Mooshki - Movie Review - Henry Poole Is Here

Of course, I could never presume to step into DnfromMN’s shoes, but I think Luke Wilson is in need of some CDAN love.

This is a typical indie film, so it’s more character- than plot-driven. The bare bones of the story: Henry Poole buys a run down house in LA. His realtor (Cheryl Hines, yay!) has it re-stuccoed before he moves in, and a water mark on the wall appears to his neighbors to be the face of Jesus.

Henry (Luke Wilson) is a sad man, who just wants to be left alone. His next-door neighbor Esperanza (Spanish for “hope”) stops by with some homemade tamales, and sees the face of Jesus in his wall. To Henry’s dismay, she is fascinated with the appearance, and begins to tell her priest, friends, and neighbors about the miracle. Despite his best efforts, they will not stay out of his yard or his life.

On the other side of Henry lives a sweet young girl who doesn’t talk. (Central casting sure does have an endless supply of adorable little girls these days.) Her mom, “Dawn,” is played by Radha Mitchell, who is beautiful, as we’ve discussed, but particularly glowing here, I think because the makeup and lighting are more natural in this film. Her Aussie accent poked through a couple of times, and that made her all the more endearing to me.

There is also a thoughtful, bottle-glassed grocery store check-out girl, “Patience,” who is concerned about Henry (My friend turned to me at one point and said “I never discuss Noam Chomsky at my grocery store.”) and Esperanza’s priest, played by George Lopez (remarkably unannoying).

These are all sad people, each for their own reason, but the movie is sweet and funny. I know some people were concerned about the religious premise, but it’s not at all preachy, and I think it’s enjoyable and relatable as an atheist, a believer, or anything in between. Of course, there are themes of hope and faith, but the frequent humor kept them from being sappy. There were the usual indie staples - “arty” shots and a great soundtrack (thanks, Mark Pellington!), that I find a bit distracting because of their indie-ness, but still very nice on their own merits.

Luke does puppy dog eyes better than anyone else. There is one scene in particular, at the LA River (good to see it back in the movies again!), that could’ve been lifted straight from “The Royal Tenenbaums” in mood. He starts out the movie drinking like a fish, so as a CDAN reader that was a little distracting. :) Obviously as a big Wilson Bros. fan I’m biased, but I thought he looked really good, without much of the puffy at all, and the role could have been written for him.

Verdict: If you’re a fan of indie films, or any of these actors, I think you’ll really like this.