Henry Fool is far and away writer-director Hal Hartley's best movie.

Resonant examination of friendship, fame, cultural trends, and the creative process.

The result is a career milestone [for Hal Hartley] and a film that could become a landmark in American independent cinema.

This film aspires to be a meditation on (among other things) art, trust, loyalty, politics and popular culture. With utter simplicity, and with unexpectedly intense storytelling, it achieves all that and more.

Movies about literary lives don't always catch fire, but Henry Fool is a glorious exception: an austerely funny, brilliantly written and acted serio-comic tale of two writers. [17 Jul 1998]

This film is the complete package, and offers a thoroughly satisfying two-plus hours in a darkened theater.

It is pristinely acted; and its range and heart dwarf other summer films, so cogent is it about our common aches and dreams.

[Hartley] has turned out a film that is the same as his impressive back catalogue - quirky talk-driven curiosities about people living on the fringes of society - yet somehow different, managing to imbue his usual obsessions with the freshness and vitality of a first-time director.

The only thing you can count on in this exhilarating movie is that nothing is what it seems. Even the borough of Queens looks beautiful.

Poetic, bawdy, contemplative, often side-wrenchingly funny and finally quite touching, this tale about a nerdy garbage man whose life is changed by an egocentric hobo philosopher is flawed only by its length.

It remains complex, offbeat and occasionally inscrutable - and worth the work. [24 Jul 1998]

With Henry Fool, however, Hartley has made his most dynamic and accomplished film to date.

Hal Hartley's latest film, an odd and mentally stimulating black comedy that may or may not have a point. In any case, the ride is delectably weird and entertaining. [17 Jul 1998]

What eventually emerges isn't nearly as achieved or convincing as the neighborhood portrait, but even when it ultimately overwhelms the characters, it's full of juice, humor, and nuance.