The complexities and weirdness of popular culture provide the backdrop for this black comedy about creativity, politics, publishing, and mentors.
Henry Fool (1998)
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:22
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.4/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 17 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Hartley has crafted here what many consider to be his crowning achievement: a sprawling epic of a story that tackles any and everything he decides to mock, satirize, or challenge. Simon is a... Hartley has crafted here what many consider to be his crowning achievement: a sprawling epic of a story that tackles any and everything he decides to mock, satirize, or challenge. Simon is a factory worker who lives with his nymphomaniac sister and manic depressive mother. Along comes Henry Fool, a convicted sexual offender who moves into Simon's basement. Henry sparks Simon's mind and challenges him to write "the great American poem." To everyone's dismay, he does just that. From there, events spiral even further, until Simon must eventually make an important decision: remain loyal to his friend and help him flee the country, or turn his back on what they shared together in the past. Funny, shocking, and impressively grand in its ambitions, Hartley's script takes turns that most writers would never consider actually writing down. This is an original work that will stand as one of 1998's most exhilarating motion picture experiences. [More]
Starring: Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, Parker Posey, Kevin Corrigan
Starring: Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, Parker Posey, Kevin Corrigan, James Saito, Maria Porter, Miho Nikaido, Liam Aiken, Gene Ruffini
Director: Hal Hartley
Director: Hal Hartley
Screenwriter: Hal Hartley
Producer: Hal Hartley
Composer: Hal Hartley
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Reviews for Henry Fool
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.
Embracing all of Hartley's motifs, such as the vicissitudes of fame and fate, Henry Fool is sharply uneven, poetic, meditative and touching in moments but also pretentious and overlong (138 minutes); sadly, it's the last decent movie Hartley has made.
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.
I was disappointed in Hartley's most ambitious film to date; I expected more than what was delivered.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 90% 90% | District 9 |
| 86% 86% | 500 Days of Summer |
| 63% 63% | Extract |
| 06% 06% | All About Steve |
| 78% 78% | It Might Get Loud |
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