is the construct of a child, and she must act as an adult. She immediately confronts Glenn and tells him that she is going to expose him for what he has done to Christina. He replies that everyone will believe him, not her, and tells her that he is going to call his police chief to come arrest her. At the same time, affected by Christina's dance performance at the talent show, Principal Wilder decides to follow through on the abuse accusation, contacting the authorities. Glenn returns home, calls his relative at Social Services, and learns that an investigation is being opened into his abuse of Christina. As the police arrive at his house, he kills himself. Susan legally adopts Christina as her daughter. She also finishes writing one of her children's books, as Henry had urged her to do.
Cast
*
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama '' For Love Alone'' (1986) and then appeared in three television series, '' Hey Dad..!'' (1990), '' ...
as Susan Carpenter, the mother of Henry and Peter
* Jaeden Martell as Henry Carpenter, the
title character
The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...
and Susan's older son
*
Jacob Tremblay
Jacob Tremblay ( ; born October 5, 2006) is a Canadian actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Canadian Screen Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award, tw ...
as Peter Carpenter, Henry's brother and Susan's younger son
*
Sarah Silverman
Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer.
Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...
as Sheila, a waitress and Susan's best friend
*
Dean Norris
Dean Joseph Norris (born April 8, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for playing DEA agent Hank Schrader on the AMC series '' Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2020). He also portrayed town councilm ...
as Glenn Sickleman, the police commissioner and Christina's abusive stepfather
*
Lee Pace
Lee Grinner Pace (born March 25, 1979) is an American actor. He is known for starring as Thranduil the Elvenking in ''The Hobbit'' trilogy and as Joe MacMillan in the AMC period drama television series '' Halt and Catch Fire''. He has also a ...
as David Daniels, a neurosurgeon who operates on Henry
*
Maddie Ziegler
Madison Nicole Ziegler (; born September 30, 2002) is an American actress and dancer. She was initially known for appearing in Lifetime's reality show ''Dance Moms'' from 2011 (at age 8) until 2016. From 2014, she gained wider recognition for ...
as Christina Sickleman, Glenn's stepdaughter
*
Tonya Pinkins
Tonya Pinkins (born May 30, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. Her award-winning debut feature film ''RED PILL'' was an official selection at the 2021 Pan African Film Festival, won the Best Black Lives Matter Feature and Best First Fea ...
as Janice Wilder, the school principal
*
Bobby Moynihan
Bobby Moynihan (born January 31, 1977) is an American actor, comedian and writer who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2008 until 2017. He also voiced Louie Duck on Disney's ''DuckTales'' from 2017 to 2021, Panda in ''We Bare Be ...
as John, Susan's and Sheila's boss at the diner
*
Geraldine Hughes
Geraldine Hughes (born 1970) is an actress from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Born in West Belfast, Hughes has appeared in films such as '' Duplex'', ''Rocky Balboa'', and ''Gran Torino''. She also played Mary Todd Lincoln in ''Killing Lincoln''. ...
as Mrs. Evans, Henry's and Christina's teacher
*
Jackson Nicoll
Jackson Nicoll (born December 1, 2003) is an American former actor, best known for portraying Billy, the grandson of the title character, in '' Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa'' (2013).
Nicoll is from Seabrook, New Hampshire. His other credits i ...
as Morris, a boy who bullies Peter
Production
Hurwitz wrote the first draft of the screenplay by 1998. The film was eventually optioned by
Jenette Kahn
Jenette Kahn (; born May 16, 1947) is an American comic book editor and executive. She joined DC Comics in 1976 as publisher, and five years later was promoted to president. In 1989, she stepped down as publisher and assumed the title of editor ...
, and
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment is an American financer, film and television production company founded in 2004 by philanthropist and film producer Sidney Kimmel. Sidney Kimmel Entertainment focuses on bringing entertainment projects to audiences in ...
joined as a producer. An executive at Kimmel Entertainment thought that
Colin Trevorrow
Colin Trevorrow (;) is an American filmmaker. He made his feature directorial debut with the science fiction comedy ''Safety Not Guaranteed'' (2012) to critical and commercial success. Trevorrow achieved mainstream recognition for his work on the ...
would be right to direct ''The Book of Henry''. Trevorrow and Hurwitz found each other to be congenial, but then Trevorrow was hired to direct ''
Jurassic World
''Jurassic World'' is a 2015 American science fiction action film directed by Colin Trevorrow, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Derek Connolly from a story by Jaffa and Silver. It is the first installment in the ...
