One of those coming-of-age movies where you're supposed to be short of breath and gasping at the Big Reveals. I was gasping from the urge not to vomit. Ben, a precocious youngster (they're all precocious youngsters, ain't they?) embarks on a journey by himself to find his father because his mother won't tell him who his father is. Why? Who knows? There's absolutely no reason presented as to why the identity of the father must remain this big dark secret. Indeed, the father turns out to be quite a good guy. What the hell, Mom? Can't ask her because, you see, she died, carrying her incomprehensible and downright cruel reasons to the grave. So Ben has to move in with his aunt, who lives in a house right next door to his house, both on the same plot of land, apparently, and his house is bigger than the aunt's so why didn't they all just switch over? Got me. I guess it wouldn't advance the proposition that Ben is Cruelly Treated by his Aunt and cousin, necessitating the whole running-away-to-find-my-father shtick. As if that wasn't bad enough, superimposed over all this is a black-and-white sub-story involving Rose, a deaf girl who runs away to...well, we're not really sure. Visit the museum where her brother works, I guess. See, Rose is also cruelly treated because her Dad doesn't think 12-year-old deaf girls should run around New York City alone. And, get this, he wants her to learn sign language (why doesn't she already know sign language?)! Yeah, cruel bastard, he. Oh, yes, Ben loses his hearing during a lightening strike, so I guess that connects the two stories even though there's no reason why these two stories even relate...well, there is, but you don't know that until waaaay later, long after you've lost interest. Oh yeah, the 1977 New York City blackout's involved, too. What a godawful YA mess this movie is. I'd kick out my screen before watching it again
Review of Wonderstruck
