Poolman (2024)

Director: Chris Pine

Running Time: 100 Minutes

Certification: 15

Starring: Chris Pine, Annette Bening, DeWanda Wise, Stephen Tobolowsky, Clancy Brown, John Ortiz, Ray Wise, Juliet Mills, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Danny DeVito

Ever since he rose to prominence in the 2000s, Chris Pine has built himself a varied career. After capturing audience's hearts in romantic-comedies such as The Princess Diaries 2 and Just My Luck, his star power built up with prominent roles in 2009's Star Trek, the Oscar-nominated Hell or High Water, and an antagonistic role in Don't Worry Darling. Making his directorial debut with Poolman, Pine crafts a project that stands apart from his other works - for better or worse.

Described as "a Raymond Chandler style mystery", the story follows hapless dreamer Darren Barrenman (Pine) living in Los Angeles during a water drought. His days are spent looking after the pool of the apartment complex where he lives, writing letters to Erin Brockovich, and pitching potential improvements at city council meetings. After crossing paths with the enigmatic June (DeWanda Wise), Darren finds himself on a quest to uncover corruption at city hall.

In preparation for the detective work that he will undertake, Darren and his best friends, married couple Diane (Annette Bening) and Jack (Danny DeVito), sit down to watch Chinatown. Considering the 1974 classic involved a water-related mystery in Los Angeles, Pine's film is not wearing its influences on its sleeve, but rather having them tattooed across the forehead.

Central to this mystery is a curious idea, as the serious revelations are uncovered by somebody ill-equipped to handle such truths. What could have been the humorous offspring of The Big Lebowski and Chinatown falls short courtesy of an unfocused screenplay and a direction that feels unsure of how to handle the various components. The droplets of an interesting idea lurk within the plot, as the character who feels the most at peace within the water seeks to expose the cause of that very drought. Instead, the film is left with scarce laughs, an uninteresting mystery, and quirky additions that test one's patience.

Despite the films that have been previously namechecked, the work that Chris Pine's directorial debut most resembles is 2023's Fool's Paradise. Both films are the directorial debut of a cast member from Horrible Bosses 2, who also leads a starry cast within a plot that loosely hangs together in service of actors riffing, yet nobody is served well by the material. By the end of it, Poolman ultimately feels shallow.

Poolman is available now to stream on Prime Video