Chris Pine

Although Chris Pine’s directorial debut “Poolman” was not received well by critics, the actor insists that he still loves the film.

“Poolman,” which Pine co-wrote and also stars in, revolves around a pool cleaner named Darren Barrenman who is approached by a femme fatale to help uncover corruption in a shady business deal.

In his review for The Nerdist,

Michael Walsh wrote: “I know it won’t get him down to learn I found ‘Poolman’ to be an incoherent, borderline unwatchable mess.”

He added that he rarely knew what was happening in the movie, or why,

“and not in a good way, where the chaos and confusion is part of the fun. I mean I didn’t know what was happening in a bad way, where

I was so lost in the incomprehensible plot I gave up entirely on trying to follow it.”

Pine was a guest on “Happy Sad Confused,” a podcast hosted by Josh Horowitz, recently, and said he did not believe that he had made “a complete dud of a movie.”

Speaking about the critics’ reactions, he added: “With so much joy behind it, to then be met with a fusillade of not-sojoyous stuff … the cognitive dissonance there was quite something. It’s ultimately been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

“It’s forced me to double down on joy and really double down on what I love most about my job — which you kind of forget: It’s fundamentally about play. You become children for hours a day and make believe. There’s an impish quality that I don’t want to lose.” “Poolman” stars Pine opposite Annette Bening, DeWanda Wise, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Danny DeVito.