Review of Henry Poole Is Here (2008) by Paul S — 27 Jul 2009

The bullit for this film says that it's a comedy - wow! It doesn't even attempt to be one, and there are no inklings that it wanted to be one.

Similarly, I read the synopsis and was wondering if we were talking about the same film.

To me, this film is all about faith, period! Miracles can be in the most mundane things (sometimes we don't even realize that we are experiencing one).

That a man can have his life shattered (by learning that he has an incureable disease) and then, if spite of everything, learns to cherish the simple things around him, like love and faith, is at the crux here; and as such it works, though it becomes a bit too formula and pat.

There are many nice touches here, but some missteps as well (the odd camera angles trying to show a man outside of his surroundings is a nice touch, but incongrous with the rest of the film). I also felt that the music video aspect was misplaced here, seeming to be filler that only supported what was already being shown, or was a cheap way of "telling" the audience what was going on.

The "6 months earlier" segue was childish and very tv movie - totally out of place here, while the conclusion didn't really hold any revelation (hmm, he wasn't sick after all, just misdiagnosed - kind of a cop out, but...).

I also found it disconcerting that the single mom next door seemed to never be working - what was up with that? did hubby walk out and leave her a settlement?

However, there are still enough moments of real truth here that propel this film away from rotten. The Hispanic neighbor was a wonderfully played role, and the interplay between Wilson and the single mom felt real (as were his sentiments, not really openly put out there, that getting into a relationship with a dying man was something to avoid).