Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury

I watched this movie at a friend's tonight and I can unequivocally say that his is one of the most satirical movies...ever! It is smart (a number of self-referential levels, as well as allusions to other, commercially "good" (i.e. "popular") movies and TV shows: Rambo, Airwolf and the The Deer Hunter comes to mind. "American ideology" is deconstructed and re-imagined as (alter)native; the nativity of a clown.

But it's also so stupidly bad at the same time, you would sometimes forget you're watching a satire.

It's either brilliant or the worst movie ever.

I think it's both: watch it!!!

What first got me to watch this film was Kevin Sorbo. I've been a fan since his Andromeda days and try to check out as many as of films as possible. Sure, mostly they are not high quality, but they still manage to be entertaining. And "Poolboy" is no exception.

It's difficult to sum up this film. It's a movie about a movie with inter-cuts from the director/producer and his assistant (or whatever she is). It is a self-aware satire bordering on parody with intentional stereotypes and is definitely not for those easily offended. It is filled with terrible one-liners and adolescent jokes, gratuitous nudity from both men and women and it takes itself so seriously as if it was competing for an Academy Award. But it does all that on purpose and it works.

This film is easily the best worst film of the year. Do not hesitate and grab a copy (plus a few friends and a six-pack). You'll have a bloody good time.

I'm not sure what got me to give "Poolboy" a chance. Maybe it was because I had a free rental, or that it had the great Danny Trejo in it. Deep down, I suspected it might be a lazy effort, but I was wrong. Although the movie is very low budget, the effort by the cast and crew is VERY enthusiastic. Gags are executed one after the other at such a rapid pace that at times it makes the legendary Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker comedy look like slowpokes. And while the movie had a poverty row budget, it actually manages to take advantage of it to execute some pretty funny gags.

The movie definitely has some funny moments. However, there are plenty of gags that also fall flat. Many of the gags are the kind you would associate with teenage boys who get their hands on a camcorder and try to make a comedy. While that kind of thing can be funny in small doses, they stretch it out for ninety minutes, which is long past the breaking point. Also, while the movie is refreshingly politically incorrect, there are enough slams against Mexicans that might make some viewers uncomfortable.

Still, the movie has its moments. And I can say with confidence that I think there are a lot of people out there who would find this movie funnier than I did. In fact, I would not be surprised if in several years the movie manages to build a substantial cult following.

Poolboy 2 is a sarcastic mockumentary, in the style of Garth Merenghi's Darkplace (cue blood).

The premise is this: a rich, eccentric heir of ten years old gets to write, direct and produce his own movie.

The end result is a hodge-podge affair, littered with obvious gaffes: support crew visible in shots, smoking uncut cigars, camera crew visible in reflections, telephones still ringing after they've been picked up. The whole movie is a joke, which is precisely as it was meant to be (clueless reviewers take note).

While not as smart as Darkplace, it is certainly as silly. The random voice overs (the censors were adamant all references to witchcraft were removed) in particular were often hilarious.

For the people that still don't get it: this is a movie that was made to look bad. In fact it was made to look absolutely terrible _on purpose_. Please don't review this movie with silly comments like 'the acting was awful', of course the acting was awful, it was supposedly directed, written and produced by a 10 year old! This is all obvious to the majority of people with a sense of humour but I will state it here for the few that still don't understand: the terrible editing, the ridiculous plot, the never ending stream of racist vitriol: these were all deliberate.

TLDR; Ridiculous movie based on a ridiculous premise. Lovers of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace will see obvious similarities here and will most likely have a fun time. If you don't like or understand comedy or sarcasm then don't bother. If you are overly sensitive to racist comments, you will also want to give this a miss.

When I sat down to watch "Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury" it was out of sheer boredom. But wow, this movie was such a wonderful surprise. If you enjoyed movies such as "The Naked Gun", "Hot Shots", and "Airplane!" then you definitely have to check out this movie, because it is equally funny and so far out there in spoof and gags.

The story is about Vietname veteran Sal Bando returning to America after 13 years in Vietnam! But the home he returns to have changed dramatically and his wife is now sleeping with the poolboy. Hellbent on revenge, Bando sets out to become the only white poolboy in the entire area.

"Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury" is full of outrageous gags, jokes, punchlines and stupidity. I was laughing quite a lot throughout the entire movie. And I must admit that this movie is worthy aside the classic "The Naked Gun" movie.

And the people they had managed to pull together for making this movie was really great. There were so many familiar faces from movies and TV series alike. And if you are an avid movie fan and sitcom fan like me, you will be counting the familiar faces from the start of the movie right up to the very end. Kevin Sorbo (playing Sal Bando/poolboy) was actually doing a great job in the movie, and it was great fun to see him in a role such as this. But that they had managed to get Danny Trejo to play the villain, that was just off the charts. Thumbs up for that.

"Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury" is a lot of laughs and is actually good entertainment. And the absurdity of the in-your-face-oh-so-fake feeling of the effects and props, well that was just hilarious. Watch this movie if you are a fan of the "The Naked Gun" comedy genre, I am sure you will love this movie too.

As a side note, it should be said that there is a bit of nudity and usage of adults-only material for some of the gags in the movie. So if you are easily offended, just a heads up on that account. There is also a lot of racism in the movie, but it is done in a hilarious way, so you can't help to laugh at it, because it is so absurd.

I liked this movie, especially because it made me laugh this much.