Poolman

Part broad noir-infused Hollywood satire and part broad caper comedy, Poolman remains stuck in the shallow end.

Like its bohemian title character, the directorial debut of actor Chris Pine is more obnoxious than endearing, too overloaded with quirks as it pokes fun at eccentric activists on the socioeconomic margins and the fringes of fame.

Pine (Star Trek) plays Darren, who lives in a trailer adjacent to a Los Angeles apartment complex swimming pool for which he’s the meticulous caretaker.

He’s an Erin Brockovich stalker, a perpetual City Council agitator, an aggressive conspiracy theorist, and a desperate grifter willing to cash in his dignity for ignominy. What’s not to love?

Darren is a dreamer high on his own convictions as a civic folk hero who surrounds himself with a ragtag group of enabling neighbors, including a therapist (Annette Bening) and a fledgling director (Danny DeVito) who join him on some sort of crusade against public transit schedules.

As Darren’s relationship with his girlfriend and apartment manager (Jennifer Jason Leigh) hits a rough patch, he finds an unexpected outlet for his frustration from a mysterious bureaucratic insider (DeWanda Wise) who becomes the requisite femme fatale by tipping off Darren about a potential scheme driven by political corruption and corporate greed.

That jumpstarts his offbeat investigation into the city’s water supply with a particular eye on shady dealings involving a government official (Stephen Tobolowsky) and a developer (Ray Wise).

Besides Pine himself, the film squanders an esteemed group of collaborators who perhaps should have scrutinized the script more closely before signing on.

Pine proves himself a capable visual craftsman. Rather, the issues lie with the muddled and incoherent screenplay he wrote with newcomer Ian Gotler, which lacks any sort of tonal continuity that would enable more jokes to land.

The film gives wackos like Darren the attention they crave but don’t deserve, without providing an outlet for sympathy or redemption outside of the muddled plot mechanics.

Along the way, Darren is positioned as some sort of lovable loser whose ambitions exceed his grasp. Poolman gets inside his head, only to find that — again, like the movie itself — there’s not much there.

Rated R, 100 minutes.