There is something contrived about this story in which people with major problems find a resolution.
Henry Poole Is Here (2008)
Tomatometer
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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
Reviews for Henry Poole Is Here
Henry too often seems like a suffering cipher rather than a real guy with real problems.
The further the characters venture into the mystic, the more the movie itself seems to dissipate.
Wilson plays disillusionment convincingly, the supporting cast (especially Barraza) is golden, and director Mark Pellington has just the right touch to bring off a teary-eyed inspirational drama.
Even with its failures, Henry Poole Is Here takes on material that very few filmmakers even attempt. For that reason alone, the picture deserves respect.
At times you feel as if you should raise your arms and shout "Hallelujah" or "Amen!"
There may well be a market for simple-minded, high-budget tales of Christian redemption; if so, Henry Poole should do very well at the box office.
Henry Poole Is Here is a movie that asks all the big questions and then, weirdly, wrecks itself by offering puny answers.
Sober discussions give way to a clumsily handled finale that doesn't stand a prayer of satisfying most discerning viewers.
A deeply spiritual movie about miracles, hope, love, and living in the present -- one of the best films of the year.
Despite an excellent performance by Luke Wilson and a promising start, Henry Poole is Here ends up an overindulgent misfire. [Blu-ray]
Divine intervention notwithstanding, the box office here would ordinarily be meek, but in trying times movies about "something to believe in" tend do better than the ordinary bleak-and-hopeless fare that typically drives domestic box office.
A snarky film filled with messages about faith? You better believe it.
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.
[This] story of retreat and redemption, while deeply personal, may mean more to Pellington than to the audience. The miraculous elements in Albert Torres's script that offer hope also strain credulity.
There's a version of Henry Poole is Here that I would've liked to see, and the painful thing is that it's not that far off from the real thing.
Pop songs hold the skinny plot together, but a surprisingly caustic Luke Wilson is the medicine that helps the sugar go down.
Thanks to Wilson's sympathetic performance and Pellington's restraint, Henry Poole is Here may just succeed in warming hearts and lifting spirits.
Latest News for Henry Poole Is Here
April 27, 2008:
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