Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury

This movie is absolutely ridiculous and dumb, but I never stopped laughing throughout. Don't expect a high budget film with the craziest plot, but if you want to laugh, this one ought to do the trick.

This movie might appear terrible, low-budget crap but it's actually quite an intelligent film. It is self-referential in that it becomes a scathing commentary on action/war movies such as Lethal Weapon, Rocky and Apocalypse Now, while at the same time reacting and intersecting with other narratives such as "*" and "blaxplotation" films. And it's f'n funny. Don't listen to the haters...go into it with an OPEN mind...it's actually quite good in, again, a gentle mocking, side-long smirk at's own stupidity (and as an extension, the whole spoon-fed mass media grub we suck down without ever questioning the basis for such narratives such as racism, titillation of both flesh and fear, blood lust and revenge flicks). And it's f'n funny.

Good God...where to begin. I actually watched this on Nextflix because there was literally nothing else to watch....and I am SO glad that I did. The other reviewers who have reviewed it, I couldn't agree more. The movie is extremely racist (which I personally love and found hilarious) - the movie is literally no joke suppose to be made terrible, and it is...but it is in a sense of hilarity that is unabashed in recent years. I had to keep constantly checking on my girlfriend and 11 month old because I was actually laughing out loud, and very loud at that. The laughs were right after another, Kevin Sorbo is classic - i'm cracking up while i'm writing this because the movie is just so stupid - it was just hilarious. If you like straight up dumb movies, watch this. Please remember, the movie is SUPPOSE TO BE MADE POORLY! that's what makes it fantastic. It was one of the best comedies that i have seen in quite some time, and I mean that.

"Poolboy" is not a well made movie. It is not well acted, well written, nor well directed. You could call it crap and few could argue. And yet, underneath all that crap there is a bizarre kind of brilliance at work here. "Poolboy" is not a good movie, but I loved it. The plot, what little there is, concerns a Vietnam vet coming home to find his wife and child murdered by an evil pool boy and LA over run by Mexicans (it's as racist as it sounds, but I'll get to that later). Overcome with grief, the Vet goes on a one man rampage against the evil Mexican pool boy cartel. The story is utterly ridiculous and even less coherent than it sounds since half the film is made up of fake 'making-of' footage. It all congeals into a sloppy mess of rapid-fire (often vulgar) sight gags. Those easily offended by nudity, violence, blood, gore, and nearly non- stop racism need not apply. Those with a mind for it will find a frequently hilarious film that hearkens back to the glory days of old-school Troma movies (think "Toxic Avenger" or "Troma's War"). I said the film was not well acted before, but that is only half true. The actors act poorly, but they are clearly supposed to be acting poorly. The kind of over-dramatic, over-acted nonsense that is intended to compliment the ridiculous story. In that regard, they actually act pretty well. I'm a long time fan of Kevin Sorbo, but I surprised to see just how well he handled absurdist comedy. Danny Trejo also puts in an extremely funny performance as a kind of anti-thesis to his character from "Machete". The rest of the film is loaded with actors who deserve credit for going along with the ludicrous nature of the film. The dialogue and filming are much the same as the plot and acting; they are poorly executed, but that is the point. The dialogue is often (though not always) hilarious and the direction has a rushed, film student quality to it that would seem amateurish if it wasn't clearly the intended look for the movie. As much I liked the film, not everything worked for me. The biggest problem is that with many films of it's type, they rely on quantity over quality for the gags. About half the jokes fall flat, but at least the other half hit the mark. Also, the film is EXCEEDINGLY vulgar. Hardly 30 seconds can go by with some form of cursing, bloodshed, or racist material being shown. I'm not offended by explicit content, but after a while I wanted the movie start being more clever and stop being graphic just for the sake of being graphic. All things considered, I thought "Poolboy" was a hilarious film, but definitely not one for most people; consider watching it with friends and a six-pack for maximum effect.

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.

i laughed & laffed at this screwball comedy! how anyone can be offended by this nutty movie is beyond me. right from the start you know this is a budget movie with actors doing their thing in front of the camera and doing it in a 'carefree' attitude. that's what makes this film so brilliant and just fun to watch. the actors are just doing what they choose without concern with 'acting'!!! Saint James St. James (Saint James Street James) is the narrator that keeps the goofy stuff in motion and takes over the action in the end. the ricocheting bullet is worth the whole hour and a half of laffs. rent it and get happy with laughter!

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.

A parody, of a documentary, on a movie that due to the themes in the movie was cancelled 20 years ago. Starring Kevin Sorbo. Right at the get go I'm sold. Mix in a bunch of action, cheesy effects and acted acting, drugs, dark themes and a kick ass weapon (a scoop net with a blade at the net and a knife at the end of the shaft) to name a few things and you get an in-your-face B-movie comedy. How do you review a movie that constantly walks the lines of absolute balls to the wall comedy, constantly breaks the fourth wall and makes really bad puns? Well, like any other movie I would guess. But to be honest, this is one of the funniest movies that I've seen in recent times. It's just stupid enough, and has more than enough intelligence to realize that it's stupid to make it enjoyable. The setup is amazing, and the ridiculousness of the setup to the movie makes it perfect as a B-movie. It shouldn't be considered a B-movie just because it has a low budget, the majority of the movie is actually funnier than a hundred new A-movies that has a lot of money attached to it. The writing really puts it over the top, kudos to Ross Pattersson. To be even more honest a review doesn't even give this movie the praise that it deserves. Even though this movie has bad ratings it deserves a whole lot more credit than people are giving it, or rather denying it. Just watch it, broaden your perspective, bro.

This movie might appear terrible, low-budget crap but it's actually quite an intelligent film. It is self-referential in that it becomes a scathing commentary on action/war movies such as Lethal Weapon, Rocky and Apocalypse Now, while at the same time reacting and intersecting with other narratives such as "*" and "blaxplotation" films. And it's f'n funny. Don't listen to the haters...go into it with an OPEN mind...it's actually quite good in, again, a gentle mocking, side-long smirk at's own stupidity (and as an extension, the whole spoon-fed mass media grub we suck down without ever questioning the basis for such narratives such as racism, titillation of both flesh and fear, blood lust and revenge flicks). And it's f'n funny.

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.