Sometimes a seemingly promising movie can wear out its welcome. Like a houseguest past his sell-by date, in the beginning, you may happily embrace a film and welcome it into your home, but after a time, its themes and characterizations have worn thin and you can’t help but start checking your watch. I realize it’s not easy to craft a compelling work of cinema, but hundreds of filmmakers somehow manage to pull it off each year, and it’s a real shame when a movie with tons of potential squanders it by failing to engage an audience.
I really wanted to like Henry Poole is Here, but it absolutely refused to give me any good reason to keep watching. By the time the credits rolled, my wife was asleep and I was barely hanging on to consciousness. The film is gifted with an uplifting theme and a charming cast, but the story - such as it is - is extremely thin and stretched unnaturally over a bloated 90 minutes.
Luke Wilson plays Henry Poole, a sad and reclusive man diagnosed with a terminal illness. After moving into a new house, he hopes to remain anonymous and alone, but his excitably persistent neighbor, Esperanza (Adriana Barraza) soon discovers a water stain on the side of his house that she is convinced bears the image of Christ.
Desperate to distance himself from society and maintain his solitude, Henry labors in vain to remove the stain and to convince Esperanza that it’s nothing more than a bad stucco job. But Esperanza remains resolute in her convictions and eventually persuades Henry to allow the Catholic Church to investigate the phenomenon.
Reluctantly pulled from his self-imposed exile, Henry begins to develop a grudging toleration of Esperanza, a subtle and tender romance with his next door neighbor Dawn (Radha Mitchell), and a touching connection with Dawn’s troubled young daughter, Millie. As Henry comes to believe that there are still some things worth living for, he must confront his anger over the seemingly random nature of his illness and question his lack of faith in the occurrence of miracles.
I can’t deny that there’s a lot of genuine heart and hope in this picture. It exalts the values of faith, love, and kindness, and it reminds us to never underestimate the simple beauty and wonder of life. I’d love to recommend it, but the film commits that most unforgivable cinematic sin – it’s boring.
Very little of consequence occurs in Henry Poole is Here. I get the feeling that this was a production struggling to move forward with an unfinished script. Unfortunately, the cinematography, direction, and editing are unremarkable and don’t pick up any of the slack.
Numerous scenes are utterly pointless and awkwardly elongated, filled with artsy edits, varying camera angles, and backed by a vapid and uninspiring soundtrack. Still more scenes simply rehash information we’ve already been given.
There’s very little back story, deep characterization, or meaningful dialogue. It’s hard for an audience to connect with Henry when we know so little about him and, as much as I admired the gentle and understated romance between him and Dawn, the film never gives us any reason to believe that they would be genuinely attracted to one another. Likewise, we are meant to feel concern for Millie and her troubles, but her storyline plays out in such a stereotypically contrived fashion that you can’t help feeling you’ve seen this done better a dozen times before.
I blame the script and the director, not the cast. Every actor trapped in this mess is superb, and they all do the best they can to play the difficult hand they’ve been dealt.
Luke Wilson lacks some of his brother’s comedic genius, but he has a disarming everyman quality that makes him a relatable and believable leading man. He fights valiantly to breathe some life into his moribund character, but he’s given little more to do than simply mope around, sigh, and stare blankly into space.
Radha Mitchell is a talented and appealing actress, and she infuses the character of Dawn with a mixture of tragic brokenness and heartwarming compassion. Adriana Barraza wonderfully conveys the essence of a well-intentioned but nosy neighbor. Fresh face Rachel Seiferth gives perhaps the film’s best performance as a thoughtful and earnest grocery store cashier.
Unfortunately, veteran comedian George Lopez is utterly wasted in his role as a Catholic priest. I understand that he was playing against type, and you can see glimmers of a sort of beautifully underplayed kindness and generosity of spirit shining through, but his character’s scenes are so brief and he is given so few lines that it’s very likely any actor could have filled the role equally as well.
Henry Poole is Here is rated PG. On the whole, it showcases admirable restraint, but it does include some bad language and bad attitudes. Unfortunately, by the time the final act is completed and Henry’s spiritual journey comes to a close, any emotional resonance just rings hollow. The film tells us we should feel something, but after an hour and a half, I had been bored into submission. We might be able to give intellectual assent to the points and platitudes, but any emotional context has been lost.
Henry Poole is Here has some good things to say, but you’ll have to stay awake to hear them.
Caution Rating: 3
