HENRY JOHNSON

(director/writer: David Mamet; screenwriter: based on a play by Mamet; cinematographer: Sing Howe Yam; editor: Banner Gwin; music: Jay Wasley; cast: Evan Jonigkeit (Henry), Shia LaBeouf (Gene), Chris Bauer (Mr. Barnes), Dominic Hoffman (Jerry); Runtime: 85; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Evan Jonigkeit, Lije Sarki; 1993; 2025)

“Can’t be transformed from a play into cinema.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

David Mamet (“The Winslow Boy”/”Glengarry Glen Ross”), a vocal fan of Trump, which tells you how much you can trust his judgment, directs for the first time in 18 years and scripts this chilling prison drama from his 2023 play about a kind, timid, manipulative and naive man who is jailed for embezzling $300,000 to pay the defense lawyers of a criminal friend who is now out on parole.

The stagey pic stars Henry, as played by Mamet’s real-life son-in-law Evan Jonigkeit. It moves around three locations and has four scenes. There’s the one where Henry asks his boss Mr. Barnes (Chris Bauer) to give his criminal friend a job and is confronted for embezzling. This scene takes place in an unspecified workplace where Henry works at some unknown job; the second scene is when he’s confronted by his worldly know-it-all manipulative cellmate Gene (Shia LaBeouf), who berates him for being a sucker to do such a big favor for a friend without getting something worthwhile in return; and there’s the crisis situation scene, where the armed Henry is in the library and has taken as a hostage the wounded prison guard Jerry (Dominic Hoffman) who has hurt his feelings by needling him.

Though well-acted and with crisp dialogue, the vibrant story about the divide in America between winners and losers can’t be transformed from a play into cinema despite a powerful realistic performance by Shia LaBeouf and other Mamet positives he brings to the table as a successful playwright.

REVIEWED ON 5/11/2025  GRADE: C+
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