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Movies like Poolman

Key Features:
Los Angeles, Optimism, Community, Local hero, Quirky, Apartment complex, Social commentary, Feel-good, Charismatic protagonist
Tone:
humorous, whimsical
Target Audience:
Comedy fans, Feel-good movie enthusiasts, Los Angeles residents
Emotional Arc:
Amusement → Hope

Poolman

2024-05-09
Poolman Poster - Find Similar Movies

Darren Barrenman, an unwavering optimist and native Angeleno, spends his days looking after the pool of the Tahitian Tiki apartment block and fighting to make his hometown a better place to live.

Genres
Mystery, Comedy
Cast
Chris Pine, Annette Bening, Danny DeVito, DeWanda Wise, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stephen Tobolowsky, Clancy Brown, John Ortiz, Ray Wise, Juliet Mills
Crew
Chris Pine, Chris Pine, Ian Gotler
Rating
4.333(57 votes)
PoolmanPoolman
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Beckenrand Sheriff
6.6

A lifeguard tries by all means to keep his home, an open-air swimming pool, from being closed.



Hugo Pool
Hugo Pool(1997)
5.045

Hugo Pool is a quirky tale of a Los Angeles pool cleaner who falls in love with a young man dying of Lou Gerhig's Disease.



The Pool Boys
5.788

A pool boy and a gardener turn an empty mansion into a home for women who belong to the world's oldest profession.



The Swimmer
7.308

A man spends a summer day swimming home via all the pools in his quiet suburban neighborhood.



Cocoon
Cocoon(1985)
6.6

When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor.



Down and Out in Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills couple Barbara and Dave Whiteman find their lives altered by the arrival of a vagrant who tries to drown himself in their swimming pool.



Patients
Patients(2017)
7.443

After a serious sport accident in a swimming pool, Ben, now an incomplete quadriplegic, arrives in a rehabilitation center. He meets with other handicapped persons (tetraplegics, paraplegics, traumatized crania), all victims of accidents, as well as a handicapped since his early childhood. They go through impotence, despair and resignation, with their daily struggle to learn how to move a finger or to hold a fork. Some of them slowly find a little mobility while others receive the verdict of the handicap for life. Despite everything, hope and friendship help them endure their difficulties.



L.A. Story
6.489

With the help of a talking freeway billboard, a "wacky weatherman" tries to win the heart of an English newspaper reporter, who is struggling to make sense of the strange world of early-90s Los Angeles.



Baywatch
Baywatch(2017)
6.09

Devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon butts heads with a brash new recruit. Together, they uncover a local criminal plot that threatens the future of the Bay.



Yes Man
Yes Man(2008)
6.7

Carl Allen, a guy whose life is going nowhere, signs up for a self-help program based on one simple covenant: say yes to everything…and anything.



Poolhall Junkies
6.3

A retired pool hustler is forced to pick up the stick again when his brother starts a game he can't finish.



Lady in the Water
5.6

Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world.



Moving
Moving(1988)
5.52

Arlo accepts what seems to him to be a dream promotion to Idaho. He soon discovers, however, that moving has its own share of problems.



Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

A fading actor best known for his portrayal of a popular superhero attempts to mount a comeback by appearing in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches, his attempts to become more altruistic, rebuild his career, and reconnect with friends and family prove more difficult than expected.



Bagnomaria
5.8

In Pietrasanta all are excited for the annual party of summer end. Here we find four characters: Merigo, a naive guy passionate of bike; Pierre, son of the mayor; Simone, a pestiferous kid; Mario, lifeguard of "Bagnomaria".



The Upside
7.132

Phillip is a wealthy quadriplegic who needs a caretaker to help him with his day-to-day routine in his New York penthouse. He decides to hire Dell, a struggling parolee who's trying to reconnect with his ex and his young son. Despite coming from two different worlds, an unlikely friendship starts to blossom.



