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Hugo Pool (1997)

tomatometer

43

Average Rating: 4.5/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 4

No consensus yet.

audience

42

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 3,053

My Rating

Movie Info

Cult figure Robert Downey, Sr. directed this offbeat comedy set in the eccentric environs of Los Angeles. Hugo Dugay (Alyssa Milano) is a young woman who makes her living cleaning swimming pools when she isn't busy looking after her mother Minerva (Cathy Moriarty), who's hooked on gambling, and her father Henry (Malcolm McDowell), who's hooked on alcohol and a number of drugs. One day, Hugo finds herself with over 40 pools to look after, complicated by the fact that L.A. is in the midst of a

R,

Comedy, Romance

Robert Downey Jr., Laura Ernst

Sep 28, 1999

Wellspring Media Inc.

Cast

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All Critics (16) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (11) | DVD (2)

I groaned my way through this black -- and blue -- romantic comedy and then decided I liked it.

May 1, 2013 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's as if Downey Sr.'s irreverence and off-the-wall humor couldn't quite co-exist with the heartfelt tribute he intends to make here to his wife and her fellow Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis sufferers.

May 1, 2013 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Hugo Pool, the first film in six years from former counterculture director Robert Downey sets new standards in wacko charmlessness.

September 7, 2011 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The best thing about this bizarre love story (follie de grandeur) between a female pool cleaner and immobile man in wheelchair is that it puts icon Robert Downey behind the camera after long absence; with some luck Patrick Dempsey should become a lead man

January 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The audience seems limited to the director's inner circle.

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Like David Mamet and relative newcomer Quentin Tarantino, Downey writes some of the best dialogue around, and his script sparkles with it.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: ReelViews
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A sweet, winning diversion that meanders enjoyably on the strength of its laid-back charm.

May 1, 2013 Full Review Source: AV Club
AV Club

A series of strenuously oddball vignettes masquerading as a movie.

May 1, 2013 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

What a mess.

November 20, 2007
ColeSmithey.com

The bottom of the pool.

January 30, 2004 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Interesting -- but not riveting -- slice of life in Southern California.

February 4, 2003
Sunday Times (Australia)

Hugo Pool features an impressive collection of talent, including two of the best actors of their generation -- Sean Penn and Robert Downey Jr. Sadly, their talents are wasted in this muddled mix of romance and attempted satire.

October 15, 2002 Full Review Source: Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Enquirer

Downey tries to re-create the loopy irreverence of Putney Swope in a '90s setting -- with little success.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix
Boston Phoenix

The picture features a choice ensemble of actors who are starved by the lack of a nourishing script and whose improvised quips and sallies fall far short of hilarity.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Compuserve
Compuserve

Robert Downey Sr directs this overly self-consciously "wacky" day-in-the-life comedy. Unfortunately, even with plenty of talent attached, the film goes nowhere.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Cinematter
Cinematter

Audience Reviews for Hugo Pool

Laugh out loud hilarious...
November 7, 2006
dreamfaeries

Super Reviewer

It's Robert Downey Sr, therefore extremely quirky. It was a bit touching at the end however, all the moreso because his wife died from ALS.
March 30, 2009
jjb3332003
Jeff B
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