Genres

Visitors Review

robertekelly 2013-05-16 02:01:59

Satire

I watched this movie at a friend's tonight and I can unequivocally saythat his is one of the most satirical movies...ever! It is smart (anumber 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" isdeconstructed and re-imagined as (alter)native; the nativity of aclown.But it's also so stupidly bad at the same time, you would sometimesforget you're watching a satire.It's either brilliant or the worst movie ever.I think it's both: watch it!!!

ZombieKilla81 2013-05-13 08:54:47

How do I review this?

"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 workhere. "Poolboy" is not a good movie, but I loved it.The plot, what little there is, concerns a Vietnam vet coming home tofind his wife and child murdered by an evil pool boy and LA over run byMexicans (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 evilMexican pool boy cartel.The story is utterly ridiculous and even less coherent than it soundssince half the film is made up of fake 'making-of' footage. It allcongeals 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 afrequently hilarious film that hearkens back to the glory days ofold-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 actingpoorly. The kind of over-dramatic, over-acted nonsense that is intendedto compliment the ridiculous story. In that regard, they actually actpretty well. I'm a long time fan of Kevin Sorbo, but I surprised to seejust how well he handled absurdist comedy. Danny Trejo also puts in anextremely funny performance as a kind of anti-thesis to his characterfrom "Machete". The rest of the film is loaded with actors who deservecredit for going along with the ludicrous nature of the film.The dialogue and filming are much the same as the plot and acting; theyare poorly executed, but that is the point. The dialogue is often(though not always) hilarious and the direction has a rushed, filmstudent quality to it that would seem amateurish if it wasn't clearlythe intended look for the movie.As much I liked the film, not everything worked for me. The biggestproblem is that with many films of it's type, they rely on quantityover quality for the gags. About half the jokes fall flat, but at leastthe other half hit the mark. Also, the film is EXCEEDINGLY vulgar.Hardly 30 seconds can go by with some form of cursing, bloodshed, orracist material being shown. I'm not offended by explicit content, butafter a while I wanted the movie start being more clever and stop beinggraphic just for the sake of being graphic.All things considered, I thought "Poolboy" was a hilarious film, butdefinitely not one for most people; consider watching it with friendsand a six-pack for maximum effect.

HawaiiMike 2013-05-12 19:13:37

Best Worst Movie of the Year!

I recently stumbled upon Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury and wasinspired to write this review. The storyline is quite simple. Vietnammilitary veteran returns home from the war to Van Nuys California andfinds that white suburbia has been tarnished with migrant laborersperforming pool cleaning labor. His wife takes off with a Mexican poolcleaning rival. He soon realizes that he must clean all the Mexican'sout of white suburbia. Five minutes into this movie (if you can make itfive minutes) and you will be screaming that beyond being simply ahorrible movie it is offensively racist as well. But like a hoodedcobra which mesmerizes it's prey before injecting lethal poison anddestroying all sense of movie viewing taste; ten minutes into Poolboyand you will begin to notice some critical facts.Some low budget movies may have an offending story or awful acting.Perhaps they have terrible special effects or have a cheap overallfeel. But few can combine all of these items together as well asPoolboy. The more I watched the more fascinated I became. It wasn't oneof those "it's so bad it's good" situations. It was more along the lineof of being artistically terrible. In fact, within those ten minutes itbecame the "best worst movie" I had seen all year. Everything about Poolboy is awful. The acting has industry veteranssuch as Kevin Sorbo, Danny Trejo, Robert LaSardo along with totalunknowns who were probably working as boom operator's before their"lucky break." Regardless of the experience the acting was ALL BAD. Notonly was the acting bad but the special effects were terrible. I swearyou could see the Heintz ketchup labels littering the ground with allthe watered down ketchup blood. The movie is filled with many of thesecheap special effects. Halfway through the movie I wondered what thepoint of all the bad special effects were, but then I though perhapsPoolboy served as an industry junior special effects camp that helpedpay for some of the budget costs for the movie. The camera work andsetting was also terrible but at least they splurged and got one ofthose camcorders with a stabilizer.The main character of the movie was Kevin Sorbo playing Sal Brando(i.e. poolboy). As a fan of Kevin's it was almost a tearful eventwatching him play this part. This wasn't Captain Dylon Hunt of theAndromeda or Hercules battling the Gods. This was simply Kevin Sorbohaving to put food on the real life family table. Damn you TV land!!Put together a decent show for this talented actor.Like a bar of extremely bitter dark chocolate, Poolboy: Drowning Outthe Fury isn't a movie for everyone. Most people will probably turn offthis movie and run from the room gagging within five minutes. Howeverfor those who can choke this movie down it has provides a strangelyrewarding experience. I am convinced that Poolboy: Drowning Out theFury remains a contender for not only this year's "BEST WORST FILM" butwill stand out for the entire decade!

underbooks 2013-05-07 11:54:53

A sly self-referential movie.