Just Add Water
5

An offbeat romantic comedy about a decent guy, Ray Tuckby, with a dead-end life in the dead-end town of Trona, CA. After encouragement from a stranger whom he happens upon, Ray begins to dream again. He sheds the parasites in his life, musters the nerve to pursue his childhood love, and finally takes back his community by toppling the local teenage Meth-baron.



SubUrbia
SubUrbia(1997)
6.2

A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.



Bottoms Up
3.2

Small-town bartender Owen Peadman goes to Los Angeles to raise money to help save his father's Minnesota restaurant. He tries to find a way into Hollywood society, where he meets socialite Lisa and her uptight actor boyfriend. Can he balance his growing feelings for Lisa with surviving the sordid lifestyles of the Hollywood elite?



Duplex
Duplex(2003)
6.1

When a young couple buys their dream home, they have no idea what the sweet little old lady upstairs is going to put them through!



Banana Joe
6.7

Island farmer Banana Joe helps the local community by trading his bananas for goods. When gangsters arrive with plans to construct a banana processing plant, Joe kicks them out, but the mob boss discovers that Joe is operating without a license. After the mob tips off the authorities and Joe's boat is impounded, he ventures into a big city for the first time to seek help.



Marmaduke
Marmaduke(2010)
5.219

When Phil and Debbie Winslow relocate from their native Kansas to the sunny climes of Orange County, their big-hearted, havoc-wreaking Great Dane gets a taste of the dog's life, California-style.



The Great Seduction
6.691

When a golden opportunity arises to boost the fortunes of a forgotten fishing town, its residents set out to trick their way to making it happen.



The Tuche Family
5.997

Everyone in the village of Bouzolles knows the Tuche family, who live by the philosophy "Man is not made to work." Despite their lack of money, they strive to be happy... that is, until their hand-to-mouth existence is turned on its head. After winning the lottery, the Tuches get rich beyond their wildest dreams and move to Monaco. And while attempting to fit in in their swanky new homeland, they struggle to stay true to the same principles by which they've always lived.



Ping Pong Playa
5.814

Streetwise swaggering Christopher "C-Dub" Wang is a suburban guy who waxes political on all things Asian American and clings to pro basketball pipe dreams. But when misfortune strikes his family, C-dub must overcome living at home, working a dead-end job and his worldly older brother, to run his Mom's ping pong classes and defend the family's athletic dynasty.



Novocaine
Novocaine(2025)
6.867

When the girl of his dreams is kidnapped, everyman Nate turns his inability to feel pain into an unexpected strength in his fight to get her back.



The Distinguished Gentleman

A Florida con man uses the recent death of the long time Congressman from his district, who he just happens to share a last name with, to get elected to his version of paradise, the U.S. Congress, where the money flows from lobbyists.



Drowning Mona
5.442

The recently deceased Mona Dearly was many things: an abusive wife, a domineering mother, a loud-mouthed neighbor and a violent malcontent. So when her car and corpse are discovered in the Hudson River, police Chief Wyatt Rash immediately suspects murder rather than an accident. But, since the whole community of Verplanck, N.Y., shares a deep hatred for this unceasingly spiteful woman, Rash finds his murder investigation overwhelmed with potential suspects.



Dave
Dave(1993)
6.7

A sweet-natured Temp Agency operator and amateur Presidential look-alike is recruited by the Secret Service to become a temporary stand-in for the President of the United States.



Io sono Tempesta
5.8

To avoid jail, a tax-dodging businessman is sentenced to a year of community service in a homeless shelter.



Lottery Ticket
5.609

Kevin Carson is a young man living in the projects who has to survive a three-day weekend after his opportunistic neighbors find out he's holding a winning lottery ticket worth $370 million.



Trading Places
7.23

A snobbish investor and a wily street con-artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.



Life Stinks
5.658

A rich businessman makes a bet he can survive on the streets of a rough Los Angeles neighborhood for 30 days completely penniless. During his stay he discovers another side of life and falls in love with a homeless woman.