''. Another director was considered. By early 2015, after Trevorrow finished ''Jurassic World'', he returned to ''The Book of Henry''. Kimmel Entertainment and Double Nickel Entertainment financed and co-produced the film; producers are
Sidney Kimmel
Sidney J. Kimmel (born January 16, 1928) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and film producer. He is ranked number 2141 in the ''Forbes'' list of the richest people alive in 2021. Focus Features obtained worldwide distribution rights.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
on the film began in September 2015 in and around New York City, and concluded in November. The music was composed by
Michael Giacchino
Michael Giacchino (; born October 10, 1967) is an American composer of music for films, television and video games. He has also served as a director for television. He has received many awards, including an Oscar for his work on '' Up'' (2009), a ...
.
Stevie Nicks
Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist.
After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasi ...
sang a new song in the film.
Release
''The Book of Henry'' was scheduled to be released on September 16, 2016, but Focus rescheduled the film's release to June 16, 2017, concluding that during the summer, the film release schedule would offer fewer adult-oriented films that might compete against ''The Book of Henry'' for older viewers. The film premiered at the
Los Angeles Film Festival
The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...
on June 14, 2017. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $1.4 million from 579 theaters (an average of $2,460 per theater), finishing 13th at the box office, making it "by far the biggest start among the new Specialties" opening that weekend. The film was, however, not a financial success.
The film was featured at the July 2017
Ischia Film Festival
The Ischia Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ischia, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterrane ...
, where Trevorrow was honored with the Breakout Director award for the film.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 22% based on 147 reviews, with an average rating of 4.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''The Book of Henry'' deserves a few points for ambition, but its tonal juggling act – and a deeply maudlin twist – may leave viewers gaping in disbelief rather than choking back tears." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
the film has a weighted average score of 31 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
PostTrak
PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios.
History
The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a film a ...
reported audiences gave the film an 86% overall positive score and a 65% "definite recommend". Caroline McVitty commented in ''
The Island Packet
''The Island Packet'' is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper owned by Chatham Asset Management, serving primarily the residents of southern Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States, particularly the towns of Hilton Head Island and Bluffto ...
'' that the film was one "that critics hate and audiences love."
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote: "There’s the kind of bad movie that just sits there, unfolding with grimly predictable monotony. Then there’s the kind where the badness expands and metastasizes, taking on a jaw-dropping life of its own, pushing through to ever-higher levels of garishness. ''The Book of Henry'' ... is of the latter, you’ve-got-to-see-it-to-disbelieve-it variety." ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
's''
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''.
Early life and education
Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers ...
, in a critical review, said that, "in its pure misjudged ickiness, bad-acting ropiness, and its quirksy, smirksy passive-aggressive tweeness, this insidiously terrible film could hardly get any more skin-crawling." Writing for ''
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'', Emily Yoshida opined, "It does not suffice to call ''The Book of Henry'' bad; it’s nonfunctional, so poorly conceived from the ground up as to slip out of the grasp of the usual standards one applies to narrative film. It might be admirable if it wasn’t such torture to watch."
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Ignatiy Igorevich Vishnevetsky (; russian: Игнатий Игоревич Вишневецкий; born September 5, 1986)Vishnevetsky, Ignati''Time Indefinite'': "A Talk with Sergei Loznitsa"
''Mubi'' is a Russian-American film critic, essayist ...
of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' wrote: "Director Colin Trevorrow ... lacks any of the eccentricities that might make this quirky and contrived material work, even at face value," though he added, "its above-average performances and insistence on following through on an off-beat premise give it a hint of battiness." Writing for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'',
Peter Travers
Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...
gave it 1.5 stars out of 4, saying: "''The Book of Henry'' starts well, begins flirting with absurdity in the middle – and ends in crashing disaster. But the feeling persists that director Colin Treverrow believes every word in the shambles of a 20-year-old screenplay by crime novelist Gregg Hurwitz." Stephen Schaefer of the ''
Boston Herald
The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...
'' was one of the minority of critics who praised the film, as was Colin Covert of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'', who concluded: "This is a poignant, frequently funny film that moves into unexpected dark subjects."