Did not like the constant close ups, the main and secondary plots, or the characters. Only watched because it was classified PG comedy and liked other Luke Wilson's performances.

This is a slickly-produced movingly-scored well-acted piece of sappy sentimental crap. Avoiding any real consideration of the fundamental issues in these kinds of pareidolic manifestations (if you look that word up you'll find that it refers to the ability of human beings to see patterns in random phenomena, you know, like the images you can see in clouds), this movie instead goes for the easy cheap shot. It's real blood, it's unexplainable, it must be a miracle. Everyone is healed, and the guy gets the girl (and her cute kid) to boot. There was actually a good idea for a movie hiding in there somewhere, a movie that explored the psychological dimensions of spiritual experience while avoiding simplistic and unrealistic "Hollywood" endings. But no, that is not this movie. If you have a critical thinking bone in your body, avoid this film.(a footnote: when I was twelve my parents had the shower in the kids' bathroom re-tiled. I discovered that right at my height was a tile which had a pattern where you could very clearly see the face and head of Albert Einstein. I was so taken by this that I showed it to a number of people, and they could see it too. These were machine-made tiles with a swirling random pattern. The makers of this movie might have concluded that this said something about the sanctity of a great scientist. What it did for me was cultivate an awareness of and an interest in the phenomenon of pareidolia.)

All right, so I freely admit being that horrid creature, a European socialist, and actually even a long standing militant atheist. Whilst enjoying my free health benefits, never to be achieved in the USA, thanks to the health insurance lobbies and to many Republicans and some corrupt Democrat, I found this movie very good and not a religious propaganda one. The Devil's Advocate, now, trying to affirm the Devil as a real entity (and in the US, he is of course incarnate into a lawyer) that was probably paid for truly by Vatican funds, but this, no... This is a movie about living in the present (if anything this is Zen, not at all Catholic, the basic tenet of Catholics being: suffer now, get a prize later..), about how even misguided people may have positive feelings, how death in a predominantly Protestant culture like the contemporary USA is something people are unable to deal with, how the "good neighbourhood" tradition and customs may occasionally appear empty of meaning. It may make you think and perhaps cry (I did both). Well done!

I only give a rating of 9 when after i see a movie, when it leaves me wanting more and gets me thinking about it long after it has ended. This is one of those films. What makes it special is the deft, subtle direction of mark pellington and great acting by the main leads. Luke Wilson is brilliant as the supposedly terminally ill man going "home" to live his last days in solitude and peace. His personality is constant throughout the shenanigans with the"face on the wall", unlike other movies where you can easily reach the conclusion that "he wouldn't do that or that couldn't happen", everything in this movie makes perfect sense. Reading some of the other reviews on here, i thought I was on an aethiest's forum! I didn't see this movie in this terms, it works on many levels simply because it reinforces the notion of the human spirit and that love does indeed conquer all. There are so many clever things here that make this superior to other films in the genre like the fact that even half way through you're not entirely sure if Henry is dying and the fact that although you really want his relationship with the equally impressive radha mitchell to get physical, it never really does. I'm going to watch this movie again soon and I'll reckon I'll pick up some more nuances and like it even more.