Poolman

By day, Darren Barrenman (Chris Pine) is a pool man. With his circle of friends, he is constantly presenting miniscule issues to the city council and filming his never-finished documentary. He is the thorn in the side of council president Stephen Toronkowski (Stephen Tobolowsky). Out of the blue, the mysterious June (DeWanda Wise) recruits him to take down Toronkowski for unknown corruption. Susan Kerkovich (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is his girlfriend. Jack Denisoff (Danny DeVito) is his documentary director. Diane Esplinade (Annette Bening) is his therapist. Wayne (John Ortiz) is his minion.

The story may be riffing off of Chinatown, but the movie is very much looking to imitate The Big Lebowski. Chris Pine is writing and directing. As the lead actor, he is very much doing the Dude. I like his attempt. He's not holding back. He has surrounded himself with plenty of great actors. The problem boils down to the script and filmmaking. In those respects, Pine is no Coen brothers. It's not there in the details and I want changes to the last act.

Maybe it was me, maybe it was the film.. maybe it was the dialogue ... that is time that I will never get back. I could not even find entertainment value in this film. Truly I must have missed the point of Poolman; love the actors and a big fan of their work yet this movie let me down.

Chris, your next project will be the winner. Let's get this on the shelf so others might not find themselves flipping channels and saying the same thing.. that's time I'll never get back.

The idea of intrigue, corruption, film noir and comedy only works with certain filmmakers (I think Coen brothers) so for now, take this review with a grain of salt ..

I think Chris Pine's intention was to create an homage to LA noir movies of yesteryear peppered with a bit of crime, a bit of mystery and a bit of dark comedy. Trouble is I don't think any of it landed.

The movie looks good. It's well shot and has the visual feel I imagine was intended.

The plot, rather than being intriguing and complex is an absolute mess, the comedy doesn't land and Pine's attempts to create a deep and tragic lead just result in an annoying, waffling buffoon.

The cast is pretty underused in my opinion. Annette Benning, Danny DeVito and Jennifer Jason-Leigh should be offering plenty of clout but really are bit parts.

Not for me I'm afraid.

I'm not sure who this movie is for. The premise is kind of Noir film + Big Lebowski, and the main character is surely peculiar, as are his friends, but unlike the cult classic, nothing they say feels funny nor special; it's like being stuck in a room with strangers who are not very bright, who have smoked something, and are trying to make a conversation. It's tiring. It doesn't help that everything feels very slow and sleepy, and the plot is so obvious that even a child would figure it out, while eyes rolling. Maybe that was the point, to play with Noir genre expectations. But every film, regardless of genre, should have some element of surprise, meaning, and depth; otherwise, what's the point of making the film and what's the point of watching? I can't see those here. Maybe it's about boredom.

Not any good? I started watching this movie out of curiousity for the many SPLENDID supporting actors, whom the older generation will definitely remember with fond thoughts, like Dany DeVito, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Annete Bening and several others, BUT...

The bad: what Chris Pine tried to make here, is a QUIRKY comedy. There is a fine line though between quirky kinda funny and NOT funny at all. Quirky means odd, yet fascinating and a subtle (tongue in cheek) kinda funny, but this movie never reached that fine subtle level of comedy. Worse, I didnt even laugh once, not even a smirk or a smile. I did frown a lot...and sighed a lot...that's not what I longed for ofcourse...

They really tried to make this turn into a subtle quirky comedy, BUT its' OFF, it's just not working, it's too predictable and because of that quite boring to watch actually. And the many terrific supporting actors (way better than Chris Pine will ever be) those great, older actors only made this movie more painful to watch, because they have all starred in WAY better and WAY more popular and WAY more original (classic) movies than this unforunate flop.