"Swimfan" is such a successful commercial formula that it is surprising the industry has not since jumped on this idea more often. Find an older film(s) that had good box office results (in this case "Play Misty for Me" and "Fatal Attraction"). Change the story to target a young audience not exposed to the originals. Keep the costs modest by using a cast that works cheap and not staging any elaborate action sequences-pour more budget into promotion than into production, then just wait for some nice profits. There is almost no risk because it doesn't have to be a mega-hit, even if the critics hate it the promotional efforts should guarantee more than enough attendance to put this thing into the profitable category. The only thing more money-in-the-bank is Disney's re-release of its classics to a new audience every eight years.
Although portrayed one-dimensionally, the obsessive character in 'Misty" and "Fatal Attraction" was a deep thinker compared to "Swimfan's" Madison. Erika Christensen must play her as a character that comes with zero motivation. The script provides no way for her to communicate what attracts Madison to high-school athletes, what makes her instantly obsessive toward Ben (Jesse Bradford), or even what she finds attractive about him. Seemingly the screenwriter and director were correct in their assessment of the intelligence of "Swimfan's" target audience, reasoning that very few of them would even be interested in knowing why Madison is so psychotic and unbalanced.
They appear to be going somewhere with the revelations about Madison's old boyfriend but these are inserted to advance the action and not as motivational explanations. Fortunately, Christensen is talented enough to subtly convey weirdness even before her hook-up with Ben takes place. Speaking of which, Ben and Madison's sexual tumble in the swimming pool is the movie's one moment of true excellence. This is a case where the constraints of keeping a PG rating inspired rather than hindered, as the director ends up with a far more inventive and erotic scene than would have occurred had he been able to be more graphic.
What is tragic is that the director really hit a home run in the casting of Christensen. With those big, round, blankly lidded eyes (the only feature that distinguishes her from her lookalike Julia Stiles), she could have brought real depth to her character-she simply glows when on the screen. Superficially Christensen plays the same basic character in "Home Room", "Traffic", "The Upside of Anger", and even "The Perfect Score". But she does something completely different with each of them and really demonstrates amazing talent. The director realized too late how much Christensen was bringing to the screen. There was not enough time to change the story and put in an original twist. There is no way after the swimming pool scene that Ben would have resisted Christensen and gone back to a sexless nothing like Sheri Appleby (insert "Some Kind of Wonderful" here). They tried to fix this issue in post-production by deleting almost all of Appleby's scenes. But the better solution would have been to drop the predictable ending and re-shoot with something quirky.
The technical aspects of the production are excellent. It is nicely lighted and filmed. The supporting cast is competent and Christensen is excellent. But it is not ambitious and the cheapness comes into play by having almost all the action take place off-screen. During the first half one is fooled into thinking this is a high quality effort. At the point of the swim meet and its sabotaged steroid test, the wheels completely fall off. From that point on the viewer is asked to believe a series of absurd plot developments that could only happen if you credited Madison with Bill Murray's "Groundhog Day" ability to relive days. Mostly off-screen and without plausible explanation she switches Ben's test sample, infiltrates the hospital, and breaks out of a police car. The second half of the movie can best be appreciated by viewing the film as weird comedy, like a restrained version of "Scary Movie".
Although portrayed one-dimensionally, the obsessive character in 'Misty" and "Fatal Attraction" was a deep thinker compared to "Swimfan's" Madison. Erika Christensen must play her as a character that comes with zero motivation. The script provides no way for her to communicate what attracts Madison to high-school athletes, what makes her instantly obsessive toward Ben (Jesse Bradford), or even what she finds attractive about him. Seemingly the screenwriter and director were correct in their assessment of the intelligence of "Swimfan's" target audience, reasoning that very few of them would even be interested in knowing why Madison is so psychotic and unbalanced.
They appear to be going somewhere with the revelations about Madison's old boyfriend but these are inserted to advance the action and not as motivational explanations. Fortunately, Christensen is talented enough to subtly convey weirdness even before her hook-up with Ben takes place. Speaking of which, Ben and Madison's sexual tumble in the swimming pool is the movie's one moment of true excellence. This is a case where the constraints of keeping a PG rating inspired rather than hindered, as the director ends up with a far more inventive and erotic scene than would have occurred had he been able to be more graphic.
What is tragic is that the director really hit a home run in the casting of Christensen. With those big, round, blankly lidded eyes (the only feature that distinguishes her from her lookalike Julia Stiles), she could have brought real depth to her character-she simply glows when on the screen. Superficially Christensen plays the same basic character in "Home Room", "Traffic", "The Upside of Anger", and even "The Perfect Score". But she does something completely different with each of them and really demonstrates amazing talent. The director realized too late how much Christensen was bringing to the screen. There was not enough time to change the story and put in an original twist. There is no way after the swimming pool scene that Ben would have resisted Christensen and gone back to a sexless nothing like Sheri Appleby (insert "Some Kind of Wonderful" here). They tried to fix this issue in post-production by deleting almost all of Appleby's scenes. But the better solution would have been to drop the predictable ending and re-shoot with something quirky.
The technical aspects of the production are excellent. It is nicely lighted and filmed. The supporting cast is competent and Christensen is excellent. But it is not ambitious and the cheapness comes into play by having almost all the action take place off-screen. During the first half one is fooled into thinking this is a high quality effort. At the point of the swim meet and its sabotaged steroid test, the wheels completely fall off. From that point on the viewer is asked to believe a series of absurd plot developments that could only happen if you credited Madison with Bill Murray's "Groundhog Day" ability to relive days. Mostly off-screen and without plausible explanation she switches Ben's test sample, infiltrates the hospital, and breaks out of a police car. The second half of the movie can best be appreciated by viewing the film as weird comedy, like a restrained version of "Scary Movie".