Piscine - Incontri a Beverly Hills

I have to admit, as I watched the movie, my expectations haven't been met. Most of all, I expected a plot. Since most movies have one, at least to some degree, the `average' watcher tends to expect one here, too. But, it didn't take me long, until I realized that this movie wasn't the `average' movie, and I don't mean that in a bad way.

In the first scene where Hugo's father was introduced, I began to realize what the character of this movie is like. This perception strengthened as more and more people showed up and exhibited their unorthodox, quirky features. Alone the weird things like `a stranger is sleeping in somebody else's truck, then the owner shows up, asks no questions and they both hit the road without even wasting a thought about what this is all about' made me laugh. The dialogs between the characters and the spontaneous and almost unreasonable turns of the plot make the movie special. It is hard to explain to someone who hasn't watched it.

Read the other comments and you'll find the opinions range from real bad to gorgeous. My advice is, be open-minded. This is not the average movie - in many aspects. Don't have too high expectations and you won't be disappointed, this movie is no blockbuster but it sure can be very entertaining if you give it a chance.

All in all, I liked the movie and if you ask me if I'll watch it again, I'd say: no - no doubt. (6/10)

This movie is worth seeing for two very funny scenes- Malcolm McDowell fighting with his alter-ego puppet and Sean Penn in his blue shoes. The story is very light-hearted and Patrick Dempsey as the young man with lou gehrig's disease imparts a real sensuality to the role. As usual Downey and Lewis add a weird element- but is a fun day with the pool girl, her mom and various inhabitants of the not so rich people of California.

Alyssa Milano plays "Hugo" an overworked pool cleaning gal, who needs to clean 44 pools in one day. That is the only normal part of this movie. The rest of it has such poor casting choices and plot lines that is is painful to watch.

Along the way she picks up her father, Malcolm McDowell, who is doing the worst Jimmy Durante impression I have ever heard, and who is trying to kick his heroin habit by shooting the heroin into a puppet that he carries around. Retarded.

Jimmy Durante, er, Malcolm, then runs into a gay hitchhiker with blue shoes, played by Sean Penn. How they talked Sean Penn into this role is beyond me. He appears to be trying to be mysterious, but comes across as a whiney gay 12-year-old.

She sends her dad (and the hitchhiker) on a mission to get some water for one of her clients, a bug-eyed jabbering Richard Lewis, who is supposedly a mafioso, but comes off as threatening as a wet paper bag.

She then picks up her mother, a gambling addict. She in turn shanghais one of Hugo's clients, a man with als (Lou Gherig's Disease) and starts carrying him around in the back of a pickup truck (wheelchair and all) so he can be her gambling good luck charm. Ridiculous.

Along the way, they run into Robert Downey Jr as a wacked out film director, but Robert puts on this outrageous fakey French accent and so he comes across like a bad Inspector Clouseau. Obnoxious.

They finally meet up with Hugo's Mom's bookie, played by Chuck "Chuckie-baby" Barris from the old GONG SHOW, who is more interested in a romp in the hay than money. Strange.

The ending is more like a documentary about ALS than a comedy, and has the totally predictable typical heart wrenching ending. That didn't even get any sympathy points from me. Lame.

The only redeming virtue would have been seeing Alyssa in the buff, and that didn't even happen. What was that director thinking? Weak.

My assessment: 2 of 10 Good only for hard-core Alyssa fans.

In "Hugo Pool" the adorable Alyssa Milano plays Hugo Dugay. A young diabetic pool cleaner who has to clean over forty pools in one day. She has some of the most eccentric David Lynch like customers, including a man (Patrick Dempsy) in a wheel chair who can only talk by a computer. Because of his kindness she can't help but fall head first, not in a pool but in love. Hugo also tries to help her crazy parents. Her father (Malcom Mcdowell) is a recovering junkie who shoots up drugs in a puppet. He calls the drug "Ring-Dang-Doo". Her mother is a compulsive gambler and owes someone money. Hugo is so kind, she even loans her mother money. "Hugo Pool" is a bizarre, colorful tragic comedy. Filled with bright blue and yellow colors throughout, it has a whacked out sense of humor that only Robert Downey Sr. could create. No wonder why his son is so crazy!

This is a little babe of a movie, the kind that comes on at 1 am and you can't turn it off. Very inventive casting. McDowell and Penn are delightful as are Moriority and Milano. Then, you also have Downey, Jr, Dempsey, and Lewis (AND Chuck Barris). A zany cast of "characters"! I was impressed with how handily Milano carried herself and led this cast.