Home Again
6.112

Life for a single mom in Los Angeles takes an unexpected turn when she allows three young guys to move in with her.



Swimming with Sharks

Guy is a young film executive who's willing to do whatever it takes to make it in Hollywood. He begins working for famed producer Buddy Ackerman, a domineering, manipulative, coldhearted boss. When Guy also finds out that his cynical girlfriend, Dawn, has been using sex as a career move, he reaches his limit. Guy decides to exact revenge on Buddy by kidnapping him and subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment.



Friendship
6.5

Suburban dad Craig falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor Austin, and his attempts to make an adult male friend threatens to ruin both of their lives.



Staten Island Summer
5.646

Pals Danny and Frank spend the summer after high school working as lifeguards while figuring out their future.



Vacation Friends
7.032

When a straight-laced couple that has fun with a rowdy couple on vacation in Mexico return to the States, they discover that the crazy couple they met in Mexico followed them back home and decide to play tricks on them.



Funny Farm
6.173

Sportswriter Andy Farmer moves with his schoolteacher wife Elizabeth to the country in order to write a novel in relative seclusion. Of course, seclusion is the last thing the Farmers find in the small, eccentric town, where disaster awaits them at every turn.



Paddleton
Paddleton(2019)
6.986

An unlikely friendship between two neighbors becomes an unexpectedly emotional journey when the younger man is diagnosed with terminal cancer.



State and Main
6.3

A movie crew invades a small town whose residents are all too ready to give up their values for showbiz glitz.



Swimming with Men
6.1

A man who is suffering a mid-life crisis finds new meaning in his life as part of an all-male, middle-aged, amateur synchronised swimming team.



Pride
Pride(2007)
6.582

Coach Jim Ellis shocks the community and changes lives when, aided by a local janitor, he sets out to form Philadelphia's first black swim team. But the odds are against them as they battle rigid rules, racism and more.



Waterboys
Waterboys(2001)
6.5

In a Japanese school, 5 adolescent geeks join the new sport teacher and take up the challenge to take part in the synchronised swimming competition, in-spite of the mockeries of the real sportsmen.



The Castle
7.107

The quirky Kerrigan family lives together in a makeshift home they built themselves – with great pride and a bizarre attention to detail – a few yards from the edge of Melbourne, Australia's busy Tullamarine Airport. When a building inspector condemns the building and reveals that the government plans to use their land for an airport expansion, Darryl Kerrigan and his brood recruit hack attorney Dennis Denuto and prepare themselves for the fight of their lives.



Chairman of the Board
3.572

Surfer Edison isn't able to make ends meet with his inventions or his lifestyle. But then he meets billionaire Armand McMillian, who takes a shine to the young bum — so much so that he leaves his invention company to him upon his death. Unfortunately, Armand's nephew, Bradford, only gets a surfboard. While Edison manages to run the company successfully, with the help of pretty Natalie, Bradford conspires to take him down.



The Big Picture
5.8

Hollywood beckons for recent film school grad Nick Chapman, who is out to capitalize on the momentum from his national award-winning student film. Studio executive Allen Habel seduces Nick with a dream deal to make his first feature, but once production gets rolling, corporate reality begins to intervene: Nick is unable to control a series of compromises to his high-minded vision, and it's all he can do to maintain his integrity in the midst of filmmaking chaos.



Float
Float(2024)
6.7

Waverly thought she had her future figured out: she’d start her medical residency in Toronto after a summer visit to her parents in Taipei. When her plans suddenly change, she makes an impulsive detour to a small Canadian town where she meets local lifeguard Blake. After he saves her from nearly drowning at a beach party, Blake offers to teach Waverly to swim, and as the lessons continue, the two unexpectedly find themselves falling in love.



Basic Sanitation, the Movie

When they discover their town lacks funding for a sewage system, but does have a federal grant to make a movie, a group of villagers decide to make a sci-fi joint about a monster who lives in the building site of a septic tank.



