Jesus Henry Christ

I liked this film from the moment we witness a potted history of Patricia's childhood. Patricia is Henry's mum and Henry is a kind of genius. He is certainly different but who wouldn't be with a mum like Patricia? The relationship between mum and son is a delightful watch as is Henry's growing urge to find his father. And there is Uncle Stan another character of infinite eccentricity for us to enjoy.

The beauty of this film is that it doesn't take itself seriously and neither do the characters and yet they are all tangible enough for us to like. It echoes life it really does. When Henry discovers his real background and the identity of the sperm donor then enter Audrey, his half sister, and another lovable quirky character with an equal flair for genius.

This is a film made for the many eccentricities you can wring out of such a wacky group of characters not by making cheap fun but by genuinely exploring where these people might go with their lives. It is fun, it is funny, and its ninety odd minutes seem to fly by and so it has to be doing something right.

"Jesus Henry Christ" is a quirky indie comedy with a genetics, homosexuality and heresy bent. It starts off with heavy '70s-influenced comedy which you just have to hustle through to get to the heart of the story. The plot might seem a bit eccentric, but that is probably necessary if the comedy is going to be actually funny. Henry is a genius test-tube baby. He might be a freak but his mother (Toni Collette) wants to raise him normally.

Obviously Henry doesn't have many friends; that's why he's the classic indie protagonist. It also doesn't help that Catholic school headmasters don't like it when he denounces God's existence. Henry has always been able to handle himself just fine until the question of who his father is keeps popping up.

The introductions of his probable half-sister (Samantha Weinstein) and father (Michael Sheen) are possibly the funniest and most brilliant character set-up scenes. Audrey is Dr. Slavkin O'Hara's natural daughter but has decided to raise her as a psychology experiment in a world free of gender bias. Needless to say, she wishes she didn't have a father. Weinstein was uniquely beautiful and sympathetically hilarious as an adolescent with the hardest life imaginable. Sheen was funny, original and amazingly empathetic as a father/professor that is a perfect mix of 30 Rock's Wesley Snipes and the pedantic one from Midnight in Paris.

The spinning camera choices get annoying, the character and situation oddities can be off-putting, but it's also damn hilarious especially if you like anything that tries to turn "normal" social and cultural values upside down. "Jesus Henry Christ" is clever, particularly well-acted by most of the cast, and so original that you stare in disbelief but then laugh-out-loud out of awkwardness, relatability and genuine appreciation.

The film has its bad points which are expressed in other reviews, In this one I will only be dealing with the howevers... Whilst the storyline consists of the undeveloped stories of each of the main characters and ends a little too neatly there are moments within the film which make it worth watching, largely due to the almost characteur like portrayal of the main characters. Whilst the characters are seen by many critics as shallow there are a lot of characters in it to enjoy. Unfortunately what made the film enjoyable for me personally was the mingling of the eccentricities of each characters, I say unfortunately as this seems to be where it falters in many peoples eyes: Whilst interesting the characters may be, the running time of the film does not allow for the full realization of the characters. I did not mind this so much as I have personally found in wes anderson films (tho i still love them) that sometimes the building of the characters have slowed the film down to what is usually a melancholy pace. JHC is seen as a poor version of a wes anderson film but as a wes anderson fan I found the eccentricities of the characters enjoyable all the same, despite the troubles in fully realising them in the plot. If there had been another half an hour added and the films dead ends reworked into satisfying conclusions this film could have easily been an 8+ /10

"The truth is, Henry, you are a miracle of modern medicine." After ten year old Henry (Spevack) is suspended from kindergarten he has a talk with his grandfather. When he is told that his grandfather has located his half-sister Henry finally thinks he has a chance to find his father. This movie started off very funny and almost held it the whole way. The humor is pretty dark at times and you laugh at things you don't feel like you should. The kid that plays Henry is very good in this and so is the girl that plays his sister. I really like these kind of movies about dysfunctional families for some reason. Michael Sheen's character is especially funny and I hope he plays more roles like this. There isn't really anything new or amazing to this one but it is very entertaining and funny almost the whole way through. I recommend this. Overall, not really anything original but the actors make this very much worth seeing. I liked it. I give it a B+.

I have to say I was impressed, pleasantly by this indie production. I did chance upon the movie and I did not expect much from the story line. I thought it would be some kind of children offering and I was prepared to sample and leave it. However I found a little gem of a film. It is funny, well acted and briskly paced. The story of the little genius is more incidental than central to the theme. I particularly like the black humour that one wouldn't expect associated with with child actors. All in all it shows that mega budget are not needed to produce an intelligent, humorous and entertaining production. Well done Dennis Lee. I will watch out for this director/writer.