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

zif ofoz 2013-05-06 19:34:14

brilliant effort at sarcasm and satire and insult jokes

i laughed & laffed at this screwball comedy! how anyone can be offendedby this nutty movie is beyond me.right from the start you know this is a budget movie with actors doingtheir thing in front of the camera and doing it in a 'carefree'attitude. that's what makes this film so brilliant and just fun towatch. the actors are just doing what they choose without concern with'acting'!!!Saint James St. James (Saint James Street James) is the narrator thatkeeps 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!

Wizard-8 2013-05-05 20:07:30

At the very least it deserves an "A" for effort!

I'm not sure what got me to give "Poolboy" a chance. Maybe it wasbecause I had a free rental, or that it had the great Danny Trejo init. 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 crewis VERY enthusiastic. Gags are executed one after the other at such arapid pace that at times it makes the legendary Zucker/Abrahams/Zuckercomedy look like slowpokes. And while the movie had a poverty rowbudget, it actually manages to take advantage of it to execute somepretty funny gags.The movie definitely has some funny moments. However, there are plentyof gags that also fall flat. Many of the gags are the kind you wouldassociate with teenage boys who get their hands on a camcorder and tryto 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 breakingpoint. Also, while the movie is refreshingly politically incorrect,there are enough slams against Mexicans that might make some viewersuncomfortable.Still, the movie has its moments. And I can say with confidence that Ithink there are a lot of people out there who would find this moviefunnier than I did. In fact, I would not be surprised if in severalyears the movie manages to build a substantial cult following.

wizzfizzus 2013-05-05 05:49:34

Sarcastic mockumentary, in the style of Garth Merenghi's Darkplace

Poolboy 2 is a sarcastic mockumentary, in the style of Garth Merenghi'sDarkplace (cue blood).The premise is this: a rich, eccentric heir of ten years old gets towrite, 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 crewvisible in reflections, telephones still ringing after they've beenpicked up. The whole movie is a joke, which is precisely as it wasmeant to be (clueless reviewers take note).While not as smart as Darkplace, it is certainly as silly. The randomvoice overs (the censors were adamant all references to witchcraft wereremoved) in particular were often hilarious.For the people that still don't get it: this is a movie that was madeto look bad. In fact it was made to look absolutely terrible _onpurpose_. Please don't review this movie with silly comments like 'theacting was awful', of course the acting was awful, it was supposedlydirected, written and produced by a 10 year old! This is all obvious tothe majority of people with a sense of humour but I will state it herefor the few that still don't understand: the terrible editing, theridiculous plot, the never ending stream of racist vitriol: these wereall deliberate.TLDR; Ridiculous movie based on a ridiculous premise. Lovers of GarthMarenghi's Darkplace will see obvious similarities here and will mostlikely have a fun time. If you don't like or understand comedy orsarcasm then don't bother. If you are overly sensitive to racistcomments, you will also want to give this a miss.

Paul Haakonsen 2013-04-26 22:28:06

This was so hilarious! Great fun, great jokes and great gags...

