Hugo Pool (1997)

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.

Director:

Robert Downey Sr.

Writers:

Robert Downey Sr. (as Robert Downey), Laura Ernst (as Laura Downey)

Stars:

Alyssa Milano, Mark Boone Junior, Malcolm McDowell

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alyssa Milano	...	Hugo
Mark Boone Junior	...	Pool Supply Man
Malcolm McDowell	...	Henry
Brendan Dawson	...	Man with Truck (as Brendan B. Dawson)
Sean Penn	...	Strange Hitchhiker
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Franz
Cathy Moriarty	...	Minerva
Patrick Dempsey	...	Floyd
Sean Glenn	...	Andy
Bert Remsen	...	Sad Old Man
Kevin Dornan	...	Bad Advice Father
Michael Mazzola	...	Kid
Richard Lewis	...	Chick Chicalini
Chuck Barris	...	Irwin
Jim Shield	...	Lifeguard

Storyline

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.

---

Plot Keywords:

lou gehrig's disease | victim | spanish music | dancing | dancer | 

---

Taglines:

A comedy with serious relief

---

Genres:

Comedy | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sex-related material

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 December 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Chaude journée à L.A.

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,620, 14 December 1997, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$3,620, 14 December 1997

Company Credits

Production Co:

BMG Independents,Nomadic Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Malcolm McDowell replaced Alan Arkin.

---

Goofs

After Hugo changes from her pants into her shorts (right before crying in the truck) she is seen cleaning her first pool wearing pants again. After that she is back in her shorts.

---

Quotes

Franz Mazur: [Franz Mazur has just set fire to his house] De shmoke ish aroushing me!

---

Soundtracks

Beca Rado
Traditional Hungarian Folk Song

User Reviews

Miserable plot, horrendous casting.

Alyssa Milano plays "Hugo" an overworked pool cleaning gal, who needs to clean 44 pools in one day. That is the only normal part of this movie. The rest of it has such poor casting choices and plot lines that is is painful to watch.

Along the way she picks up her father, Malcolm McDowell, who is doing the worst Jimmy Durante impression I have ever heard, and who is trying to kick his heroin habit by shooting the heroin into a puppet that he carries around. Retarded.

Jimmy Durante, er, Malcolm, then runs into a gay hitchhiker with blue shoes, played by Sean Penn. How they talked Sean Penn into this role is beyond me. He appears to be trying to be mysterious, but comes across as a whiney gay 12-year-old.

She sends her dad (and the hitchhiker) on a mission to get some water for one of her clients, a bug-eyed jabbering Richard Lewis, who is supposedly a mafioso, but comes off as threatening as a wet paper bag.

She then picks up her mother, a gambling addict. She in turn shanghais one of Hugo's clients, a man with als (Lou Gherig's Disease) and starts carrying him around in the back of a pickup truck (wheelchair and all) so he can be her gambling good luck charm. Ridiculous.

Along the way, they run into Robert Downey Jr as a wacked out film director, but Robert puts on this outrageous fakey French accent and so he comes across like a bad Inspector Clouseau. Obnoxious.

They finally meet up with Hugo's Mom's bookie, played by Chuck "Chuckie-baby" Barris from the old GONG SHOW, who is more interested in a romp in the hay than money. Strange.

The ending is more like a documentary about ALS than a comedy, and has the totally predictable typical heart wrenching ending. That didn't even get any sympathy points from me. Lame.

The only redeming virtue would have been seeing Alyssa in the buff, and that didn't even happen. What was that director thinking? Weak.

My assessment: 2 of 10 Good only for hard-core Alyssa fans.