Henry Poole Is Here

Diagnosed with an unspecified fatal disease, Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) retreats into the numbing sunshine of suburban Los Angeles, buying a cruddy house and waiting until his daily diet of doughnuts and liquor eventually does him in. Directed by Mark Pellington (taking a break from thrillers such as Arlington Road), Henry Poole Is Here tells the quasi-spiritual tale of how Poole’s plan of going out Leaving Las Vegas–style fails due to a beautiful divorcée neighbor (Radha Mitchell) and a mysterious stain on his house that resembles Christ’s face. It’s amusing to interpret this soppy film as Wilson’s sincere attempt to confront the postadolescent male angst that his cinematic buddies usually laugh off. But Pellington applies his message — the necessity of hope — a trifle thickly over the increasingly doe-eyed narrative.