Earlier this year, Chris Pine suffered a major blow in the never-ending (and probably mostly imaginary) battle of the Hollywood Chrises. Weighed down by neither strange connotations neither mid-career discomfortand as the only major Chris not hampered by a long history with Marvel, Pine cultivated a reputation as a non-toxic cool guy. In recent years, he has happily played second fiddle to Wonder Woman, having fun in the Dungeons & Dragons film, and made unapologetically adult-oriented pictures, like Don’t worry darling And All the old knives. But when presented with the opportunity to communicate his broader view of the world, or at least of Hollywood, Pine flopped. Pool manthe film he directed, co-wrote, produced and starred in received harsh reviews when it debuted at the Toronto Film Festival last fall. The film nonetheless hit theaters this spring, grossing all of $131,000 in its opening weekend before tracking of its financial performance stopped entirely. Now it has arrived on Hulu, likely on its way to a longer series on Tubi or Pluto.

Why watch Pool man This evening?

Pool man is a shaggy, sunny Los Angeles film noir, part character study and part genre parody, very much in the tradition of private eye variations like The long goodbye, The Big LebowskiAnd Under the silver lake. Chinatown is also heavy in the mix, of course – how could it be otherwise? – but Pine’s Darren Barrenman is an aging bearded hippie figure more Lebowski-esque than vintage Jack Nicholson. At the same time, Darren is theoretically clearer-minded than The Dude; rather than bowling, he devotes considerable time to annoying the Los Angeles City Council, where he presents various civic improvement projects at public meetings. He’s also making a documentary with the help of Jack (Danny DeVito) and Diane (Annette Bening), the couple who own the small apartment complex where he maintains a comically undersized swimming pool.

When Darren receives a mysterious tip from a femme fatale (DeWanda Wise) that his nemesis (Stephen Tobolowsky) may be part of a corrupt real estate/water project (yes, as in Chinatown), he decides, with some encouragement, to step in and investigate the man further. Jack and Diane assist him as usual, and there are many pleasantly digressive dialogue scenes that highlight the trio’s general lack of aptitude as private investigators.

Like a mystery, Pool man is admittedly a bit of a dud – perhaps intentionally, which might understandably frustrate noir fans. Comedy fans might even have a hard time spending so much time with characters who spend so much time going around in circles. But as a personality-based riff on the whole LA noir thingPine captures something with Pool manstarting with his own crazy sincerity. Darren is an idiot – he frequently writes letters to Erin Brockovich, his inspiration and perhaps obsession – but he’s not really an idiot. The key to his character – or perhaps the key to why I loved his character – comes when, in all frantic sincerity, he name-checks. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (yet another classic noir semi-parody) as he laments the city’s public transportation problems, pleading for a return to the streetcar system. It’s both right and stupid, as the film is in line with Chinatown descendants while acknowledging its own cartoonish character and Darren’s strangely optimistic lifestyle. It’s almost like a noir where Roger and a few other characters are left to their own devices to solve a mystery, rather than relying on Eddie Valiant.

This kind of awkwardness might as well become insufferable Lebowski cosplay. But despite some Toontown-friendly antics involving Pine, DeVito, and Bening, and a few dream sequence moments that feel more like padding than the equivalent moments in a Coen film, Pine’s lens remains distorted just enough that his world remains recognizable. Like many filmmakers, his beginnings are overflowing with love for his influences, and Pool man is much less serious than many of the performance-driven projects often favored by actors-turned-directors. Instead, Pine focuses on the spirit of her city, finding many things to love about Los Angeles that are only tangentially related to the films she produces. Darren himself is not a movie buff. He doesn’t see himself as the star of his own cracked-mirror film noir – even though that’s exactly what he is – and instead chooses to focus on a greater good, no matter how disconcerted he is at doing so. subject.

Pool man is an admittedly minor curiosity that requires a certain patience. But the film is playfully acted, vibrantly filmed in 35mm to capture the sunny yellows and poolside blues (the cinematographer is Wonder Woman(‘s Matthew Jensen), and a far cry from the worst indulgence of a typical festival season. (Frankly, Toronto’s worst films have won major awards.) Even when Pine rambles, he convincingly demonstrates that his love for Los Angeles is not conditional on being loved in return by movie audiences. One gets the feeling that, movie star or not, Pine might well have spent his life in Los Angeles anyway.

Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He is a regular contributor to The AV Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts on www.alcoolsport.comAlso.