YMMV / Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

• Audience-Alienating Premise: A story about an ambiguously autistic child that is not far off from being portrayed as a Creepy Child who lost his father in the September 11 attacks, which was a recent event during the book's publication, and has a B-plot of the life of his grandparents at Nazi Germany. Gee, what's not to love here?
• Consolation Award: Amidst the hoopla of the film getting an Oscar nomination for Best Picture in spite of its lukewarm-at-best reception is the nomination for Max von Sydow as Best Supporting Actor. Many critics chalk this up to the fact that Syndow was a Hollywood institution since the 60's who was due for an Oscar (though he didn't end up winning).
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Critics were divided on the film version and it was not a box office success, but regardless the film was still nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, with questions about studio politics arising quickly thereafter.

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