This film really and truly moved me.
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08/18/08
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Henry Poole Is Here (2008)
36 %
Reviews Counted: 59 Fresh: 21 Rotten:38 Average Rating: 4.9/10
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Theatrical Release: Aug 15, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $805,219
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 himself alone in a new house and a new place, somewhere where perhaps he can try to escape the fate... [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Luke Wilson, George Lopez, Cheryl Hines, Radha Mitchell, Adriana Barraza
Reviews
Top Critic
A charming break-out for Luke Wilson but not the role that provides him with the dynamics we want. Touching with the right amount of mystery. Great family viewing but no thrills.
08/18/08
With characters named Esperanza, Dawn and Patience that signal Deeper Meaning, Henry Poole Is Here traffics in the kind of inspirational kitsch that only a true believer could swallow.
08/18/08
Top Critic
Sober discussions give way to a clumsily handled finale that doesn't stand a prayer of satisfying most discerning viewers.
08/16/08
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.
08/16/08
Director Mark Pellington neatly underplays the more maudlin touches of rookie Albert Torres' script and draws a richly complex performance from the usually bland Wilson.
08/15/08
It's like a pushy neighbor who keeps inviting you to church and won't take no for an answer.
08/15/08
Top Critic
Henry Poole may be cynical, but Pellington never allows his movie to be.
08/15/08
Every so often there's a tabloid news story about the Virgin Mary seen in a piece of toast or Mother Teresa on a tortilla, and most of us equate them with Elvis sightings. This film is for the rest.
08/15/08
For a mildly quirky comedy-drama, Henry Poole Is Here has some surprising philosophical heft.
08/15/08
Top Critic
Gooey, ponderous, and maudlin. It's less a tale of religious rebirth than a faith-based Hallmark card.
08/15/08
Top Critic
Henry Poole is Here is one of those average guy-miracle stories that are supposed to make you feel good, but instead it just makes you feel used, and used rather badly.
08/15/08
Top Critic
One of the few really appealing features that have come along during this summer's movie dog days. Here's a film that actually tries to tell a story and tries to say something substantive instead of just blowing things up or going for the cheapest joke.
08/15/08
Top Critic
A spiritual movie with the power to emotionally touch believers, agnostics and atheists -- in that descending order, I suspect. It doesn't say that religious beliefs are real. It simply says that belief is real. And it's a warm-hearted love story.
08/15/08
Top Critic
I felt let down by Henry Poole Is Here, which seriously examines questions of religious faith until it skips away at last from being pinned down.
08/15/08
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