This will sound familiar to any Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans. Man goes to pool. Man gets stuck in pool. Man waits to die. Man fights alligator.
Okay, there’s no alligator threatening Charlie and Mac, but there sure is one in The Pool! And as soon as the Pizza Hut logo pops up as one of the film’s production companies, you know you’re in for a treat.
A festival hit from Thailand that’s made its latest splash with Fantastic Fest, The Pool is basically “Murphy’s Law: The Movie” and is brave enough to fully commit to the act in the most hilarious ways possible. It has no shame.
That may be a problem to some as it touts a pro-life message as a B-plot to advance the relationship between film assistant Day (Theeradej Wongpuapan) and his girlfriend (Ratnamon Ratchiratham) who wants to have a baby despite Day’s insistence that he’s not capable or wealthy enough to provide a good life.
It’s a minor plot point that does a good job establishing Day’s personal struggles but does also involve some of the more saccharine if not dull moments. That’s all redeemed by the inclusion of a Pizza Hut ad, but director Ping Lumpraploeng goes all in with it to the point that not having a pizza commercial would just feel wrong. Bonus points for continuing with the Always Sunny parallels with a delivery man coming, unable to save the day.
For the actual story, it’s pretty simple. Day is relaxing in the pool that he’s working at for a commercial shoot. While he falls asleep, the drains accidentally open and the water levels sink so far that he can’t climb out. Soon enough, his girlfriend jumps in to wake him up only for her to get stuck too and nearly drown after hitting her head. This all happens while we learn there’s an escaped alligator on the loose.
What can go wrong will go wrong. And we know the alligator joins the fun in the pool since the movie starts on Day 6 of Day’s imprisonment. He also has a broken leg tied together with some duct tape and wood and blood marks the white tiles around him. It’s a true credit to the story that the end result is already shown but the story continues to captivate by using a sense of humor to show just how we got there.
Why not have Day’s cell phone be on vibrate and fall off the ledge while he’s swimming to save his dog Lucky who’s about to fall in the pool? Why not have two guys come looking for their drone while Day’s in the drainage system? Why not have Day climb to the ledge using barbed wire? The whole movie asks why not and gives the answer, “Because we can.”
Even the awful CGI alligator feels at home. Lumpraploeng and his crew ramp up the atmosphere using a mix of overexposed film and shoddy slow motion for extra effects that enhance the whole production. Rather than aim for pristine optics, the production quality enhances the whole feel so that the tragedy of epic proportions inspires laughs even though it should be completely painful and harrowing. It’s all about laughing at Day’s tragedy even in the worst moments. He’s a cartoon character that keeps getting back up again for one more beating, one more time fighting an alligator with his barb-wired laced hands.
It’s epically ridiculous in all the right ways.
https://youtu.be/RGCacGXjMX0
