So here is something that seems like it was market-researched to jerk those tears. Little boy with social anxiety or maybe Asperger's? Dead father that is presented as the perfect dad in flashbacks? 9/11? echoes of the holocaust? can this get more pretentious? I’m not really sure how Tom Hanks can still be taken seriously, especially alongside Sandra Bullock, but maybe it is in movies like this, where director/screenwriter completely gave up on self-respect or decency, that those two are still allowed to “star” in. The kid is this most ephebic NAMBLA bait, that is paired up with “of all people” an old mute man that might or might not be his long lost grandpa (it totally is his granpa). Are you kidding me? I’d be offended if this was to be the movie that’s supposed to “make 9/11 all better”, and considering all the other offerings, this might just be it, (which I bet is what got it an Oscar nomination). If there is anything redeeming about this, is the always wonderful Max von Sydow (and to a lesser extent John Goodman and Viola Davis, of 2008 Doubt's “crying my snot out” fame). Von Sydow, in what must have been a brilliant stroke of genius, doesn’t say a word throughout the film, but manages to convey more emotion and authenticity than the whole cast combined. The “plot” conclusion, with the reveal of the little boy’s mom journey through new york, “preparing the way” for her kid to come and pull a fit on random people named black (and yes, he does go around town looking for and talking to “blacks”) is preposterous at best. Like what, you have nothing better to do with your single mom free time than to entertain your crappy kid’s pipe dreams? bitch please. Also, the fact that they’re Jewish and Hanks claims he “only became a jeweler because he wanted to support his family but really he wanted to become a scientist”? really? cliché much? I bet all Jewish jewelers are really just scientists at heart. Unfortunately the extent of his science goes as far as giving his kid a copy of Hawking's “A Brief History of Time” and making up some bs story about some long lost new york borough. Nobody Cares! this better not win the Oscar. or rather, hopefully it’ll win and convince everyone once and for all that the Oscars are bs.