HENRY POOLE IS HERE
Directed by Mark Pellington
Produced by Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Richard Wright, Gary Gilbert & Tom Lassally
Written by Albert Torres
Released by Overture Films
USA. 104 min. Rated PG
With Luke Wilson, Radha Mitchell, Adriana Barraza, George Lopez, Cheryl Hines, Rachel Seiferth & Morgan Lily
 

The only thing to distinguish Henry Pool Is Here from an uninspired Church sermon on any given Sunday is the weak attempt to cloak the religious message in character and plot. Unfortunately, the plot is little more than a halfway-realized screenplay concept.

The morose, unshaven, and mysterious Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) moves into a scruffy California suburb, blocks from where he grew up. Despite his nothing-to-lose attitude and unpleasant disposition, his neighbor, Espernza (Adriana Barraza), forces herself into his life with a plate of tamales and an unshakable cause: she believes that a water mark on the side of Henry’s house is none other than the spirit of our lord and savior.

The rest of the hour and a half play out like a rhetorical tug of war between Henry, representing the godless disbelievers, and Esperanza, a community that thinks this holy water stain is the answer to their prayers. If this debate were philosophically potent, the film—shot in the soft focus of an emotive Pearl Jam video and choked with musical montages—may have just worked. Instead, the characters simply support their unwavering stand on either side of spirituality, using a recycled arsenal of banal expressions: “Hope can’t save you!” versus “You have to believe!”

Henry is especially stubborn. Speaking as a cynic, if my stucco job were bleeding human blood from an eerily Christ-like discoloration, I wouldn’t necessarily become a believer, but I would at least be a little spooked. Yet jaded Mr. Poole doesn’t even indulge in befuddlement. Yes, there is a reason for Henry’s numbness (a plot twist obvious from the opening credits), but director Mark Pellington may be missing a golden opportunity to tip the wholesome, spiritual allegory into a Stigmata -like supernatural fright.

On the road to his conversion (also, entirely predictable), Henry befriends his next-door neighbor Dawn (Radha Mitchell of Melinda Melinda) and her daughter Millie (Morgan Lily), a wide-eyed child whose haunting performance would fair very well in a horror version of the story.

Henry Poole Is Here isn’t so much a bad film as it is a misguided effort. Pellington, no doubts, wants the message of hope to transcend religious affiliation, but from the Jesus on the wall to a blue, short-sleeved shirt that makes Henry look like a missionary, the project feels squarely Christian. So unless it’s being screened at an evangelical mixer, viewers should be wary to suspend both their disbelief and their gag reflex. Yana Litovsky
August 15, 2008