Pool cleaner Hugo Dugay (Milano) has to clean the pools of 44 backyard eccentrics. Reluctantly, she must enlist the aid of her gambler mom (Moriarty) and drug addict father (McDowell). Bizarre characters abound, including Downey Jr. overacting as Hungarian film director Franz Mazur, whose accent changes with each line. Most interesting is Dempsey as ALS-afflicted Floyd Galen. The romance between Floyd and Hugo supplies the most sensitive and well-acted sequences. Disappointing, long-anticipated outing from director Downey Sr. (this is his first directorial effort in six years) who shared writing duties with wife Laura, who died of ALS in 1994.
Quirky Characters, Not Much Plot KHL at 2008-04-15 14:58:10
While this movie has its share of quirky yet strangely likable characters, it plods along pretty slowly and nothing really pulls together until the last half hour. Worth watching once. Its a shame, since there are some great actors here, Sean Penn is an oddball drifter attached to his electric blue Italian loafers, McDowell as the troubled but well meaning dad, and Moriarty as the clueless mom.
Highlights are Downey Jr. in his first role after his prison term was over (one can wonder if he's really sober here, or just acting...still its funny), and Milano and Dempsey have terrific chemistry.