The screenplay by Albert Torres focuses on a dying man whose religious neighbor insists the water stain on the side wall of his house is an image of Jesus Christ.
Having been diagnosed as terminally ill, Henry Poole purchases a tract house in his hometown, a working class suburb of Los Angeles, and awaits the inevitable, fortified with whiskey and frozen pizza.
His peaceful solitude and self-imposed exile are disrupted by his meddling neighbor Esperanza Martinez, who insists she sees the face of Christ embedded in the stucco wall of his home and is convinced the image has miraculous powers when it begins to exude drops of blood.
In addition to dealing with Esperanza, Henry finds himself interacting with Dawn and her taciturn six-year-old daughter Millie, who hasn't spoken a word since her father abandoned the family a year earlier.
Stephen Holden of The New York Times said the film "traffics in the kind of inspirational kitsch that only a true believer could swallow" and added, "Mr. Wilson offers a credible portrait of an angry, despairing man fending off a cult.
In the mawkish tradition of movies like Simon Birch, Wide Awake, August Rush, and Hearts in Atlantis, Henry Poole Is Here is insufferable hokum that takes itself very, very seriously.
"[3] Reyhan Harmanci of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "a strange and thoughtful little movie" and added, "The film manages to be successfully character-driven, but the characters ride on a flimsy plot.
"[4] Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times graded the film C− and commented, "Henry Poole Is Here is aimed at the Bible bunch, who will be more tolerant of its oversimplification of theological mystery.
Though his latest, Henry Poole Is Here, is full of all his usual ultrastylized, ultradark visual experimentation – an aesthetic that makes viewers feel like they’re drowning in an ocean of uncomfortable childhood memories – its story couldn’t be more corny, redemptive, or inspirational .
"[6] Robert Koehler of Variety observed, "Because it's billed as a more personal project for Mark Pellington after a string of interesting, idiosyncratic thrillers (Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies), Henry Poole Is Here is all the more disappointing.