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Poolman
Directed by
Chris Pine
R
2024
1h 40m
Mystery
,
Comedy
4.0
24%
20%
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Darren Barrenman is an unwavering optimist and native Angeleno 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.
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Where to Watch Poolman
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Rent $2.99
Buy $7.99
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Rent $3.99
Buy $9.99
+3 more
Cast of Poolman
Chris Pine
Darren Barrenman / Director / Writer / Producer
Annette Bening
Diane Espilnade
Danny DeVito
Jack Denisoff
DeWanda Wise
June Del Rey
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Susan Kerkovish
Stephen Tobolowsky
Stephen Toronkowski / Blanche
Clancy Brown
Theodore Hollandaise
John Ortiz
Wayne / Dirk Pfumpter
Ray Wise
William Van Patterson
Juliet Mills
Mrs. Patterson
Aflamu Johnson
Bailiff Reggie
Armie Hicks Jr.
Harroldston McCoy
Hollis W. Chambers
Cosmo McCoy
Christopher Chen
Councilman Jang
Laurent Schwaar
Pierre The Frenchy
Michael Dunn
Tom The Waiter
Robert Pine
The Lizard
Lakshmi Singh
Herself
Will Greenberg
Secretary
Drew Droege
Rose
Jackie Beat
Dorothy
Sam Pancake
Sophia
Amanda Walsh
Darren’s Mom
Mauricio Andara
Police Officer 1
Jesse Schelle
Police Officer 2
Robert Baker
Agent Blasco
Fred Specktor
Himself
Evan Shafran
Businessman (uncredited)
Ian Gotler
Writer / Producer
Patty Jenkins
Producer
Stacey Sher
Producer
Poolman Ratings & Reviews
Kevin Ward
July 1, 2025
I think this would have worked for me much more if I didn’t hate Chris Pine’s character. The supporting cast all have their moments—Danny DeVito, Annette Bening, Clancy Brown and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Plus Dewanda Wise serves as the smokin’ femme fatale in this noir comedy mystery. But the glue that should hold it all together is Pine, and he was just too much of an aloof goofball to really take any of the rest of it seriously. I think of more likable version of his titular poolman, and this could have been a much more enjoyable feature. Hopefully Pine gets another shot at directing.
Observer
Emily Zemler
I'm sure Pine meant well. He probably had a good idea and couldn't execute it. An incredibly stoned person wouldn't be able to decipher Poolman-and neither can a general audience.
FilmWeek (LAist)
Claudia Puig
It's fun! Yes, I was almost pushed to the edge a few times, but it's fun if you don't expect too much.
FilmWeek (LAist)
Andy Klein
On some level, this is sort of a hot mess, but it's a really enjoyable hot mess.
Everything's Interesting
Eric Langberg
Darren Barrenman is a strange dude, and because he exists, Chris Pine seems like he might be a much stranger dude than we realized. It's a pleasure to take a dip in this pool, man.
Spectrum Culture
Josh Goller
Committed performances by a game cast can't keep Poolman afloat when dragged down by a ponderous script that seems to confuse volume for depth.
NYC Movie Guru
Avi Offer
A dull, meandering, painfully unfunny and unimaginative attempt at satire.
FandomWire
M.N. Miller
Pine's directorial debut is an irreverent comic strip stretched into a 90-minute film that's a dull, hollow, and shallow tribute to a genre with such a stunning lack of substance it becomes an excruciatingly insignificant and futile cinematic experience.
Blu-ray.com
Brian Orndorf
Brightness of spirit can't lift a mostly comatose endeavor. "Poolman" just isn't the good time Pine wants it to be, though support from seasoned actors do help the cause.
Observer
Rex Reed
Surely, you hope, this turkey will eventually come to life. Surely, you think, with one eye glancing at the exit door, it will turn out to be about something. But all hopes are eclipsed by its idiotic, self-indulgent nothingness.
RogerEbert.com
Matt Zoller Seitz
There's not a whole lot of plot to describe or even allude to, and I don't think "Poolman" is all that interested in what little there is.
New York Times
Nicolas Rapold
Pine wisely avoids winks to the audience. But he whiffs at making the mystery especially gripping...
Tribune News Service
Katie Walsh
Sort of the physical, emotional and spiritual embodiment of Los Angeles itself: earnest, silly and a little (or a lot) ridiculous, but insistently charming if you decide to surrender to the experience.
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Strauss
Like "Chinatown" with no stakes or "The Big Lebowski" minus the laughs, "Poolman" is a neo-noir comedy that shares just one quality with its superior influences: a palpable love for Los Angeles in all its corrupt, cruddy glory.
AV Club
Emma Keates
A film that so deeply misunderstands what normal people like about the movies that it could have only come from someone who's never done anything else.
Mashable
Kristy Puchko
Poolman plays an inside joke that never let its audience inside.
Variety
Owen Gleiberman
Not only the worst film I saw during the fall festival season but would likely be one of the worst films in any year it came out.
TheWrap
Martin Tsai
It's clear they have a neo-noir along the lines of "Under the Silver Lake" in mind, but both are too inexperienced to properly bring it to fruition.
IndieWire
Siddhant Adlakha
It'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.
The Hollywood Reporter
Michael Rechtshaffen
Goes tonally off the rails from the start and proceeds to hit bottom with excruciating momentum, dragging a game ensemble, including Annette Bening, Danny DeVito and Jennifer Jason Leigh, down for the count.
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