Bean
Bean(1997)
6.468

Childlike Englishman, Mr. Bean, is an incompetent watchman at the Royal National Gallery. After the museum's board of directors' attempt to have him fired is blocked by the chairman, who has taken a liking to Bean, they send him to Los Angeles to act as their ambassador for the unveiling of a historic painting to humiliate him. Fooled, Mr. Bean must now successfully unveil the painting or risk his and a hapless Los Angeles curator's termination.



Common Wealth
6.9

Julia, a real estate agent, finds an enormous amount of money hidden in a dead man's apartment, a stroke of luck that will force her to face the wrath of the very peculiar inhabitants of the community, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on the money.



Blindspotting
7.341

Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles, work as movers, and when Collin witnesses a police shooting, the two men’s friendship is tested as they grapple with identity and their changed realities in the rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood they grew up in.



Summer in the City
6.046

When a small town woman with southern charm is given a big promotion managing a store in the Big Apple, she tries to adopt a big city personality and it leads to disastrous results.



The Tuche Family: The American Dream

Les Tuche, a modest french family, change his life after winning a super lottery. Thanks to the money of his parents, the son, Donald (aka "coin-coin") goes to Los Angeles to improve his english. On the L.A. University, he meets Jennifer, daughter of a famous American financier.



Seducing Doctor Lewis
6.802

A much-needed boost, in the form of a new factory, is promised to the residents of the tiny fishing village St. Marie-La-Mauderne, provided they can lure a doctor to take up full-time residency on the island. Inspired, the villagers devise a scheme to make Dr. Christopher Lewis a local.



Blankman
Blankman(1994)
5.297

Darryl is a childlike man with a genius for inventing various gadgets out of junk. When he stumbles on a method to make his clothes bulletproof, he decides to use his skills to be the lowest budgeted superhero of all.



Smallfoot
Smallfoot(2018)
6.8

A bright young yeti finds something he thought didn't exist—a human. News of this “smallfoot” throws the simple yeti community into an uproar over what else might be out there in the big world beyond their snowy village.



Role Models
6.487

Two salesmen trash a company truck on an energy drink-fueled bender. Upon their arrest, the court gives them a choice: do hard time or spend 150 service hours with a mentorship program. After one day with the kids, however, jail doesn't look half bad.



The Meteor Man
5.788

One night Jefferson Reed gets hit in the chest by a souped-up chunk of meteor. So he can fly, but he's scared of heights. He can master the information in any book ... for about thirty seconds. Now his friends and family want him to protect their community from the dreaded Golden Lords.



Elemental
Elemental(2023)
7.593

In a city where fire, water, land and air residents live together, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy will discover something elemental: how much they have in common.



Being There
7.6

A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned from television.



Neighbors
Neighbors(1981)
5.638

One man's quiet suburban life takes a sickening lurch for the worse when a young couple move into the deserted house next door. From the word go it is obvious these are not the quiet professional types who *should* be living in such a nice street. As more and more unbelievable events unfold, our hero starts to question his own sanity... and those of his family.



A Fantastic Back and Forth

Middle-aged family man Arnaldo is kicked out by his wife because of a misunderstanding. Instead of despairing, Arnaldo takes advantage of the situation to turn around his unsatisfying adult life by going to live in a flat shared with four university students.



Evolution
Evolution(2001)
6.1

A comedy that follows the chaos that ensues when a meteor hits the Earth carrying alien life forms that give new meaning to the term "survival of the fittest." David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, and Julianne Moore are the only people standing between the aliens and world domination... which could be bad news for the Earth.



Just Getting Started
4.916

Duke Diver is living the high life as the freewheeling manager of a luxurious resort in Palm Springs, Calif. He soon faces competition from Leo, a former military man who likes the same woman that Duke is interested in. When Diver's past suddenly catches up with him, he must put aside his differences and reluctantly team up with Leo to stop whoever is trying to kill him.



