''Poolman'' is a 2023 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

mystery film A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, ...

directed, produced, co-written by and starring

Chris Pine Christopher Whitelaw Pine (born August 26, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' reboot film series (2009–2016) and Steve Trevor in the DC Extended Universe films ''Wonder Woman'' ...

in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

. It also stars

Annette Bening Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. With a career spanning over four decades, she is known for List of Annette Bening performances, her versatile work across screen and stage. Bening has received List of awards an ...

, DeWanda Wise,

Stephen Tobolowsky Stephen Harold Tobolowsky (born May 30, 1951) is an American character actor and writer. He is known for film roles such as insurance agent Ned Ryerson in ''Groundhog Day'' and amnesiac Sammy Jankis in '' Memento'', as well as such television ch ...

Clancy Brown Clarence James Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles. His film roles include Rawhide in ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Ban ...

John Ortiz John Augustin Ortiz (born May 23, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his antagonist role as Arturo Braga in '' Fast & Furious'' (2009) and ''Fast & Furious 6'' (2013), and Clyde in '' Jack Goes Boating'' (2010), which earned him a nom ...

Ray Wise Raymond Herbert Wise (born August 29, 1947) is an American actor best known for his role as Leland Palmer in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, Twin Peaks (season 3), 2017) and its prequel film ''Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992). He has appeared ...

Juliet Mills Juliet Maryon Mills (born 21 November 1941) is a British-American actress. Mills began her career as a child actress and was nominated at age 18 for a Tony Award for her stage performance in ''Five Finger Exercise'' in 1960. She progressed to ...

Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough in the teen film ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982). She re ...

and

Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him ...

. The film follows Darren Barrenman (Pine), an unwavering optimist and native

Angeleno The demographics of Los Angeles are determined by population surveys, such as the American Community Survey and the United States census. According to 2019 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the City of Los Angeles' metro population was 3,979,57 ...

, who spends his days looking after the pool of the Tahitian Tiki apartment block and fighting to make his hometown a better place to live. The film premiered at the

2023 Toronto International Film Festival The 48th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 7 to 17, 2023.Victoria Ahearn"TIFF reveals new programmers and other 2023 festival details" '' Playback'', April 20, 2023. The most noted change from past years was tha ...

. It was released in the United States on May 10, 2024.

Plot

Darren Barrenman is a pool cleaner in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, living in the old apartment complex ''The Tahitian Tiki'' owned by parental figures Jack and Diane. He is an advocate for LA, inspired by

Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich (née Pattee; born June 22, 1960) is an American paralegal, consumer advocate, and environmental activist who was instrumental in building a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) involving groundwater contamination ...

, constantly pitching his local council on potential improvements, to the disdain of councillor Stephen Toronkowski. Darren's girlfriend Susan, fed up with his passion for causes but disinterest in progressing with their relationship, quietly and subtly says goodbye for good and leaves. Darren then proceeds to head out with Jack and Diane for another day of shooting their documentary on his quest to improve LA, which ends in Toronkowski getting him thrown in jail overnight. Femme fatale June Del Rey reveals a real-estate and water plot by her boss Toronkowski that requires Barrenman's detective skills. She says he is corrupt, accepts bribes, and is in contact with a property developer. He initially turns her down, then has a psychiatric session with Diane. Deciding to meet up with June, despite Diane's distrust of her but with Jack's support, Darren tracks her down. They have a drink in an expensive club, where she explains she sought him out as she does not know how deep the corruption goes. Barrenman draws on his eclectic group of friends and fellow residents to track Toronkowski and photograph his misdeeds. This includes Susan, who has come with Wayne. Darren gets suspicious, although she insists they were in one of her pilates classes. After taking some surveillance photos, the group goes out for a bite. There, Wayne blurts out that he and Susan slept together. A devastated Darren looks on, as they kiss then declare their mutual love. Diane saw it coming, while Jack is also incredulous. Darren falls into a depression. After a few days, June shows up, urging him to get back on track on the investigation. Darren tells her about Susan dumping him, so she kisses him, then leaves. Going to see Theodore Hollandaise, Barrenman briefly meets almond farmer William Van Patterson. Invited into the study, he tries to intimidate the real estate mogul by slapping down the photos. Hollandaise insists the photos show nothing incriminating. Next, Darren follows Toronkowski to a place where he dressed in drag as Blanche, performing a sketch with a group as

The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. The show's ensemble cast stars Beatrice Arthur, Betty ...

