Even after last fall’s mini-controversy, with Owen Wilson playing a suicide attempt survivor soon after surviving suicide himself, Luke Wilson is heading to a big screen as a guy nearing death. He stars in Henry Poole Is Here which was picked up at Sundance after it debuted there this week.
Wilson plays the titular character Henry, who returns to the middle class neighborhood he grew up in after finding out he has a short time to live. He plans to essentially curl up and die, but a nosy neighborhood and a strange miracle set his life on a completely different course. Radha Mitchell, Adriana Barraza, Cheryl Hines and George Lopez also star for director Mark Pellington, who recently co-directed U2 3D.
I’m not sure what any of our Sundance crew thought of it when it screened there, since none of them have reviewed it yet, but it sounds potentially promising if a little cheesy. I mean, a stain on Henry’s wall becomes a sign that brings people into his backyard to discuss the meaning of destiny. But maybe that’s the hardened cynic in me and I’ll be proven wrong. Overture is the company that distributed Mad Money last weekend, so we’ll probably be seeing a bigger release for this one in a few months.
