Available for home viewing: The Book of Henry ½★

Jacob Tremblay and Jaeden Leiberher portray the sons of  Naomi Watts
 in The Book of Henry. 

I’m sure that I’ve forgotten some of the clichés and nonsense stuffed into The Book of Henry, but here’s a partial list: a sensitive child genius; a comically dysfunctional family; an overwhelmed single mother; a sassy waitress with a tattoo on her breast played by a name comedian; children acting like parents; parents acting like children; a young, beautiful female victim; the predator next door; an incompetent (but not unkind!) school bureaucrat; a fatal diagnosis; a ticking clock; a race against the clock; a cute doctor played by a TV actor whose name is on the tip of your tongue; and a female star who deserves far better.

A weepie, a thriller, a tragedy, a sub-Spielbergian pastiche, The Book of Henry is mostly a tedious mess. It was directed by Colin Trevorrow and written by Gregg Hurwitz, and I suggest you skip it or catch it on the back of an airplane seat. You may like a few things, especially Jaeden Lieberher, who plays Henry with real feeling and deserves a long career. But you may wonder how long Jacob Tremblay, who was so good in Room, will be cast for his tremulousness. And you may also, after stifling your yawns, hope that the next time you see Naomi Watts it’s in a movie that plays to her strengths and doesn’t treat her or the audience so contemptuously.