. Going back stage, they make peace and bond. Hinting at an article being printed in a few days exposing Hollandaise, before Toronkowski can elaborate, he is shot dead with a silencer-tipped gun. The shooter frames Darren by tossing him the gun, so he has to run. Marching in on June, Darren tells her his subconscious made him realize she was being untruthful and that she is with Van Patterson. She is actually his illegitimate daughter, then kisses him, apologizes and leaves. Darren finds a painted portrait of June and the almond farmer labeled 'The future Mr, and Mrs...', and rushes out to the mansion. Preventing Van Patterson from smothering his enormously wealthy wife to death, Darren intervenes. Before he can do away with both of them Wayne appears, who turns out to be FBI. He and his team arrest Van Patterson and June, the water is restored and Darren goes back to being a pool man, content.

Cast

as Darren Barrenman *

as Diane Espilnade * DeWanda Wise as June Del Ray *

as Stephen Toronkowski / Blanche *

as Theodore Hollandaise *

as Wayne / Dirk Pfumpter *

as William Van Patterson *

as Mrs. Van Patterson *

as Susan Kerkovish *

as Jack Denisoff

Production

It was announced in February 2022 that

was set to make his directorial debut on the film, which he co-wrote the screenplay for with Ian Gotler. Pine will also star in the film alongside

and

. Pine came up with the idea for the film during a conversation with director

Patty Jenkins Patricia Lea Jenkins (born July 24, 1971) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. She has directed the feature films '' Monster'' (2003), ''Wonder Woman'' (2017), and '' Wonder Woman 1984'' (2020). For the film ''Monster'', sh ...

, who will serve as a producer. In May,

Ariana DeBose Ariana DeBose (; born January 25, 1991) is an American actress and singer. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Ariana DeBose, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe ...

and

were added to the cast, with Matthew Jensen set as cinematographer. In July, DeWanda Wise joined the cast replacing DeBose who left the project due to scheduling conflicts. Filming began in June 2022 in

. The film moved to post-production by November 2022, with the distribution rights being sold by AGC International to

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...

Lionsgate Films Lionsgate Films (spelled as Lions Gate until 2005, and formerly Cinépix Film Properties until 1998) is a Canadian-American film production and distribution company founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on June 15, 1962. It was owned by Lionsga ...

and other companies for multiple countries outside the United States. The rights for the UK and Ireland were sold to

Signature Entertainment Signature Entertainment is a British film distribution and film production company founded in 2011 in the UK. Overview Signature Entertainment was founded in 2011 by Marc Goldberg. The company released over 1,000 films since its inception and ...

Release

''Poolman'' world premiere took place at the

on September 11, 2023. In December 2023, Vertical acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the film. The film was released in the United States on May 10, 2024.

Reception

Michael Rechtshaffen, writing for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', called the film a "shrill misfire" and predicted that it would "likely have a tough time finding a home". Siddhant Adlakha from IndieWire opined that the film was "disastrous" and " 's only 100 minutes long, but upward of 99 of those minutes are likely to be spent in silent boredom, if not irritated disbelief at being subjected to such guileless, artless nonsense".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title 2023 comedy films 2023 directorial debut films 2023 films 2020s American films 2020s comedy mystery films 2020s English-language films 2020s heist films AGC Studios films American comedy mystery films American heist films Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Vertical (film company) films English-language crime films English-language comedy mystery films