It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This story focuses on hot shot lawyer Henry Turner (Harrison Ford) and the after effects on his life following a shooting which resulted in him suffering brain damage, loss of speech and loss of mobility.I suspect that there are some people who may find this concept hard to swallow and on the face of it the premise is a tough sell; Before the shooting, Turner is an arrogant, rude, and seemingly uncaring individual - a man who is more interested in his career than his family (which seems to be a cliché with most lawyers). Then when he awakes from his coma and regains his ability to speak he suddenly seems to be a completely different person. This, on the surface, may seem like a contrivance, but personally I was prepared to buy it. We learn that Turner's memory & brain have been severely affected by the shooting - it then appears that Turner has just awoken as a new person. I don't believe that to be the case, I believe that Turner sees life in a new light and I believe that Bradley was a major contributory factor in all of this - Turner sees people doing good deeds and being kind to one another. Although his memory loss will have meant that he forgot about who he used to be, I still believe that his rehabilitation was the biggest contributory factor in improving him as a person. It probably also helps that he's away from a lot of his sleazy lawyer friends - there's no-one around to corrupt him.Ford's performance is another big factor in making the film work and his transition from arrogant slimy lawyer to mild mannered & gentle family man was just effortless. Likewise, the supporting cast were also excellent - it was also a bonus that Turner's daughter wasn't annoying as well.I think the most touching aspect of this film was Turner's relationship with his daughter (post shooting). He actually became more like a friend than a father. This is probably because his brain was probably at a similar stage of maturity to his daughters following his recovery. It was so nice to see him build a relationship with his family that probably never existed before.As well as being compelling as a drama the film also has many light hearted moments (many of the scenes between Bradley and Turner were absolute gems).I did have one or two very minor issues with this film; 1) I found it hard to believe that Turner's employers would allow him to return to work when he quite clearly wasn't ready to go back to work 2) It would have been nice to see the scumbag that shot him be brought to justice. Again, nothing major - just minor niggles more than anything.I really liked this film and thought it was a heart-warming, touching film that was thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. It's not a film that warrants multiple viewings, but it's certainly something I'd watch again.

Harrison Ford is such a popular, warm, and likable actor, he can't help but elevate any film in which he appears. Of course, a few weren't worth elevating, like Sabrina, Six Days, Seven Nights, What Lies Beneath) but every prolific actor has a few clinkers. And no matter what, he's always good.Here he plays Henry, a real legal shark, the stereotypical type, who is shot when he goes into a store to buy cigarettes. He is shot in his frontal lobe, which means he has lost his memory, which includes how to talk, walk, tie his shoes, and remember his wife Sarah (Annette Bening) and daughter (Mikki Allen). It's a long, slow road, but he connects with his therapist, Bradley (Bill Nunn), so much so that when it's time to go home, Henry doesn't want to leave.We see Henry after his rehab but before he is completely well. In cases like this, while a great deal of his memory may never return, he probably will become a little sharper as time goes on. Here, he speaks slowly without much affect and though he can take in what he reads, it's obvious he won't return to the law. He's changed and realizes that he doesn't like the old self reflected to him in the law firm and in the shallow people who were supposedly his friends. The people around him - the housekeeper, his wife, and even his daughter - like this Henry a lot better. But he learns the past was more complicated than the present.Let's face it, without Ford, this could have been a movie of the week. With Ford, it's a feel-good story, if predictable. He's wonderful, as is Annette Bening who struggles to get used to the new Henry. They are surrounded by some strong TV and film people.I admit I have a soft spot in my heart for Ford after transcribing an interview with him while he was making an Indiana Jones film. He and the interviewer were in a coffee shop in some out of the way place, and a man approached them and talked to him. He walked away, and them he came back and asked if Ford signs autographs. "Let me ask you something," Ford says, "when you go to the movies, do you pay for a ticket?" "Yes," the man says. "Then I sign autographs," Ford answers. He's a class act - all the way.

Along with Lorenzo's Oil, My Life and First Sight, Regarding Henry is one of my favorite movies with a medical theme. In all of these films, the ill person triumphs in one way or another, and in Regarding Henry, a sense of ethics and restructuring of Henry's values takes place after his is critically wounded by a gun. Personality changes, whether complete or partial, often happen after severe trauma, and sometimes, it is for-the-better.Harrison Ford is not my favorite actor, but he does a respectable job in Regarding Henry, playing the part of a man in rehabilitation. Stanley Swerdlow does a great job as a physical therapist.My only concern about the movie is that I wish Henry's wife, Sarah (played by Annette Bening) had somehow or in her own ways paralleled Henry's evolutionary change-of-heart during the recuperation process.This would have explained just why a person who married a high-power corporate attorney (and who had steeled her heart enough to send her only child away to a snooty boarding school against her wishes) was perfectly fine with staying married to a brain-damaged, partially disabled man. I just found that that aspect of the movie deserved some treatment and fleshing-out.

I loved this movie because so many of the characters were round--they developed and grew as people over the course of the movie, quietly making high-road, compassionate choices, even with broken pasts. Ford and Benning and their daughter are all fantastic. Without being schmaltzy, cheesy, or Disney, there's a lot of soul transformation for the better throughout the movie. Many characters are role models. I feel I'll be a better husband and father, after seeing Henry's like roles in this film. My only criticism? Ford's supposed to be this terrible, cut-throat lawyer at the film's beginning, but I think Harrison Ford is just too nice to pull that off. You don't think, "What a jerk!" as the viewer, but that was what you were supposed to think.