When it's a slow Friday night we turn to Netflix for help. We came across Henry Poole is here. The first 1/2 hour or so of this film I was enchanted and completely captivated. Luke Wilson plays a deeply depressed man living on booze. His performance is perfect...his debauched appearance, his demeanor, his delivery...just great. We meet the other quirky characters: the check out girl at the grocery store (named Patience), the next door neighbor (named Esperanza which is Spanish for hope), the mysterious little girl and her mother (named Dawn). The names of the female characters seem to be hinting us toward something unexpected and unusually creative. And it starts to go that way...a stain on the wall of Henry's house may or may not resemble the "Face of God", Henry's strange connection to the house down the street, the silent watching neighbor child who plays recordings of stray conversations, like an echo in Henry's head. But then, without warning or reason, the film just stops being interesting. The cuteness starts to build, beginning with the too adorable girl next door. (I seriously mean "too adorable," they over reached with her angelic, perfect beauty when the prettiness of an average girl would have suited much better.) It begins to follow the standard Hollywood RomCom formula with Henry and Dawn making doe eyes at each other and spouting inane dialogue. I was SO DISAPPOINTED! This story had so much potential. But in the end it's just another feel good shallow screenplay. Luke Wilson did a very fine job in his performance and Adriana Barraza as Esperanza was also very good. They deserved a better film. If you're a Luke Wilson fan, rent this film, otherwise skip it. I give it a 2.0 out of 5.
If you missed this film the first time around, I encourage you to check out the recently released family version - especially if you are looking for a break from typical Hollywood. I absolutely loved this movie! It was such a great story about a real life guy who was struggling with his faith and accepting it. This is something that I've been struggling with myself for the past couple of years. It was such an encouragement to see this played out. And it's really cool that I've found a site, http://www.henrypoolebelieves.com. Right now it looks like they are giving away 10 copies of the movie for free. If you haven't seen the movie yet, or even if you have, you could always give it to a friend, but it's definitely worth checking out! PERFECT film for a FAMILY movie night!
ReplyDelete