Pools Review: Finding Oneself in the Water

Sam Hayes’ film Pools is a visually distinct and well-acted dramedy that focuses on its protagonist’s growing pains.

But as the film plays, one realises that it’s actually trying to show how a young woman might cope with grief and loss, and with the fact that she has no idea what she wants from her life. The comedy starts feeling more sincere, the stylisation scales back, and by the end, Pools actually works as an entertaining yet honest look at a college student’s chaotic life.

Pools takes place in a college town in Chicago, and features Odessa A’zion (of the Until Dawn movie) as Kennedy, an economics student who’s trying to deal with her father’s untimely death. She’s missing a bunch of classes, and when she does attend them, she prefers to doodle on her notebook instead of paying attention. The dean of the school (Suzanne Cryer) has obviously noticed this, so she decides to give Kennedy one last chance. If she doesn’t attend her next class, she will be thrown out of university.

Kennedy is aware of the importance of attending said class, but she nevertheless decides to throw caution to the wind, and reclutes a bunch of students to go pool-hopping at night. Said group of youngsters includes seemingly air-headed athlete Reed (Mason Gooding, of the latest Scream movies); “nerd” Blake (Tyler Alvarez, of American Vandal); Shane (Francesca Noel, of Goosebumps), who kinda-sorta wants to be with Reed, and Delaney (Ariel Winter, of Modern Family), an ex-friend of Kennedy. And as they break into different homes near the college, our protagonist realises that maybe she needed this kind of freedom. Or at least some kind of distraction from her problems and insecurities.

Admittedly, at first, Pools seems like it’s going to be a highly-stylised and somewhat obnoxious experience. Director Sam Hayes engraves the film with some interesting visual choices that might feel like a bit too much for some viewers: lots of zoom ins and zooms outs, whip-pans and a very energetic editing style. It helps the film go by really fast in the beginning, making it feel more like a straight comedy or an absurdist experience, instead of the touching dramedy that it really is. I understand this was probably done to immediately grab the viewer’s attention, but I don’t think it was all that necessary.

Because the moment our characters break into their final mansion (which happens to be empty and has a rather impressive pool), Pools finally hits its stride and finds its footing, focusing on character interaction and fun, rather than admittedly nice stylistic touches. It’s in this section that we get to know the secondary characters better, realising, for example, that Reed is not a stereotypical dumb jock, or that there’s a reason why Delaney stopped talking with Kennedy soon after the latter’s dad died.

Pools never loses sight of Kennedy, though, making it clear that this is her story. Odessa A’zion is a revelation; she uses her big blue eyes, winning smile and considerable charisma to turn Kennedy into a walking disaster worth rooting for. Yes, she doesn’t seem to care about her classes, and yes, she breaks into other people’s homes with four other students in order to swim in their pools and drink some booze. But there’s a good reason for this behaviour, and A’zion plays the character as a fun girl with a hidden darkness. She’s quirky and energetic, but Kennedy is obviously hiding something from everybody else. Something the audience is privy to, and that only a couple of characters manage to figure out.

One of those characters is AC mechanic Michael (Michael Vlamis, of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming The Odyssey), who represents the kind of person Kennedy might turn into. He seems to like his job, but at the same time, he decides to anger one of his clients by dancing with her wife and throwing trash on his property. But as we later realise, he’s not as disastrous as one might have assumed. He’s not very ambitious, but he’s happy and has found what he likes to do. On the other hand, Kennedy is studying economics because it’s what’s expected from her, but is it really what she wants to do? Or is she going down a self-destructive path, without wanting to admit what her true passion is?

Like many other narrative and visual elements and characters in Pools, at first, Michael seems to be a walking cliché and some sort of comedic relief, but we eventually realise what his role in the story is, and the importance of his eventual interactions with Kennedy. Apart from conveying themes of self-acceptance, freedom (the true kind, not the political one), friendship and grief, the film shows us that we shouldn’t judge people without knowing them. That some people might be using humour or eccentric behaviour to hide some kind of sadness, or that others might be happier than their supposedly more “successful” counterparts. It’s a valuable message, which turns Pools into quite the affecting experience.

I didn’t know what to expect from Pools before watching it, which is why it ended up surprising me. Yes, it has a rough beginning, and it meanders a bit in the middle (especially when it focuses on its characters’ chaotic actions at the mansion). But if the movie works, it’s because it never loses track of its honest themes and the development of Kennedy as a human being. Odessa A’zion gives a standout performance; the secondary characters are portrayed with aplomb by talented young actors, and the movie as a whole has a striking, textured look, making use of somewhat unnecessary but still interesting visual touches. Pools, much like its complicated protagonist, ends up being much more than what one could’ve initially expected.

Pools will be released in US theatres on September 5, 2025.