POOLS (2025) review
written by: Sam Hayes
produced by: Sam Hayes, Jack Heston, Brian McNeely, Seth Savoy, Adonis Tountas, and Mike Ware
directed by: Sam Hayes
rated: not rated
runtime: 99 min.
U.S. release date: August 22, 2025
“Pools” is a film that serves as a reminder that there’s no “one way” after high school. You can choose to go to a university or a trade school. It doesn’t matter. You can start your college-level education and decide to switch your focus altogether. It’s okay. Sometimes it just takes a little longer to choose, and life can complicate and confuse those decisions. That’s what happens to the protagonist in the feature-length debut film from writer/director Sam Hayes. During the hot summer days we spend with this young woman, we gradually learn there’s more than just her desire to escape the heat. Hayes moves the story along in a lively manner, working from a script that deftly balances the humorous behavior and emotional frustrations of its characters.
Kennedy (Odessa A’Zion, last seen in “She Rides Shotgun”) is spending the summer at Lake Forest University to improve her GPA and prevent expulsion. That may be why she’s there, but she’s showing absolutely no motivation to buckle down and engage with her academics, let alone attend any classes. There’s not much her mother, Diana Lewis (Suzanne Cryer), who serves as the Dean of Students in the Chicago suburban school, can do to help Kennedy despite numerous attempts. It seems like ever since the recent death of her father, Kennedy has felt aimless and let any ambition fall to the wayside.
On one scorching hot day, Kennedy finds herself more distracted than usual due to the air conditioning in her dormitory failing. Seeking relief, she sticks her head out her dorm window and hails a local repairman named Michael (Michael Vlamis), engaging in a humorous albeit cavalier yelling conversation as her roommate, Shane (Francesca Noel), observes. She learns from her mother that he’s only there to fix the faculty’s AC units. Michael has enough going on, feeling unappreciated at his job, which involves frequent arguments with his employer, Bossman (Stan Adams), and sometimes flirting with his affluent clients, such as Suzy (Lucinda Johnston).
As Kennedy maintains her school avoidance and overall procrastination, she hatches an impromptu plan to leave campus, “by the cloak of night”, as she states repeatedly, in search of cooler temps. Her contagious spirit corrals other peers, including Shane, the studious Blake (Tyler Alvarez), who lives on the same floor as Kennedy, as well as Delaney (Ariel Winter) and senior Reed (Mason Goulding), who wind up following Kennedy into a night of pool hopping through the neighboring mansions. They wind up taking over the home of local resident, Dale (Raymond Fox), who left due to the heat – and the fact that he’s too cheap to upgrade his air conditioning system – leaving his spacious home open to enthusiastic partying that eventually leaves room for some authentic connection.
Some may describe Kennedy as “different” due to her impulsive personality, which can be defined as quirky, adorable, or annoying at any given moment. Both Hayes and A’Zion do a really good job at gradually peeling back the layers of Kennedy. We get an idea that there’s much more going on with her under the surface. This can be seen early on in a dream sequence where Kennedy finds herself sinking peacefully in a swimming pool, only to open her eyes and call out for her father. Much of Kennedy’s frenetic behavior is matched by Tucker Marolf’s jumpy editing. It won’t give you whiplash, but it does align itself appropriately with the Kennedy’s personality and the overall tone of the film.
Much of “Pools” is spent following the young quintet of characters as they go from pool to pool (hence the title), with Goulding’s Reed carrying a basket of tiny Malort bottles that he lifted from a liquor store. Their activity found me reminiscing on the carefree antics that college-age kids engage in more than each illegal action they take. Initially, their pursuit of cooler temperatures finds them being chased by one homeowner with a pool stick, but it doesn’t take long for inebriation to kick in, which slows things down a bit, allowing for vulnerability and connection. Hayes provides room for exploration within the group, with Reed pursuing Delaney romantically (which complicates matters considering Shane is interestred in Reed) and a shy Blake comes out of himself to possibly pursue Kennedy. We also learn how Kennedy and Delaney used to be close friends, but that changed during the awkward aftermath of Kennedy’s father’s sudden death.
The location of Dale’s mansion offers plenty of room for the students to play around, especially when they realize that the owners away. They explore various rooms and raid closets, finding some of them pairing up while Blake fears his medical school future will be in jeopardy after their might of shenanigans. Eventually, air conditioning technician Michael comes back to the picture, interacting with Kennedy in a way that lets her guard down and gives her space to embrace her artistic side, which involves playing piano and singing (that’s actually A’Zion performing at the piano and she’s quite good). Michael even shares his own career frustration, offering some straight talk and unsolicited advice to Kennedy that she actually takes to heart.
“Pools” really shines during the third act’s confessional moments, dealing with each character’s confusion and concerns. It brings an unexpected grounded relatability to the film. While A’Zion’s work as Kennedy carries the film with an infectious presence, her interaction with the supporting actors are as engaging as anything else in the feature. It winds up being a sensitive performance in a dramedy that shows an impressive range for the actress (who will show up later this year in Josh Safdie’s new film). “Pools” definitely has piqued my curiosity, leaving me quite interested in what Hayes and this cast will do next.
RATING: ***
