THE POOL BOYS DVD (2010)

SYNOPSIS: The Pool Boys tells the story of Alex Sperling, Harvard-bound valedictorian who loses his summer internship and heads to Los Angeles to work for his charming and successful cousin Roger. Unfortunately Roger isn't quite the accomplished businessman he's made himself to be - he actually dropped out of Harvard and now works as a pool boy. A series of mishaps force Alex and Roger to squat in the stunning mansion of one of Roger's clients where they join forces with Laura, a local escort to start an escort business. The company grows like wildfire as Alex and Roger get caught in more and more hilarious situations from shotgun-wielding celebrities to bar mitzvahs to sadistic lesbian businesswomen, finally culminating in one giant party...but when Alex's parents and their Harvard alumni friends show up, they have to turn the bash into a Harvard event in order to save both the business and Alex's future.

MOVIE REVIEW:

A movie with a premise like “The Pool Boys” obviously aims to be a raunchy comedy the likes of “American Pie”, but there is good reason why this got dumped on home video instead of receiving even a limited release. Starring Matthew Lillard (best known for his work on the Scooby Doo live-action films as Shaggy), this is a limp excuse of a R-rated comedy that doesn’t offer enough laughs- crude or otherwise- to justify your time.

As a sign of how shallow it really is, the brief 85-min movie has just about as much story as you can read from the synopsis above. Yes, unless you haven’t seen topless girls, femdom girls, or sex toys, there is really little else that will interest you. Writers Julie O’Hara and Justin Ware are behind this farce, and although this is only their first full-length feature, let’s just say it is understandable why they haven’t had another credit to their resume since this movie was completed two years back.

Director J.B. Rogers tries his best to maintain a jaunty pace for the movie, and his experience as assistant director on equally hard R-rated comedies like “There’s Something About Mary”, “American Pie” and even this summer’s “Hall Pass” shows. The movie moves at an amiable enough pace that doesn’t overstay its welcome, which also makes you somewhat inclined to forgive its flaws- yet, there’s no masking the fact that he’s working with extremely thin material here, and that there is hardly any humour in the entire film.

Lillard has clearly aged since the days he played the rowdy supporting character in teen comedies like “She’s All That” and “Senseless” more than a decade ago, and it’s sad that he still has to find the same kind of youthful energy within him for what is essentially a variation of the same role. Brett Davern is however entirely unremarkable as Brett Davern, and it is supporting actress Rachelle Lefevre you’ll recognise from the Twilight series who instead steals the show with a sweet winning performance.

Still, this is scant consolation for a movie that can’t quite justify its existence. If you are in need of some vulgar fun, go check out some other movie instead- there are no shortage of these especially among those that bear the name Judd Apatow on their cover. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio reproduces the dialogue clearly. Visuals leave much to be desired, and are hardly sharp enough to be considered DVD quality. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Gabriel Chong

Posted on 1 July 2011