Chris Pine (Star Trek) is no longer ‘only’ an actor, writer, and producer but also a director. He has now gained his first directional credit with Poolman. While his directional debut is a fun, wacky homage to the comedy film noir, it’s also a movie that only partially lands on its feet due to the weak script.
Pine loves noir films, especially Chinatown, which becomes crystal clear from the get-go. He takes on the lead role of Darren ‘D.B.’ Barrenman, a poolman by day and a very passionate social activist by night (or, better said, evening). His daily routine consists of testing the pool water in the pool in front of his trailer, cleaning the pool, and then taking a dive for some underwater meditation. In between, ‘D.B’ also tries to find time for his neighbours Jack and Diane (Danny DeVito and Annette Bening) and girlfriend Susan (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and to write letters to his social justice heroine Erin Brockovich.
When the night falls, Barrenman storms the city town hall to try and convince the council led by Stephen Toronkowski (Stephen Tobolowsky) to implement a better public transport schedule to improve people’s lives. One time, Barrenman’s passion and temper rise immensely, resulting in a night in jail. Those therapy sessions with Diane clearly didn’t work. However, his anger might be directed towards the right man when Toronkowski’s secretary, June Del Rey (DeWanda Wise), approaches Barrenman. She agrees with him in thinking that her boss is highly corrupt and indirectly hires ‘D.B.’ to try and unmask one of the most famous politicians in the country. Can this poolman pull this off, or does the mission sink before it starts?
On paper, Poolman seems like a real hoot! There’s the solid cast, a simple but fun story honouring the exuberant and eclectic people of Los Angeles, and Chris Pine (both in front and behind the camera). On top of that, there’s also the beautiful and old-time-y-looking vibe hanging over the movie because it was shot in 35 mm. Sadly, all those strong aspects are (almost) completely wiped out by the weak and unhinged script by Pine and co-writer Ian Gotler. The movie tries too hard to be an authentic and memorable film noir. This results in many flat and almost intolerable exchanges filled with one joke or funny moment after another. The comedy energy is off the scale and could be used better. Many punchlines are going over your head, and the movie isn’t strong enough to make up for that flaw.
The only redeemable factor regarding the amount of humour is the acting performances by DeVito and Bening. They form such a wonderful couple as the two weirdos who are just being their fun, authentic, and wacky selves. DeVito (Matilda) adds his trademark of rambling on at high speed about different things that don’t make any sense. The stories his character tells don’t go from A to Z, but from A to U, to B to Q, and eventually to Z. You can compare it to how grandparents tell a story from their childhood. Most of the stories also don’t have anything to do with what’s going on in Jack’s life at that moment, but he wants to tell them anyway. Bening (Being Julia) brings humour and sassiness to Poolman as the New Agey therapist who humorously represents a certain type of woman living in Los Angeles.
Their beautiful performances would have made this feature so much better if both DeVito and Bening had a bigger chance to shine. Poolman is very self-indulgent and self-satisfied and mainly focuses on Barrenman and Pine, and sadly, that’s not a great decision. Pine does everything he can – even giving people the opening scene they wanted – but Barrenman feels unbelievable. The filmmaker clearly wanted to add some Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski of The Big Lebowski to his feature, but it’s clear that Pine is no Joel or Ethan Coen.
That “let’s check out other directors and take a few of their notes” aspect is also why this movie doesn’t work. There’s no coherent identity running through this movie, and it feels like a mix-and-match of styles and bad jokes. There are a few more quiet and original scenes, and it’s then that we see glimpses of what a wonderful director Pine could be.
Poolman will undoubtedly be one of the most divisive films once more people can see it. It’s not for everyone, as the topics and genre are incredibly niche. However, even if you’re part of the audience that loves a terrific noir film, this is a hard sit-through due to the over-usage of bad humour and the shaky script.
Poolman was part of the BFI London Film Festival 2023. No US release date yet. The film is courtesy of Signature Entertainment.
Poolman was screened in the Laugh section of the BFI London Film Festival 2023.
Director: Chris Pine
Writers: Chris Pine, Ian Gotler
Rated: NR
Runtime: 100m
Poolman will undoubtedly be one of the most divisive films once more people can see it. It's not for everyone, as the topics and genre are incredibly niche. However, even if you're part of the audience that loves a terrific noir film, this is a hard sit-through due to the over-usage of bad humour and the shaky script.
Freelancer by day. Film journalist by night.
