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Movies / On DVD / Henry Poole Is Here
Henry Poole Is Here

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Henry Poole Is Here (2008)

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Reviews Counted:84

Fresh:32

Rotten:52

Average Rating:5/10

Consensus: Full of Hallmark-truisms and pop songs presented with strained significance, this comic foible intends less to convert than to preach to the choir.

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Comedies

US Box Office: $1,749,146

Synopsis: For a man who seems to be living a perfect life--comfortable, engaged, full of opportunity--the discovery in a routine doctor's checkup that all is not well prompts Henry Poole to flee. He finds... For a man who seems to be living a perfect life--comfortable, engaged, full of opportunity--the discovery in a routine doctor's checkup that all is not well prompts Henry Poole to flee. He finds himself alone in a new house and a new place, somewhere where perhaps he can try to escape the fate that he has been dealt. It's a house in a working-class suburb with neighbors who welcome him, or at least try to; he finds them rather unattractive, frankly, but fine for his purposes. But life won't let him alone. His neighbors' intrusions, the discovery of a "miracle" on a backyard wall, and the attentions of a little girl with a tape recorder disrupt whatever hopes he had for hiding out. Director Mark Pellington revisits Sundance (Going All the Way played at the 1997 Festival) with a very personal work about devastation and the need to find yourself. Inspired by Pellington's own loss, Henry Poole Is Here is a work that is soul searching in the best sense of the word. Poignant, yet acerbic and funny, it tells us about faith, the vagaries of life and death, and personal salvation. Powered by a resonant performance from the remarkable Luke Wilson, Henry Poole Is Here is full of small moments and meanings that make it a memorable film. -- © Sundance Film Festival [More]

Starring: Luke Wilson, George Lopez, Cheryl Hines, Radha Mitchell

Starring: Luke Wilson, George Lopez, Cheryl Hines, Radha Mitchell, Adriana Barraza

Director: Mark Pellington

Director: Mark Pellington
Screenwriter: Albert Torres
Studio: Overture Films

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Reviews for Henry Poole Is Here

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; Australian critics are listed first)
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There is something contrived about this story in which people with major problems find a resolution.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
04/18/09
Louise Keller
Louise Keller
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Even if you're not religious (like me), HENRY POOLE is an inspiring, charming little movie that is about believing. A little syrupy at times, but ultimately moving.

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment 1 Comment
08/13/08
Austin Kennedy
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

Hope and faith, by their very nature, are issues that need to be handled with question marks. And yet, Henry Poole Is Here features nothing but ham-fisted periods.

Full Review Source: Movie Retriever | comment 1 Comment
08/16/08
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
Movie Retriever

The further the characters venture into the mystic, the more the movie itself seems to dissipate.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment 1 Comment
08/22/08
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson
Globe and Mail

Henry Poole Is Here is a movie that asks all the big questions and then, weirdly, wrecks itself by offering puny answers.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment 1 Comment
08/22/08
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

This film really and truly moved me.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment 1 Comment
08/18/08
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Pic's tendency to lecture on the power of faith and religion and on the demerits of science seems to assume an almost childlike audience that needs to be spoon-fed Pablum.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
01/23/08
Robert Koehler
Robert Koehler
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It never even gestures at the philosophical heavy lifting of exploring alternate interpretations of ambiguous events.

Full Review Source: Decent Films Guide | comment 1 Comment
10/29/08
Steven D. Greydanus
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films Guide

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/18/08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

This director deals in faces and facts, the camera closing in on his actors so they can deliver their big picture pronouncements while crying on cue.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/14/08
Bill Gibron
Bill Gibron
Filmcritic.com

At times you feel as if you should raise your arms and shout "Hallelujah" or "Amen!"

Full Review Source: Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN) | comment Comment
08/21/08
Bob Bloom
Bob Bloom
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

A grossly obvious take on the draining push and pull of faith, the picture is warm to the touch, just not digestible or, ultimately, meaningful.

Full Review Source: BrianOrndorf.com | comment Comment
08/14/08
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
BrianOrndorf.com

Thanks to Wilson's sympathetic performance and Pellington's restraint, Henry Poole is Here may just succeed in warming hearts and lifting spirits.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
08/22/08
Bruce Demara
Bruce Demara
Toronto Star

Pleasant, if insubstantial.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
08/14/08
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer

A quiet, graceful drama that sneaks up on you.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
08/15/08
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Good intentions, and a rare attempt to embrace spirituality on screen, aren't enough to make Henry Poole is Here a worthy destination.

Full Review Source: What Would Toto Watch? | comment Comment
06/01/09
Christian Toto
Christian Toto
What Would Toto Watch?

Occasionally vacuous.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
08/15/08
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

One of the best films of the year. You'll laugh, You'll Cry... You'll truly appreciate life!

Full Review Source: Moviehole | comment Comment
11/30/08
Clint Morris
Clint Morris
Moviehole

"Henry Poole is Here" is not a movie, but rather a sketch for a screenplay that was never written. If ever there was a cinematic impetus to give up all hope for humanity and free expression, it is this patronizing, condescending, and vacuous waste of cell

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
08/13/08
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Henry Poole works hard to convert us, even pulling out quotes from Noam Chomsky, but it feels a little too much like a bumper sticker.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
08/14/08
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
 
 
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