Hugo Pool
[1.5/4.0]
Many people around Los Angeles have swimming pools, so pool maintenance businesses are not uncommon, but the Hugo Pool company is a bit odd. It is run by the spirited young Hugo Dugay (Alyssa Milano), and on one particular day, she has 44 pools to clean. Hugo enlists her father Henry (Malcom McDowell), a former junkie, to steal water from the Colorado River to fill the pool of a customer. Hugo also gets her mother Minerva (Cathy Moriarty), a gambling addict, to join her. Henry and Minerva have been long divorced, and the dysfunctional family somehow attract other bizarre characters to them. During his water foray, Henry takes along a weird hitchhiker (Sean Penn) with a dazzling pair of shoes. Hugo and Minerva run into a customer confined to a wheelchair, Floyd (Patrick Dempsey), who is apparently the only "normal" person in the story beside Hugo, and decide to let him join them in the back of their on their rounds. Floyd has given Minerva a feel for a winner of an upcomming horse race, so she is dying to get to the track after the pools are done. To get all the pools done, each visit consists of quickly scooping up floating leaves, dumping in a few chemicals, and interacting with the odd customers, like Franz (Robert Downey Jr.), who is a film director on the run because he shot an extra on his set.
Basing a film on quirky characters is not a simple task. To do it correctly there must be a balance of both oddness and reality. That is, oddness can be an exaggeration of the character but it cannot be the sole definition of the character. The main problem with this film is that it tries to be amusing by having eccentric characters, but instead it goes overboard and becomes overbearing. In fact, the character of Franz is so exaggerated (from an unidentifyable accent to manic behavior) that he becomes grating, and almost makes the film unwatchable. At times, some characters take on a more brooding quality, in an apparent attempt to give the story a more profound base, but instead of balancing them, it seems to exaggerate them further. It is clear that there are metaphorical meanings attached to the characters and their stories, but this gets lost in their silliness. Although there is an unpredictability to the characters, the main plot and subplot go exactly where one would expect them to go.
The perfomances of the cast lacked credibility in general. Although Cathy Moriarty frames a believable Minerva, the rest of the cast is handicapped by poorly writing, and as a result we feel like we are watching actors playing characters, rather than the characters themselves.
Recommended against. Perhaps this film can be enjoyed if the viewer likes offbeat films and is in a forgiving mood. A few parts were entertaining, but I almost quit in the middle.
(c) 1999 Murali Krishnan The Art House Squatter http://ArtHouseSquatter.com
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