Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury

• Directed by Garrett Brawith
• July 27, 2011

Banned for over 20 years, Poolboy 2: Drowning Out the Fury is finally released. Watch this special presentation with commentary by the film’s director.

I cannot remember exactly where I heard of Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury but out of curiosity I needed to check it out. A film that pairs Kevin Sorbo and Danny Trejo seemed like something interesting even if it was not good.

From the start director Garrett Brawith via fictitious director Saint James St. James (Ross Patterson)-pronounced ‘Saint James Street James’-does not hide what kind of film the viewer is in for. Those offended by gratuitous nudity, profanity, and racist jokes should probably skip this. Broadly Poolboy is an insult comedy that is also a parody/homage to cult films. The actors often overact to compliment the ridiculous nature of the story and story-within-the-story.

Poolboy goes all in on immersing you in it being a real unreleased movie. The opening credits are presented with the stars portraying the actors portraying the characters. This little bit of weirdness sets you up for so much more. For even more immersion into believing this is a B-movie, it combines together stock footage and some of the cheapest sets in a wonderful parody of the low budget Vietnam action films that attempted to rewrite the Vietnam War through cinema that ended by the 90s when this was stated as being made.

It does a nice job of clearing the way for being unrepentantly and unapologetically offensive. The set up in the beginning is of how the racism caused the film to be banned everywhere but Germany acknowledges what you’re going to get and opens up the floodgates to actually show why. Not a minute goes by without some racist or vulgar joke.

While undeniably hilarious, the script relies on quantity over quality for the humor. Maybe because one joke can step on another the predecessor falls flat. Humor needs to have enough time to land before another joke hits. Despite this you will be consistently laughing at something. You miss one another is coming right up.

By having nothing really off-limits, Drowning Out the Fury becomes very funny. I laughed out loud on at multiple jokes. The humor is that stuff we’re not supposed to really laugh about anymore but it’s the kind of thing that stand-up comics and maybe even you amongst your friends awkwardly will poke at.

The hero of the movie in the documentary (often called ‘Poolboy’ despite being an adult) is a Vietnam vet that returns home to begin cleaning pools only to find the local industry overrun by Mexicans with his wife sleeping with one and his son born on a leap year now with a Hispanic name. The kid is still six despite being born in the mid-70s. There are jokes within jokes right there.

Perhaps one of the bigger shockers is Kevin Sorbo as the title character. For the former Hercules and Andromeda actor now better known for his inspirational/Christian movies, he is surprisingly game for anything from the looks of this. Danny Trejo as the villain Caesar basically pokes fun at himself throughout by playing a ridiculous version of the tough character he consistently stars as.

As strange as this might sound, the cheapness is a bit of a hindrance to the type of cheap movie it is meant to be like. There are some scenes that look like a YouTube production instead of a low budget film by a ten-year-old boy. Shots can be very tight. Parts/moments that are certainly cheap and should be made fun of because of that are seemingly ignored.

There are a few familiar faces in this, but no huge names. Aside from Kevin Sorbo and Danny Trejo, the biggest celebrity to show up here is Richard Karn. Totally random casting as was the presence of Ahmed Best and Mark Curry.

Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury is funny for what it is. Maybe not a comedic revelation but something that is funnier than one would expect. If you are looking for a bit of a throwback as well as a better than it should be parody this is for you.