Henry Poole Is Here: Critic Reviews

Gooey, ponderous, and maudlin. It's less a tale of religious rebirth than a faith-based Hallmark card.

With characters named Esperanza, Dawn and Patience that signal Deeper Meaning, Henry Poole Is Here traffics in the kind of inspirational kitsch that only a true believer could swallow.

Occasionally vacuous.

A few smart turns in a forest of stupid doesn't make a film smart.

Henry Poole never quite approaches the ecstatic.

A spiritual movie with the power to emotionally touch believers, agnostics and atheists -- in that descending order, I suspect. It doesn't say that religious beliefs are real. It simply says that belief is real. And it's a warm-hearted love story.

The combination of placid technique and Wilson's amiable, offhanded approach to a sketchily drawn character leads to a dissolution of dramatic interest around the midpoint.

Tell him to go away.

Pleasant, if insubstantial.

Henry Poole works hard to convert us, even pulling out quotes from Noam Chomsky, but it feels a little too much like a bumper sticker.

Henry Poole is Here is one of those average guy-miracle stories that are supposed to make you feel good, but instead it just makes you feel used, and used rather badly.

A snarky film filled with messages about faith? You better believe it.

Pic's tendency to lecture on the power of faith and religion and on the demerits of science seems to assume an almost childlike audience that needs to be spoon-fed Pablum.

If you're a sucker for a New Age-meets-old-time-religion tale and you have nothing else to do this weekend, then this one's for you. Everyone else should stay home.

Henry Poole may be cynical, but Pellington never allows his movie to be.

Thanks to Wilson's sympathetic performance and Pellington's restraint, Henry Poole is Here may just succeed in warming hearts and lifting spirits.

The further the characters venture into the mystic, the more the movie itself seems to dissipate.

Overall, the film lacks dramatic heft.

Henry too often seems like a suffering cipher rather than a real guy with real problems.