Chad McDaniel is a pool player with a competitive spirit and irresistible energy. He credits his spirit to being diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, when he was born. By age three, he had already broken several bones multiple times. Yet Chad refuses to let his wheelchair, his diagnosis, or the stereotypes attached to both define him. Instead, 96 Pounds of Dynamite documents Chad’s lust for life as a billiards player, beer drinker, and avid record collector.
The opening suggests that 96 Pounds of Dynamite will chronicle primarily how Chad found solace in the pool community. Instead, the film offers a look into Chad’s life outside the pool hall. 9-ball pool is central to his story, but it’s no more central than his past struggles and his current relationship with his family. Director Loren Goldfarb highlights Chad’s massive personality. Chad is loquacious, sarcastic, and full of saucy comments and folksy analogies. The narrative thrives on the color of Chad’s interviews; not as an uplifting documentary but as an insight into Chad’s worldview.
Structurally, 96 Pounds of Dynamite struggles with expectation and payoff. The film opens with a kinetic promise to follow Chad’s life as a pool player. A grooving needle-drop, complete with quick cuts of Chad shooting pool, sets the tone. The kind of opening that oozes cool by intention. What at first seems like backstory turns into the bulk of the documentary. The final pool tournament is almost an afterthought. While documentaries are made in the moment and must shift with the subject, the heavy pool-centric opening miscommunicates what the film will become.
96 Pounds of Dynamite is a solid festival-focused documentary. The film lets Chad tell his story and lets the charismatic pool player shine. But it still fits a standard documentary template. Many of the beats are familiar, leaving the lasting impression that Chad is a fascinating person, but the approach could offer more. 96 Pounds of Dynamite is enjoyable enough, but its central figure outshines the film.
