The Pool Boys appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-Ray Disc. A mixed bag, some parts of the image looked terrific while others looked messy.
Sharpness varied. Many shots looked concise and distinctive, but others came across as soft and without great definition. While the majority of the flick exhibited positive definition, too much of it seemed a bit flat and fuzzy. I noticed no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes were absent. No source flaws materialized either.
Colors were fine. The movie opted for a natural palette that never dazzled but that seemed reasonably peppy. Blacks tended to be somewhat inky, though, and low-light shots were a bit on the mushy side. Though the image clearly had more than a few strengths, it suffered from enough weaknesses to end up with a “C+”.
I also thought the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack was a mixed bag at best. Sound quality was generally good, at least in terms of speech and effects. Dialogue was natural and concise, and effects appeared reasonably accurate.
Music was less impressive, though. The songs and score tended to seem lackluster in terms of reproduction. Those components weren’t rough or distorted, but they failed to present much range and punch. The music was decent at worst, though.
The soundfield was the track’s weakest link. It didn’t have much to do in terms of ambition and tended to go with general atmosphere. That was fine, except the presentation never appeared especially natural, and music appeared oddly located; the songs and score used speakers in an awkward way that often didn’t blend together well. The whole package was a strangely distant, pepless affair.
Only a couple of extras appear here. A Behind the Scenes Featurette runs 12 minutes, 29 seconds and provides comments from director JB Rogers, writer Justin Ware, and actors Brett Davern, Matthew Lillard, George Takei, Jay Thomas, Efren Ramirez, Rachelle Lefevre, and Tom Arnold. The show looks at characters and story, cast and performances, Rogers’ work as director, shooting in New Orleans and some other production notes. This is a basic promotional piece without much depth to it.
Virtual Lapdance lets you enjoy the pleasures of strip clubs in your own home! Well, without the presence of actual real-life women, of course. This feature allows you to choose from three different dancers and then watch them shimmy in bikinis for about two and a half minutes each. After two minutes, they take off their tops – to reveal pasties. Seriously? What a waste of time. (And someone needs to tell the blonde dancer to sue the plastic surgeon who gave her the awful fake boobs.)
The Blu-ray opens with ads for A Beginner’s Guide to Endings, Todd & The Book of Pure Evil, Call Me Fitz, and Prom Wars. We also get the trailer for Pool Boys - a trailer you should not watch before you see the movie, as it reveals an absurd number of spoilers.
As a teen comedy, The Pool Boys seems derivative and uninspired but not actually bad. While it lacks creativity and many laughs, it’s eminently watchable. The Blu-ray provides erratic picture and audio as well as minor supplements. “It could’ve been worse” is faint praise, but it’s all I can conjure for this decidedly average romp.