[Sarasota 2024] SWAMP DOGG GETS HIS POOL PAINTED -- Funny, Poignant Music Documentary Bursts With Personality

Review by Sean Boelman

There are so many icons in the music industry that deserve documentaries about their careers and lives, and the R&B singer, songwriter, and producer Swamp Dogg is finally getting his due. Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson’s Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted is an unexpectedly beautiful documentary bursting with personality and plenty of hilarious and heartfelt moments.

The film tells the story of the legendary but underrecognized musician Swamp Dogg as he reflects on his career when he decides to get a mural painted on the floor of his home’s pool. In a genre that’s all too often paint-by-numbers, Gale and Olson have created an incredibly distinctive and unique movie that perfectly captures its subject’s personality. 

On its surface, this documentary seems like little more than an old man reminiscing on his career. However, over the course of the runtime, it becomes clear that there’s much more to be found in this story. Sure, it’s about the music industry, but it’s also about themes like chosen family and being a Black artist in America.

Of course, the movie's hero is Swamp Dogg, who has such a lovable presence. He’s a music industry legend, and the film doesn’t really have to convince us of his greatness because of how easily he radiates it. Yet, despite the incredible amount of talent he shows through archive materials and fly-on-the-wall footage, Swamp Dogg manages to come off as incredibly humble and approachable.

However, another big part of what makes Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted so effective is that he is surrounded by a ragtag bunch of companions and roommates, including the ineffably charming Guitar Shorty and the lovably quirky Moogstar. Audiences will get just as invested in Shorty and Moogstar’s stories as they will in Swamp Dogg’s, which is part of what makes this such a transcendentally moving experience.

As with many documentaries about “underappreciated” figures, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted does lean on the participation of some more recognizable celebrities to boost its subject’s legitimacy. In this case, it’s Tom Kenny, Mike Judge, and Johnny Knoxville. However, instead of talking head interviews blandly showering praise, Gale and Olson do something more interesting — they have the celebrities become the interviewers. Although it may be equally pandering, this method feels much less forced.

Stylistically, Gale and Olson infuse the movie with an astounding level of character that many documentaries try and fail to capture. It’s a scrappy, independent production, but this works considering that Swamp Dogg and his roommates exhibit the same type of unrestrained creativity and kineticism that Gale and Olson shoot for. Gale and Olson also do a very good job of incorporating Swamp Dogg’s music. The result of all of these stylistic elements is a film that’s both thoroughly entertaining and surprisingly tender and moving.

Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted is better than you would expect. Whether you’re familiar with the eponymous musician's work or are being introduced to his repertoire for the first time, you will undeniably find yourself charmed by his larger-than-life personality and inspiring story. 

Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted screened at the 2024 Sarasota Film Festival, which runs April 5-14 in Sarasota, FL.

​Rating: 5/5