Henry Fool (1998)
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88% of critics liked it
(26 reviews) -
77% of users liked it
(5,332 ratings)
Simon Grim (James Urbaniak) is a garbageman, and his life is about as unpleasant and uneventful as you'd expect given his profession; he doesn't much care for his work, he's treated with violence or contempt by most of the people in his neighborhood, and he shares a house with Mary… More Simon Grim (James Urbaniak) is a garbageman, and his life is about as unpleasant and uneventful as you'd expect given his profession; he doesn't much care for his work, he's treated with violence or contempt by most of the people in his neighborhood, and he shares a house with Mary (Maria Porter), his cranky, pill-head mother, and Fay (Parker Posey), his morally suggestible sister. One day, Henry Fool (Thomas Jay Ryan) appears; he claims to be a writer in the midst of a major project, entitled "Confessions," and needs a place to stay. Henry ends up moving in with Simon and his family, where he wastes no time in bedding both Mary and Fay, and encourages Simon to write in a journal. Simon begins to write in long torrents of words that surprisingly fall together into iambic pentameter; Henry tells Simon that what he's writing is poetry, and he's truly gifted. Simon seems dubious at first, but when several of Simon's pieces are posted on the Internet, he developes a huge and rabid following and is acclaimed as one of the great authors of our time. Henry, however, isn't able to get anywhere with his own book or his own life; as Simon's star slowly rises, Henry's orbit slowly sinks past the horizon. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Hal Hartley
- Written By
- Hal Hartley
- Genres
- Art House & International, Comedy
R,
- In Theaters
- Jun 19, 1998 Wide
- On DVD
- Dec 16, 2003
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Classics
Critic Reviews
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Embracing Hartley's motifs, such as the vicissitudes of fame and fate, the film is sharply uneven, meditative and touching in moments but also pretentious and overlong; it's the last decent movie Hartley has made.
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Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
Has some good acting and ideas, but Hartley doesn't seem to know how to end the thing.
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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
The complexities and weirdness of popular culture provide the backdrop for this black comedy about creativity, politics, publishing, and mentors.
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Peter Henne, Film Journal International
In better sync with its content, but its story, too, of an individual living in a dumpster world trying to share what he knows and make it sing, is undeniably moving.
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James Sanford, rec.arts.movies.reviews
a deft, sometimes perplexing comedy-drama that stubbornly refuses to bow to convention or to soft-sell its darker, more upsetting aspects in the name of drawing a wider audience.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Thomas Jay Ryan
as Henry Fool
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James Urbaniak
as Simon Grim
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Parker Posey
as Fay Grim
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Maria Porter
as Mary
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James Saito
as Mr. Deng
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Kevin Corrigan
as Warren
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Liam Aiken
as Ned
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Miho Nikaido
as Gnoc Deng
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Gene Riffini
as Officer Bunuel
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Nicholas Hope
as Father Hawkes
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Diana Ruppe
as Amy
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Veanne Cox
as Laura
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Jan Leslie Harding
as Vicky
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Chuck Montgomery
as Angus
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Paul Greco
as Concierge
