There aren't a whole lot of flicks spouting words for the faithful anymore. Touched by an Angel has been off the air for a while, and many times these days the word "religion" is often accompanied by "fanatacism" or some similar grouping. Henry Poole Is Here tries to harken back to the time when it was a little more acceptable to believe in God and miracles. It does a good job of painting the picture of a world that needs them, but it loses its grip on the plausible when it moves into its third act.
Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) is a man who seemingly chooses a random house to purchase and live in spends most of his days shutting himself out from the world. It isn't until one of his neighbors notices a water stain on the side of his house might bare a striking resemblence to Jesus Christ (the one from Nazareth). Throughout the story, more and more people start clinging to what they proport to be a miracle as those who touch the face are healed of their ails. This becomes an irksome issue to Poole, who we discover is terminally ill and just wants to die alone. It is a compelling story watching Henry fight off the pious, but a last-minute save at the end converts him to one of the faithful.
I'm not a religious person, and perhaps that's my problem going into this film. That being said, I was enjoying it up until the end when everyone just about blatantly states that the water stain actually was the face of Jesus and it was divine intervention that healed all of these peoples. I believe in what I can see. I also believe that there are things that we will never be able to explain. Sometimes, wonderful things happen for no reason and the same can be said for terrible things. I think if this film had left it at that and allowed Henry to finish the film pondering that very thought, it wouldn't have seemed as preachy as it ended up being.
Even though the story turned on me, it did have it's highlights. Henry Poole Is Here has a very blue look to it, and I think that's appropriate. It's also cut in a way that makes you feel like it's all a dream, which I think adds to the tone of the narrative. There are a lot of shots that strike home, but even in the cinematography seems to beat us over the head sometimes. There is a scene where Henry is walking down a resevoir ditch and starts running to an overpass where he once carved out his name. What I don't think it needed was cross-cutting his childhood-self doing the same thing at the same time. Despite that, I think it still managed to be a very visually appealing film.
The acting as well is another source of applause for this film. I like Luke Wilson, but I never really expect a whole lot out of him. Althought I don't think he did as good of a job as Ryan Reynolds in The Nines, he performs admirably. Rada Mitchell, who plays the love interest, and Morgan Lily, who plays her daughter, acted out their roles very well. Even George Lopez, who doesn't get a whole lot of screen time, gives a believable dramatic performance.
I guess I'm really split by this film. One one hand I think it's too much like an afterschool special, but there are some well done moments throughout. I think Henry Poole Is Here will play to the religous and faithful crowd, but isn't going to be converting any nonbelievers anytime soon.