The Waterboy
6.1

Bobby Boucher is a water boy for a struggling college football team. The coach discovers Boucher's hidden rage makes him a tackling machine whose bone-crushing power might vault his team into the playoffs.



Life or Something Like It

A reporter Lanie Kerrigan interviews a psychic homeless man for a fluff piece about a football game's score. Instead he tells her that her life has no meaning and is going to end in just a few days, which sparks her to action, trying to change the pattern of her life...



Local Hero
6.8

An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.



Car Wash
Car Wash(1976)
5.9

This day-in-the-life cult comedy focuses on a group of friends working at Sully Boyar's Car Wash in the Los Angeles ghetto. The team meets dozens of eccentric customers -- including a smooth-talking preacher, a wacky cab driver and an ex-convict -- while cracking politically incorrect jokes to a constant soundtrack of disco and funk. Some of the workers find romance as the day moves along, but most are just happy to get through another shift.



Malibu Rescue
6.182

When a long list of shenanigans lands Tyler in hot water, he’s forced to suit up and spend his summer training for an elite junior lifeguard program.



Club Paradise
5.044

When Chicago firefighter Jack Moniker retires and moves to a small Caribbean island, he is befriended by the owner of a run-down resort. Together they renovate the resort and lure tourists to Club Paradise in an effort to fight off corrupt officials and businessmen who want to claim the resort as their own.



Just Friends
6.218

While visiting his hometown during Christmas, a man comes face-to-face with his old high school crush whom he was best friends with – a woman whose rejection of him turned him into a ferocious womanizer.



Bio-Dome
Bio-Dome(1996)
4.5

Moronic best friends get themselves locked inside the Bio-Dome, a science experiment, along with a group of environmental scientists for one year.



Witless Protection
4.5

When a small-town sheriff witnesses what he believes to be an attempted kidnapping, his effort to save the beautiful damsel in distress sets him down a wild path of comic mishap.



Grand Canyon
6.4

Grand Canyon revolved around six residents from different backgrounds whose lives intertwine in modern-day Los Angeles. At the center of the film is the unlikely friendship of two men from different races and classes brought together when one finds himself in jeopardy in the other's rough neighborhood.



Mystery Men
5.8

When Champion City's hero Captain Amazing is kidnapped by the recently paroled supervillain Casanova Frankenstein, a trio of average, everyday superheroes -- Mr. Furious, the Shoveler and the Blue Raja -- assemble a new super team to save him.



All Is Bright
5.4

Two ne’er-do-wells from Quebec travel to New York City with a scheme to get rich quick selling Christmas trees.



Trial and Error
5.43

When lawyer Charlie is sent to a small Nevada town to file a continuance request for a client, his actor friend Richard turns up to throw a surprise bachelor party celebrating his upcoming marriage to the boss's daughter. When Charlie is too hung-over to make it to court for the hearing, Richard fills in, inadvertently committing felony fraud, and Charlie is left with no choice but to coach the clueless Richard through the whole trial.



Funny People
5.9

Famous and wealthy funnyman George Simmons doesn't give much thought to how he treats people until a doctor delivers stunning health news, forcing George to reevaluate his priorities with a little help from aspiring stand-up comic Ira.



The Super
The Super(1991)
5.9

Louie Kritski is a heartless landlord who has been so negligent in keeping up his ghetto apartment that he is threatened with jail time. The judge gives him another option -- he must live in his rat-infested hell hole until he brings it up to liveable standards.



Shower
Shower(1999)
6.873

An aged father and his younger, mentally challenged son have been working hard every day to keep the bathhouse running for a motley group of regular customers. When his elder son, who left years ago to seek his fortune in the southern city of Shenzhen, abruptly returns one day, it once again puts under stress the long-broken father-son ties. Presented as a light-hearted comedy, Shower explores the value of family, friendship, and tradition.



The Lifeguard
5.415

A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager.



