Henry Poole is Horrible
Added 3/13/2010
The first ten minutes of this movie present an intriguing premise... but it is all downhill from there. Unless you are devoutly religious, don't waste your time with this movie. It was so bad, I almost didn't finish watching it. Boring writing, heavy-handed directing, and a lousy soundtrack make this melodrama nearly unwatchable.
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Henry Poole Is Here
Added 2/20/2010
Interesting Movie with a good Moral back ground. Henry does not seem to truely accept God, but has some feeling that something devine or a mirical did occur. His logic or empirical beliefs still give him some doubt.
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Peculiar cross between quirky independent and square church inspirational
Added 12/23/2009
This fundamentally upbeat film is about choosing love and life over fear, choosing to be present, and the miracle of the everyday. It has religious themes, some left open-ended, but it doesn't treat religion in a pious way (there are even a couple swear words used in that connection). It's gentle and quiet, with much low-key humor and a sometimes-quirky sensibility, complemented with indy-style music.
The action centers on a stain on the outer wall of Henry's house that may be a miracle.
The acting talent is a big plus, making for appealing characters. Title character Owen Wilson is suffering and acting strangely for reasons we don't learn right away. He somewhat believably straddles a line between self-absorbed pessimist and nice guy. As the movie's tag line says, "changing his attitude will take a miracle." Adriana Barraza is a warm and energetic busybody neighbor allegorically named Esperanza (hope). Radha Mitchell is the almost-too-beautiful-to-be-true single mother next door, allegorically named Dawn; Morgan Lily is her even more dawn-faced six-year-old girl who is a pivot point of Henry's development. Rachel Seiferth has a memorable turn as a supermarket checker who "sees," named Patience. Comedian George Lopez plays it straight as a friendly, reasonable Catholic priest. And Cheryl Hines gets things off to a good start in a minor but entertaining role.
On the less positive side, the film swings from effectively showing the drama, with an off-center point of view, to didactic bursts of expository dialogue, which are less fun, less inspiring, and less interesting. It also hits a lot of conventional points like clockwork, sometimes in a pedestrian way, as when Henry keeps accidentally hinting at what's behind his strange behavior but stops himself each time. These aren't fatal flaws, though, at least not for me.
I'm not a believer, but the religious aspects don't bother me as they do some others. The goal was to make "a spiritual film but not a religious film," "beyond dogma," as the director put it. There are a couple apparent religious miracles presented without any alternative explanations in sight, which is odd when the more central miracles are more ambiguously presented. There are some obvious gestures towards religious symbolism in regard to blood. And the allegorical names mentioned above are also there, but the characters are fuller than the names would suggest.
The audio commentary by director Mark Pellington (Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies) and first-time writer Albert Torres is most useful and interesting if you want to know exactly what they were thinking. They don't hold back; they're thoughtful and open and make a good pairing. There's also a well-packed 15-minute making-of piece with good participation by the stars. The other special features are two music videos and a trailer. One of the videos is the winner of an open contest for a theme to the movie by a new artist, selected in part by popular online vote.
Good for those seeking off-beat inspiration, but not too off-beat, who don't mind some religious themes mixed in.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Henry Poole is simply "OK".
Added 12/13/2009
I like the message that this film delivers but as a whole the movie just plodded along. Luke Wilson is fine as the lead character and I became a fan of his after the movie "Idiocracy", which is a much better film. Ok, so the movie has a positive message and good things happen in the film, still the film was overall slow and uneventful. I thought the little girl who lived next door was simply wonderful. I don't know when I have seen such an adorable little girl. I wish she had a much larger role in the movie. Esperanza, on the other hand, the Spanish neighbor, didn't move me at all. Her message moved me but her character was simply a stereotype. That "Lopez" guy as a priest also didn't work so well. With "Lopez" all I could do was concentrate on his horrendous and pitted facial complextion and his bad haircut. The lady next door was was characterized pretty well and the lady is fairly attractive.
Overall I like the message of having FAITH and MIRACLES can actually happen, even though they might not come from God. I liked when Henry destoyed the image of Christ and only because it was effective and thought and emotion provoking drama. And then the irony that Henry was never ill worked quite well. I liked the message of how the miracle was only suppossed to last as long as it did. I also LOVED the girl who worked at the supermarket. I thought she too seemed quite adorable.
I have seen a very similar movie setting in the movie "187". In that movie there is one of those large concrete canals behind the house and there is a whole lot of concrete in the yard and in the backyard and the neighborhood seemed very depleted of nature, bleak, and simply full of a lot of concrete.
