The Book of Henry

The Book of Henry centers on Susan Carpenter, a single mother raising two sons in a small American town while working as a waitress. Her older boy, Henry, is a precocious eleven-year-old who manages the household finances and looks after both his mother and his younger brother Peter. When Henry becomes convinced that Christina, a classmate living next door, is being harmed at home, he pushes Susan to act on her behalf. Christina's stepfather is a police officer, and the attempts Henry makes to alert the authorities lead nowhere, so he sets down a plan and urges his mother to carry it out.

Colin Trevorrow directed the film, his third feature, following Safety Not Guaranteed and Jurassic World; Gregg Hurwitz wrote the screenplay, and Sidney Kimmel, Jenette Kahn and Adam Richman produced. Naomi Watts plays Susan, with Jaeden Martell as Henry, Jacob Tremblay as Peter, Maddie Ziegler as Christina, and Sarah Silverman and Lee Pace in supporting roles.

Released in June 2017, the film runs 105 minutes and mixes crime, drama, mystery and thriller elements. Made for about 10 million dollars, it returned roughly half that amount worldwide. Audiences are divided: on IMDb it holds 6.6/10 from around 31,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.5/10 from a much smaller base of 1,379 votes. Critics were considerably harsher, with a 4.1/10 average across 146 reviews.