Very Cool!!!

Awesome Movie

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Simon Grim (James Urbaniak) is a shy awkward garbage worker. He lives with his loud bossy sister Fay (Parker Posey) and mother. He is befriended by frustrated writer Henry Fool (Thomas Jay Ryan) who gives him a notebook. Simon gets beaten up. Henry sleeps with both Fay and their mother. While Henry's writing is rejected, Simon's writing becomes celebrated.James Urbaniak is a fine quiet weirdo and Parker Posey is hilariously loud. "Mom! Simon's got a broken rib..." She makes Hal Hartley's words sing. The weak point is Thomas Jay Ryan. Henry Fool is a crazy character. He needs to be played by a more charismatic actor with a wild energy. Ryan doesn't have a big enough screen presence. Also Hartley's quiet oddball manneristic style keeps the energy low. There are bit moments of utter genius writing but there are not enough to make the whole great.

I came upon this film not knowing of Director Hal Hartley; i.e., despite seeking out independent and art house stuff. I concede I've a major crush on Parker Posey. Try my odd approach: I started watching the first half of FAY GRIMM, the 2007 sequel to HENRY FOOL. Only upon taking a break did I learn that FG was a follow-up. I then went back and watched the entire HF before returning to watch the second half of FG. That this worked so well for me must say something about Mr. Hartley's film making. I'm guessing something good.Another IMDb User states that "You've never a film like HENRY FOOL". I could not agree more. Devices like subtle (and not-so-subtle) humor and gross outs (See CLERKS) are not new. But HF does the impossible: it presents an absolutely repugnant protagonist, a dull foil and a stagnant setting and endears the lout to us and makes an ugly mundane Queens neighborhood endearing. I could write a small book about the relationship between Henry and Simon. The former is a fraud, knows he is such and even knows that others know he is such. No one sees through Henry better than Simon, who despite all his own inadequacies, understands that Henry is espousing wisdom that Henry does not fully understand and may not even believe. That Simon becomes motivated seems almost adverse reaction to Henry's unsolicited rants. The relationship continues but what do we call it? Nurturing? Festering? Pro-active? Antagonistic? One-ups-mans-ship? Is it Lennon/McCartney or Crips/Bloods?This film becomes just so entertaining that I forgot that I was watching non-commercial, independent fare that wasn't going to blossom into elaborate sets, international settings (though such changes in FAY GRIM) or other expensive treats. I was having so much fun I replaced my scholar's cap with a backwards baseball cap and began rooting for..... well,.... actually I didn't know what I was rooting for. Maybe that is the beauty of HF. But when I got done watching HF I had the distinct belief that I had seen something original that was the product of - if not genius (I hate that word) - at least sincere inspiration and energy. I dare you to see it.PS/I've no clear idea on why having a Budweiser can in almost every scene works so well. Miss Posey is absolutely hysterical and her performance tops even her Christopher Guest work.

'Henry Fool' is a great film, and is also one of my favorites. I think that people should see it because it's great. I'll just give you people out there who haven't seen this movie a little written preview:First off we have this guy named Simon's side of the movie. He is a nerdy garbage man living with his sister and depressed mother. According to his mother and sister, he has never had a friend until one day out of the blue, a man named Henry Fool comes along. He inspires Simon to write, and he does. He writes a bunch of pornography that everyone says is sick and twisted. He tries to get his poem published, but sadly receives a bunch of letters from the publishers saying that they hate his poem. Poor Simon. Even though the publishers hate it, there are two people who like it. Henry Fool, and this one high school girl who asks him for his permission for his poem being in her high school paper. Henry, trying to be a good friend, asks Simon's sister Fay to type up a portion of Simon's poem on the internet. It's here where people find it, and it starts appearing on the news. After, he settles a deal with a publisher named Angus James. He then becomes a famous poet.Second, we have Henry Fool's side of the movie. He has a parole officer because he's been bad. He is known as a criminal, but he's not that dangerous. Well anyway, he supports Simon on his poetry while writing his own confession. Later, his criminal past does catch up to him after he kills someone and needs a plan to get out of the country.You should really see this movie. I've seen it ten times and I'm still not tired of it.

As a native New Yorker, I tend to be drawn to movies and television shows shot in either the 5 Boroughs, and/or Long Island. I also have the occasional appetite for independent films, and don't mind movies starring total unknowns. But none of these factors have ever made me a fan of Hal Hartley's movies. Believe it or not though, an IMDb user suggested that fans of Christy Carlson Romano watch a copy of this one, and I've been appreciating it ever since.Simon Grimm(James Urbaniak) works as a nerdy put-upon garbage man in Queens, NYC, who still lives with his promiscuous sister Fay and depressed mother(Hey, don't laugh. I know of people with better jobs who still can't afford homes of their own), who rents a room out to people whenever they can. Along comes Henry Fool(e), who invites himself into his family's rented room. Fool(Thomas Jay Ryan) is an ex-writer who passes himself off as an iconoclastic lover being persecuted by both the masses and "the man," partially because he had a regretful fling with a 13-year-old girl at one point in his life. Henry Fool IS a fool, because he's convinced that he and Grimm are somehow cut from the same cloth, and encourages him to write down whatever is on his mind. After some spelling and grammatical corrections, Fool does everything he can to expose this writing to the public, which is denounced as obscene by some and brilliant by others. Hartley does the same thing to Simon's story as Quentin Tarantino does with the glowing briefcase being retrieved by Vincent Vega(John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield(Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction. He also puts his characters through different stages in their lives, like Warren(Kevin Corrigan) who starts out as a street thug having public trysts with a girlfriend and attacking Simon for seeing one of them while he's trying to do his job, to supporting far-right anti-immigration political candidate Owen Feer(Don Creech), to becoming a low-life wife & child abuser.Contrary to popular assumption, events *do* take place in Hartley's movies -- obscure stars get surpassed by total unknowns. In "The Unbelievable Truth," the biggest name in that movie was Jeff Howard, who's better known for his role as Joe Ferone in Up the Down Staircase. Then Adrienne Shelley replaced him as the biggest name. Likewise in "Henry Fool" the biggest name from this movie was Parker Posey, and now it's Christy Carlson Romano. In Romano's case, however, her fame came from her work on Even Stevens & Kim Possible, not because of her very non-Disney performance here, which proves to be crucial to the direction of the story. And all I'm going to reveal about that is that parents who's kids are fans of KP and/or Ren & Louis Stevens will be very surprised as to how far Warren's stepdaughter Pearl is willing to go to end her suffering, and let you figure the rest out for yourself.