Rango
Rango(2011)
6.9

When Rango, a lost family pet, accidentally winds up in the gritty, gun-slinging town of Dirt, the less-than-courageous lizard suddenly finds he stands out. Welcomed as the last hope the town has been waiting for, new Sheriff Rango is forced to play his new role to the hilt.



Oldies But Goodies
5.3

As the Lino Vartan shelter, which takes orphans and seniors in, has to shut down for health issues, Milann has no choice but to accept the invitation of a retirement home in the south of France.



Bingo Hell
4.6

In the barrio of Oak Springs lives a strong and stubborn group of elderly friends who refuse to be gentrified. Their leader, Lupita, keeps them together as a community, a family. But little did they know, their beloved bingo hall is about to be sold to a much more powerful force than money itself.



Didier
Didier(1997)
6.098

Jean-Pierre Costa is a football manager upon whom fate appears not to be smiling. First, a friend, Annabelle, dumps a pet Labrador named Didier on him whilst she goes off to make a report in Los Angeles. Next, one of his star players is injured, leaving him one player short for a crucial match. As if things could not get any worse, Costa wakes up one morning to find that that Didier has been transformed into a man...



Thalasso
Thalasso(2019)
5.6

Provocative French writer Michel Houellebecq meets Gérard Depardieu at a sea water therapy centre in Cabourg. Together, they try to survive the health regime to which they are subjected by the establishment. But events quickly derail their routine… Just Great is a joyful comedy elevated by two extraordinary performances.



Polyester
Polyester(1981)
7

Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine Fishpaw turns to the bottle as her life falls apart -- until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow. Originally screened with "Odorama" scratch and sniff cards so the audience could (at their own risk) smell along with the film.



The Wendell Baker Story

Luke Wilson plays a good-hearted ex-con who gets a job in a retirement hotel. Three elderly residents help him win back his girlfriend as he lends them a hand in fighting hotel corruption.



Keanu
Keanu(2016)
6.058

Friends hatch a plot to retrieve a stolen cat by posing as drug dealers for a street gang.



Trickster
Trickster(1981)
7.5

Rıfkı, who lives in Germany, returns to his village, which he left years ago, to sell the properties inherited from his late father. A few coincidences that occur upon his arrival in the village lead to his name being associated with the 'Saint' title.



Sink or Swim
6.9

40-year-old Bertrand has been suffering from depression for the last two years and is barely able to keep his head above water. Despite the medication he gulps down all day, every day, and his wife's encouragement, he is unable to find any meaning in his life. Curiously, he will end up finding this sense of purpose at the swimming pool, by joining an all-male synchronised swimming team.



Lucky Numbers
5.1

Russ Richards is a TV weatherman and local celebrity on the verge of losing his shirt. Desperate to escape financial ruin, he schemes with Crystal the TV station's lotto ball girl to rig the state lottery drawing. The numbers come up right, but everything else goes wrong as the plan starts to unravel and the game turns rough.



Welcome to Mooseport

A US president who has retired after two terms in office returns to his hometown of Mooseport, Maine and decides to run for Mayor against another local candidate.



Safety Not Guaranteed
6.777

Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel.



Baby Mama
Baby Mama(2008)
5.97

A successful, single businesswoman who dreams of having a baby discovers she is infertile and hires a working class woman to be her unlikely surrogate.



There's Good Weather in Deribasovskaya, Or It's Raining Again in Brighton Beach

When mysterious Russian bandit named Artist came in USA, brave Russian special agent Fyodor Sokolov runs to States for defeat evil master.



Doc Hollywood
6.347

After leaving Washington D.C. hospital, plastic surgeon Ben Stone heads for California, where a lucrative practice in Beverly Hills awaits. After a car accident, he's sentenced to perform as the community's general practitioner.



Aquaman
Aquaman(2018)
6.871

Half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry is taken on the journey of his lifetime to discover if he is worth of being a king.

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