Miracles have mild impact in comic fable "Poole"

Henry Poole Is Here

By Kirk Honeycutt

PARK CITY, Utah (Hollywood Reporter) - Hollywood's flirtation with Christian filmgoers blossoms to a full-blown romance in Mark Pellington's "Henry Poole Is Here," a religious fable about a man, lost in despair and anger, discovering the healing power of hope.

Pellington and writer Albert Torres wisely leaven the earnestness of their story with wry humor, and the acting, with one key exception, is outstanding. The film will probably divide viewers along party lines: Either you believe in miracles -- in the Catholic sense -- or you do not.

With the right marketing, the film could do well in many regions, in and out of the Bible Belt, and possibly cross over to nonreligious audiences who will appreciate the Capra-esque touches.

Luke Wilson plays Henry, a deeply depressed man who means to isolate himself from the world. He buys a dreary house in a Los Angeles suburb, stocks up on alcohol and stares into space. But the world, in the form of busybody neighbors, comes knocking anyway.

First, it's the devout Esperanza ("Babel's" Adriana Barraza) with a welcome wagon of tamales and more curiosity than Henry can tolerate. Later, he catches a sweet 8-year-old girl next door, Millie (Morgan Lily), tape-recording his private conversations. She herself won't speak -- a condition Henry can appreciate.

Millie's mom, Dawn (Radha Mitchell), is a knockout and right next door, too, but you sense Henry's desire to resist even the most basic social urges.

Then fate intervenes. A bad stucco job before he moved in has left a water stain on an exterior wall in his backyard. An astonished Esperanza declares she sees the face of Jesus in that stain. No matter how fiercely Henry resists Esperanza, his backyard gets turned into a "holy site" as her priest (George Lopez), fellow parishioners and the curious pay visits.