The movie also must have suffered from the low budget. All in all this movie has a very nice message but overall it pretty BORING, even though I liked two of the characters a lot and I thought Luke Wilson acted well enough.
And lastly, I have a friend at work who I recently loaned two "Christian" movies. I am thinking of loaning this movie to him. If I do loan the movie I think he might enjoy the positive theme of the movie, even if he and his wife might also find the movie a bit plodding and DOPEY.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Love of the loveless
Added 12/10/2009
The movie starts off with the song 'Love of the Loveless' by The Eels. There couldn't have been a better song to describe the main character of this movie - Henry Poole. He is shown as a lonely and depressed character who has just moved in to a new house in a new neighborhood. He wants to avoid his neighbors although they keep running into each other. In the meantime something miraculous happens (which I won't reveal) that starts changing the lives of the people around him. But Henry won't believe in it, nor is he pleased. To know more about the character Henry and to experience the miracle, you got to watch the movie.
It is surprising how good movies like this one don't get any publicity while average/bad movies rule at the box office. Not only does it give you hopes and restore your faith on the good things, it also has a nice spiritual message. It has a happy ending, yet it's not sugar-coated. There was ample scope to overdo the drama, but the movie successfully avoids that trap. The acting is great. Adrianna Barazza as the middle-aged Esperanza steals the show. Luke Wilson as Henry Poole is very close and plays his role to perfection. Other actors like Radha Mitchell also fit in very well.
I would give this movie 4 & half stars. If you want to see somethong different from the regular stuff, watch this one.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Henry Poole is Horrible
Added 3/13/2010
The first ten minutes of this movie present an intriguing premise... but it is all downhill from there. Unless you are devoutly religious, don't waste your time with this movie. It was so bad, I almost didn't finish watching it. Boring writing, heavy-handed directing, and a lousy soundtrack make this melodrama nearly unwatchable.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Henry Poole Is Here
Added 2/20/2010
Interesting Movie with a good Moral back ground. Henry does not seem to truely accept God, but has some feeling that something devine or a mirical did occur. His logic or empirical beliefs still give him some doubt.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Peculiar cross between quirky independent and square church inspirational
Added 12/23/2009
This fundamentally upbeat film is about choosing love and life over fear, choosing to be present, and the miracle of the everyday. It has religious themes, some left open-ended, but it doesn't treat religion in a pious way (there are even a couple swear words used in that connection). It's gentle and quiet, with much low-key humor and a sometimes-quirky sensibility, complemented with indy-style music.
The action centers on a stain on the outer wall of Henry's house that may be a miracle.
The acting talent is a big plus, making for appealing characters. Title character Owen Wilson is suffering and acting strangely for reasons we don't learn right away. He somewhat believably straddles a line between self-absorbed pessimist and nice guy. As the movie's tag line says, "changing his attitude will take a miracle." Adriana Barraza is a warm and energetic busybody neighbor allegorically named Esperanza (hope). Radha Mitchell is the almost-too-beautiful-to-be-true single mother next door, allegorically named Dawn; Morgan Lily is her even more dawn-faced six-year-old girl who is a pivot point of Henry's development. Rachel Seiferth has a memorable turn as a supermarket checker who "sees," named Patience. Comedian George Lopez plays it straight as a friendly, reasonable Catholic priest. And Cheryl Hines gets things off to a good start in a minor but entertaining role.
On the less positive side, the film swings from effectively showing the drama, with an off-center point of view, to didactic bursts of expository dialogue, which are less fun, less inspiring, and less interesting. It also hits a lot of conventional points like clockwork, sometimes in a pedestrian way, as when Henry keeps accidentally hinting at what's behind his strange behavior but stops himself each time. These aren't fatal flaws, though, at least not for me.
I'm not a believer, but the religious aspects don't bother me as they do some others. The goal was to make "a spiritual film but not a religious film," "beyond dogma," as the director put it. There are a couple apparent religious miracles presented without any alternative explanations in sight, which is odd when the more central miracles are more ambiguously presented. There are some obvious gestures towards religious symbolism in regard to blood. And the allegorical names mentioned above are also there, but the characters are fuller than the names would suggest.
The audio commentary by director Mark Pellington (Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies) and first-time writer Albert Torres is most useful and interesting if you want to know exactly what they were thinking. They don't hold back; they're thoughtful and open and make a good pairing. There's also a well-packed 15-minute making-of piece with good participation by the stars. The other special features are two music videos and a trailer. One of the videos is the winner of an open contest for a theme to the movie by a new artist, selected in part by popular online vote.
Good for those seeking off-beat inspiration, but not too off-beat, who don't mind some religious themes mixed in.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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