Saturday 15 September 2018

Pool Girl / Hugo Pool (1997 Robert Downey)

The second in our double-bill of quirky films which might not have come off is by ... Ah. I thought it was made by Downey Jr., but it's in fact by Downey Sr... Thus all those moments when I said 'his Dad would have liked this...' (particularly in Dempsey's fantasy scenes). Hmm. Must read credits more carefully. Anyhow, that makes a lot of sense. It was written by he and his wife Laura Ernst (his second of three wives - not Junior's mum), who died of ALS (motor neurone disease) in 1994, and thus the relevance of that to the Patrick Dempsey character.

One day in the life of pool cleaner in California, played by Alyssa Milano, and her parents Malcolm McDowell and Cathy Moriarty. And Downey Jr gives the most eccentric performance of that decade as a Dutch film director. (He was still doing drugs then - cleaned up in 2003.) Also with Sean Penn and Richard Lewis.

We saw it under the UK title. What 'Hugo Pool' means, I have no idea. But it was definitely offbeat and wackily enjoyable.



I thought Downey Sr. was dead - he isn't (he's a mere 82).

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