Assessment: In ‘Poolman,’ a common kind of laid-back again L.A. sleuth rises to the occasion

Chris Pine could adore Los Angeles extra than any individual else does. He also loves flicks about Los Angeles, speaking about movies about Los Angeles, heading to the videos in Los Angeles and creating flicks about earning videos in Los Angeles, which is all laid out in his affable directorial debut, “Poolman,” a adore letter and homage to (and satire of) stoner L.A. noirs. Pine co-wrote the script with Ian Gotler and stars in the title role as goofy Darren Barrenman, a.k.a. DB, a slacker pool cleaner with eyes the same cerulean shade as the chlorinated system of drinking water he tends to with an pretty much religious ecstasy.

This Ken’s work is “pool,” and in “Poolman,” a riff on “Chinatown” that keeps announcing by itself as these types of, DB has to stick to the water. Our unlikely hero is the Dude from “The Significant Lebowski” as a manic pixie dream boy, an effervescently charming and inexplicably quirky chap. With his willingness to be susceptible, childlike enthusiasm and special wardrobe, DB also phone calls to brain an additional memorable L.A. character: Pee-wee Herman.

DB life in an RV in the courtyard of a downtrodden apartment complicated, rattling off typewritten letters to Erin Brockovich and hanging with his motley crew of pals, like his therapist Diane (Annette Bening), documentary movie collaborator Jack (Danny DeVito), girlfriend Susan (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and his buddy and associate Wayne (John Ortiz). Together they ruminate about the fantastic previous days of L.A. when they are not storming town council meetings with extraordinary filibusters about bus schedules.

But this is not just a further shaggy-canine hangout motion picture, showcasing Pine’s appreciation for basic movies, beloved actors, outdated-university L.A. dining establishments, quick shorts and silly hats. Enter the femme fatale at the edge of the pool. In a sculptural 1940s-impressed frock and hat, she is June Del Ray (DeWanda Wise), the assistant to the metropolis council member (Stephen Tobolowsky) with whom DB is locked in a brutal yet banal struggle. She tells DB she has grime on her manager, who she claims is collaborating in a shady authentic estate deal with a developer named Teddy Hollandaise (Clancy Brown). With a bat of her eyelashes, the poolman turns into a P.I.

“Poolman” is Pine’s guileless get on the movies that he identify-checks all through, like the routinely referenced “Chinatown” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” But it unfolds like additional recent films these kinds of as “Inherent Vice” and “Under the Silver Lake” — self-acutely aware normally takes on L.A. noir that come with additional levels of existentialism and winking commentary. Pine would seem a lot less determined to comment on the genre, just satisfied to be playing in the sandbox, flinging all-around the iconography, archetypes and exceptionally area of interest references.

The Achilles’ heel of “Poolman” is its inclination toward hyperspecific geographical jokes it is a little bit also “inside baseball” to charm to any person outside the house of L.A. and in some cases feels like a function-size model of the “Saturday Night Live” sketch “The Californians” (Pine’s lengthy blond locks include to that sensation). The central secret is flabby and uncompelling and it feels compulsory at finest, a true-estate scandal supplying a free track record in front of which these actors perform.

Luckily, the greatest component of the movie is the solid. If Pine has fantastic taste in just about anything, it is actors. He’s assembled an ensemble that contains a superstar (Bening, possessing a ball), a comedic hefty-hitter (DeVito, spouting an practically nonstop monologue about parking and pie) and a group of character actors who often make you really feel like you’re in safe, capable arms. Incorporate to that a compelling ingenue (Sensible) and at least 1 pleasant weirdo (Ray Smart) and the film would be entertaining even if they just read through the telephone ebook.

At some point, the plot twists spiral out of command and it never really feels like Pine and Gotler have handle over this car careening over the floor streets of our city. But there is such a woo-woo heat to the endeavor that it is by no means an fully uncomfortable expertise. Pine’s “Poolman” is form of the actual physical, emotional and non secular embodiment of Los Angeles alone: earnest, foolish and a minor (or a lot) absurd, but insistently charming if you come to a decision to surrender to the knowledge.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Company film critic.