Prepare to gag. ... It has a theme rather like the current political one of "hope you can believe in." Well, I'm here to tell you that this hope is full of audacity but not much veracity.
Comment
08/14/08
Henry Poole Is Here (2008)
38
%
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... [More]
Starring: Luke Wilson, George Lopez, Cheryl Hines, Radha Mitchell
Director: Mark Pellington
Reviews for Henry Poole Is Here
Although some may find this slow, I thought it was adequately paced and that the approach to a controversial subject even-handed and interesting.
08/14/08
It's too uninspired to be inspirational.
08/14/08
A deeply spiritual movie about miracles, hope, love, and living in the present -- one of the best films of the year.
08/14/08
If ever a movie pushed my cynicism buttons, this one was it...
08/14/08
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.
08/14/08
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.
08/14/08
A few smart turns in a forest of stupid doesn't make a film smart.
08/14/08
Top CriticPleasant, if insubstantial.
08/14/08
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.
08/14/08
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.
08/14/08
As it bludgeons us with sappy talk of miracles and a ridiculously loud, these! songs! are! meaningful! soundtrack, the film is more likely to inspire cynicism than hope.
08/14/08
Sincere, relentlessly somber parable about a severely depressed man whose self-imposed suburban exile is upended by a familiarly-shaped stain on his wall.
08/14/08
A snarky film filled with messages about faith? You better believe it.
08/14/08
Why develop character when you’ve got stylish images and music full of weepy uplift?
08/14/08
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.
08/13/08
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.
08/13/08
"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
08/13/08
The movie is certainly flawed, but if you're able to suspend disbelief for the spiritual premise and can appreciate quiet little character-driven films where not much happens, you can do worse than this innocent and often lovely film.
08/13/08
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.
08/08/08
Latest News for Henry Poole Is Here
April 27, 2008:
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