Henry Poole is Here Review-By Kelsey Zukowski

Starring: Luke Wilson, Adriana Barranza, Radha Mitchell, Morgan Lily, George Lopez
Directed By: Mark Pellington
Written by: Albert Torres
Released: 2008
Grade: B-

Henry Poole is Here is a film that centers very much on faith. It shows people at every step of this. There are those who believe in it so much that this belief completely embodies them, those that really have no faith left and partially because of that ends of going on with life completely numb, then there are the ones in between who have some belief that has a chance of becoming enhanced and taken by surprise.

After getting some life altering news, Henry Poole (Wilson) tries to find some happiness. He goes back to the last place he remembers being happy: the place where he grew up. Henry wasn’t able to buy the house that he lived in as a kid, but he buys one on the same street instead. The house needs a few minor repairs, but he has no intent of fixing anything and he even demands that no one else does either. We soon learn that Henry doesn’t even plan to stay in this house very long that he has just bought. Soon one of his neighbors, Esperanza (Barranza) starts spending a lot of time next to his house. Henry is really bothered by this since he just wants to be left alone and sees her as a disturbance. It turns out that she believes she has seen the image of Jesus on the side of his house. She brings Father Salazar (Lopez) over to examine it and share this miracle. Father Salazar really isn’t sure if this is a sign from God or not, he really can’t say either way at this point, but he wants to test it further.

After this point Henry constantly finds Esperanza and her church friends in his yard, amazed by the image on his wall. Henry is searching for solitary, yet is struggling as he is continuously chasing people out of his yard, trying to squash what he thinks is a completely nonsensical notion. Henry finds a pattern of another one of his neighbors hanging out in his yard, Millie (Lily). She is a young girl that hasn’t talked in the past year since her father left her and her mother, Dawn (Mitchell). She records conversations Henry has while in his yard. Strangely enough, Henry finds a certain connection with her even without her words and this connection is expanded even more with him and Meg. Their relationship blooms even though Henry is still doubting weather he can let himself go and have a chance for happiness. Even with this new spark of optimism and the new found miracles that have been happening to those who touch the wall, believing that it is a sign from God, Henry still can’t help but be a non-believer thinking that any hope is just a waste of time.

Luke Wilson did pretty well as Henry Poole. He gave a believable performance, but there could have been more done with the character. Wilson really shouldn’t be to blame for this as it is due to a lack of depth in the script regarding the character. George Lopez came across as very sensible with a bright presence. He had a serious part yet was still able to bring out an essential logical stand point while still being very positive and light spirited. Adrianna Barranza was realistic as Esperanza and brought some truth and sincerity to her even in the moments that Henry was most annoyed with her. Radha Mitchell had wonderful chemistry with Luke Wilson as a love interest, a friend, and eventually a savior. She showed a certain liveliness, which helped bring out the same in Henry. Morgan Lily gave a wonderful performance, definitely one of the best, as Millie. She was troubled and confused, which was very much caused by the lack of a father. Her non-verbal defense was her only shield that she had to deal with it even with a very loving mother and a good home. It was that father or lack of one in her life that came to dictate what her life was. Lily and her character of Millie herself was the very thing that showed the most hope in the film.

The storyline with Henry and Dawn’s romance and both of their relationships with Millie are the film’s strongest points and give it a new side, which is a great change of pace from the main plot of the miracle on Henry’s wall. This seems to be where the most energy is present bringing a new chance of optimism to shine through on a very negative and pained man. The relationship between the three of them is a joy to watch: both Henry’s relationship with Millie and Dawn fuel each other, adding more compassion to each one and a lot of heart to the story.

Henry Poole is Here focuses on the believing or not believing theme a bit too much. It keeps on showing the believers and the progressions that they are shown to prove their truth. This is a powerful and important questioning, but it handles the believers much better than the non-believers. It would just be better if Henry as a person, his background, and what really made him think the way he does would have been given a little more depth. The initial intriguing aspect of the film is the gradual unveiling of the mystery that Henry holds. It is clear that there is something wrong with him, which is most likely defining him at this moment in his life. Finding what this is and learning where it has brought him gives us some understanding of him and makes him something else than a typical pessimistic. There are a lot of flashback and pictures of him as a child, while there is some talk about it, this is one aspect of Henry that isn’t gone in to that much for the emphasis it is given. As good as the film gets, in the end there feels like we haven’t been given the full story, since that element of depth and understanding of our main character isn’t complete, it leaves us with a good film, but not quite as good as it could have been otherwise.