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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:85

Fresh:32

Rotten:53

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 rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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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

In the world of Henry Poole Is Here miracles exist, faith is the wisest operating principle and intelligent thought is everywhere discouraged.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
08/13/08
Andrew Schenker
Andrew Schenker
Slant Magazine

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

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

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

Pleasant, if insubstantial.

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

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

"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

[It] works only insofar as you buy into its premise. If you're a skeptic... the real miracle may seem that the film was made at all.

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
08/15/08
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

[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.

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
01/25/08
David D'Arcy
David D'Arcy
Screen International

A stronger script focus and less unanswered questions about Henry Poole might have made the film more appealing.

Full Review Source: ReviewExpress.com | comment Comment
09/02/08
Diana Saenger
Diana Saenger
ReviewExpress.com

It's like a pushy neighbor who keeps inviting you to church and won't take no for an answer.

Full Review Source: Fresno Bee | comment Comment
08/15/08
Donald Munro
Donald Munro
Fresno Bee

The kind of movie where you could read the first 20 pages of the screenplay and accurately predict what will happen in the remaining 80.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
08/14/08
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

A shaggy God story, theological Capracorn that will be indigestible except to the already converted...Henry Poole Is Here is a movie that isn't all there.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
08/13/08
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Tell him to go away.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/16/08
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader

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

It's too uninspired to be inspirational.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
08/14/08
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Its story couldn't be more corny, redemptive, or inspirational.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
08/15/08
Josh Rosenblatt
Josh Rosenblatt
Austin Chronicle
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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