When I sat down to watch "Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury" it was out ofsheer boredom. But wow, this movie was such a wonderful surprise. Ifyou enjoyed movies such as "The Naked Gun", "Hot Shots", and"Airplane!" then you definitely have to check out this movie, becauseit is equally funny and so far out there in spoof and gags.The story is about Vietname veteran Sal Bando returning to Americaafter 13 years in Vietnam! But the home he returns to have changeddramatically and his wife is now sleeping with the poolboy. Hellbent onrevenge, Bando sets out to become the only white poolboy in the entirearea."Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury" is full of outrageous gags, jokes,punchlines and stupidity. I was laughing quite a lot throughout theentire movie. And I must admit that this movie is worthy aside theclassic "The Naked Gun" movie.And the people they had managed to pull together for making this moviewas really great. There were so many familiar faces from movies and TVseries 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 movieright up to the very end. Kevin Sorbo (playing Sal Bando/poolboy) wasactually doing a great job in the movie, and it was great fun to seehim in a role such as this. But that they had managed to get DannyTrejo to play the villain, that was just off the charts. Thumbs up forthat."Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury" is a lot of laughs and is actuallygood entertainment. And the absurdity of the in-your-face-oh-so-fakefeeling of the effects and props, well that was just hilarious. Watchthis movie if you are a fan of the "The Naked Gun" comedy genre, I amsure you will love this movie too.As a side note, it should be said that there is a bit of nudity andusage of adults-only material for some of the gags in the movie. So ifyou are easily offended, just a heads up on that account. There is alsoa lot of racism in the movie, but it is done in a hilarious way, so youcan't help to laugh at it, because it is so absurd.I liked this movie, especially because it made me laugh this much.

HawaiiMike 2013-04-26 12:24:14

Best Worst Movie of the Year!

I recently stumbled upon Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury and wasinspired to write this review. The storyline is quite simple. Vietnammilitary veteran returns home from the war to Van Nuys California andfinds that white suburbia has been tarnished with migrant laborersperforming pool cleaning labor. His wife takes off with a Mexican poolcleaning rival. He soon realizes that he must clean all the Mexican'sout of white suburbia. Five minutes into this movie (if you can make itfive minutes) and you will be screaming that beyond being simply ahorrible movie it is offensively racist as well. But like a hoodedcobra which mesmerizes it's prey before injecting lethal poison anddestroying all sense of movie viewing taste; ten minutes into Poolboyand you will begin to notice some critical facts.Some low budget movies may have an offending story or awful acting.Perhaps they have terrible special effects or have a cheap overallfeel. But few can combine all of these items together as well asPoolboy. The more I watched the more fascinated I became. It wasn't oneof those "it's so bad it's good" situations. It was more along the lineof of being artistically terrible. In fact, within those ten minutes itbecame the "best worst movie" I had seen all year. Everything about Poolboy is awful. The acting has industry veteranssuch as Kevin Sorbo, Danny Trejo, Robert LaSardo along with totalunknowns who were probably working as boom operator's before their"lucky break." Regardless of the experience the acting was ALL BAD. Notonly was the acting bad but the special effects were terrible. I swearyou could see the Heintz and Karo labels littering the ground with allthe watered down blood. The movie is filled with many of these cheapspecial effects. Halfway through the movie I wondered what the point ofall the bad special effects were, but then I though perhaps Poolboyserved as an industry junior special effects camp that helped pay forsome of the budget costs for the movie. The camera work and setting wasalso terrible but at least they splurged and got one of thosecamcorders with a stabilizer.The main character of the movie was Kevin Sorbo playing Sal Brando(i.e. poolboy). As a fan of Kevin's it was almost a tearful eventwatching him play this part. This wasn't Captain Dylon Hunt of theAndromeda or Hercules battling the Gods. This was simply Kevin Sorbohaving to put food on the real life family table. Damn you TV land!!Put together a decent show for this talented actor.Like a bar of extremely bitter dark chocolate, Poolboy: Drowning Outthe Fury isn't a movie for everyone. Most people will probably turn offthis movie and run from the room gagging within a short amount of time.However for those who can choke this movie down it has provides astrangely rewarding experience. I am convinced that Poolboy: DrowningOut the Fury remains a contender for not only this year's "BEST WORSTFILM" but will stand out for the entire decade!

dien 2013-04-24 09:38:46

taking back America one pool at a time

What first got me to watch this film was Kevin Sorbo. I've been a fansince his Andromeda days and try to check out as many as of films aspossible. Sure, mostly they are not high quality, but they still manageto be entertaining. And "Poolboy" is no exception.It's difficult to sum up this film. It's a movie about a movie withinter-cuts from the director/producer and his assistant (or whatevershe is). It is a self-aware satire bordering on parody with intentionalstereotypes and is definitely not for those easily offended. It isfilled with terrible one-liners and adolescent jokes, gratuitous nudityfrom both men and women and it takes itself so seriously as if it wascompeting for an Academy Award. But it does all that on purpose and itworks.This film is easily the best worst film of the year. Do not hesitateand grab a copy (plus a few friends and a six-pack). You'll have abloody good time.

margravesj 2013-04-23 17:26:17

I honestly couldn't stop laughing

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