Henry Poole Is Here looked so promising from the trailers. The plot follows Henry Poole (Wilson) after he moves into an old bungalow in LA. There's something odd about him. He wants to pay the full asking price, without any negotiations. He does not want it to be re-stuccoed, as he repeatedly states that he will not be staying there long anyway. He keeps his eye on another house across the street, his first choice for where he wanted to live. He buys large amounts of liquor on a daily basis, just for himself, at the same grocery store with the same cashier (Hines). When his neighbor Esperanza (Barraza) sees an image of Christ on his wall, he writes it off as a stain. She brings her pastor (Lopez) and the rest of her congregation to his house to see the miracle, but he gets so frustrated with all the attention that he tries to remove it with a high-pressure water spray. That only makes it more visible. His other neighbor Dawn (Mitchell) witnesses the events and her daughter Millie (Lily) starts recording him from across the fence.
Onto more technical aspects. The cinematography and editing were well-done, although very "indie" in its artsy compositions and lingering scenes. The acting was appropriate, but nobody really stood out. All the pieces are in place for a quirky independent dramedy, but the movie plays much more slowly and predictably than I assumed it would. I wanted something that would speak to all faiths and beliefs, something that would let anybody take what they wanted from the movie. But it's hard to argue when a blind person sees, a mute person talks, and a dying person lives. It just felt a bit heavy-handed with respect to faith and miracles. I guess my big issue with this movie is that it was not as good as I was expecting it to be. I gave it too much credit. Feel free to watch it if the trailer or the plot interested you, but don't get your hopes up too high.
Note: I had about 60-70% of a bottle of wine over the course of this 90 minute movie, which I started watching at 11:30pm, so I was a little tired and inebriated. Still, I stand by my rating within 0.5 stars.
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029120/