Swimfan (2002) User Reviews

Hate me if you must, but I liked it.

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 6/10 · 7 September 2002]

True it's not the best movie. And it is another fatal attraction with teens. But believe me it's a good movie. There are some flaws. But you should judge for yourself. It has good suspense, great performance by Erika Christianson. And Shiri is doing good on her carrer. It is another cheesy teen movie, but this is a good one. So over all, I'm not going to say this is the best movie, but it was worth $5.00. Like I said judge for yourself. Don't believe the bad reviews. Just go have fun. You won't regret it.

6/10

Young version fatal attraction

[jillyeung · 5/10 · 15 October 2004]

The character Madison is interesting but when the story comes to the end, everything turned so quick and seems to get more and more nonsense. The power of Madison is overwhelming. She knows everything, she can go anywhere. At last, she, a young girl, killed 2 police officers! Going back to the swimming pool with Amy seems to be too dramatic and comedic. The acting skills of Erika Christensen is impressive. She shows inner anger but lack of psychic complications. When facing the "truth" that she was not loved by Ben, she did not show much "lost" by her eyes contacts and facial expression, instead, the editing did. And this is what the mood is built up by editing throughout the film.

A watch-once "Fatal Attraction" clone

[MrGKB · 4/10 · 10 November 2005]

This is one of those films that proves once again that there are limits to how much decent production values can redeem a bad script. Lenny Bruce had a great line that covers the situation: "You can't get snot off a suede jacket." Directed by the guy who helmed "Hide and Seek," which I haven't seen yet, but eventually will once I find it for free at the library like I did this one (thank goodness!), "Swimfan" (an inept title if ever I've seen one) has some nice camera-work and decent acting going for it, but not much else. It's one of those films that has you progressing from "Huh?" to "What the...?" to "Now hold on a second!" to "Oh, for God's sake!" to "Alright, now that's just ridiculous!" over the course of its beguiling but vacuous running time. The leads are attractive enough and do their best with the slim material, but simply cannot overcome the forced storyline. I know I finally gave up on it completely when bad girl Madison shot her way out of the back seat of a police cruiser. Handcuffs in front? A conveniently left-handed cop in the back seat who leaves his weapon conveniently unsecured? Please. Dan Hedaya has an uncharacteristic turn as a relatively sane swimming coach, but was obviously just taking a paycheck. Eminently skippable unless you're an Erica Christensen groupie (I found Shiri Appleby much more attractive), "Swimfan" sinks rapidly in the deep waters of its own stupidity and lack of believability.

Femme Fatale With Superhuman Powers

[Lechuguilla · 9 December 2007]

We've seen this idea before, in other films like "Fatal Attraction" (1987) and "The Crush" (1993). A woman obsesses about a man, and won't let go. Given the high school age of the main characters in "Swimfan", and given background music that is mostly sophomoric, the film is clearly targeted at people under the age of twenty-five.

Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) is annoyingly smug. He's your prototype high school pop jock. He drives around in a macho-looking pickup truck. Madison Bell (lovely Erika Christensen) gets a crush on Ben and, even knowing he already has a girlfriend, stalks him relentlessly; she's his femme fatale. Conveniently unstable and manipulative, Madison makes trouble for Ben with one plot contrivance after another.

The script has a setup that is too long. And the second half of the script has action that is wildly improbable. Madison just seems to appear from out of nowhere in the most unlikely places, and at just the right time. Her efforts are too easy, especially as they relate to hospital security and police procedures. It's as if she has superhuman powers, not an effect you want to impart as a storyteller, unless your story fits in the sci-fi or fantasy genre, which this film does not.

If the script is weak, the acting is generally pretty good, with reasonably effective performances from Jesse Bradford, Erika Christensen, and James DeBello as Dante. The film's color cinematography is fine. And I also liked the editing, with jump cuts that neatly corresponded with Madison's state of mind.

"Swimfan" is not a bad movie. But its premise is unoriginal, and the plot structure is faulty. A script rewrite or two might have rendered a better cinematic outcome. However, other elements of the film are fine. And for the right audience, this film does have some entertainment value, at least for a one-time viewing.

Fodder that seems to work better than it should

[Quinoa1984 · 5/10 · 8 May 2003]

Ben Cronin (Bradford) is one of those high schoolers that almost had it all: plenty of good friends, a sweet girlfriend (Appleby), and the swimming skills of a champion. His life and success track are scrambled, however, with the introduction to Madison Bell (Christensen), a vixen who becomes smitten with him. Madison seduces Ben in the pool one night, and while he feels guilty after a session of horizontal watersports, Masison goes Glen Close in Fatal Attraction crazy when he turns her down, and the movie starts to turn.

From the previews, Swimfan looked like a bad movie, an "Attraction" set in high school suburbia with Michael Douglas' role as a swim fanatic instead of a businessman. While the last third of the picture veers off heavily into the land of the un-yielding female revenge cliche, the first two-thirds of the film are actually a pretty provocative, tight character study with issues of infidelity and confidence. Christensen, who made a startling breakout role as a judge's intoxicated daughter in 2000's Traffic, plays it rather straight and sensual, which gives the film a boost, until her over-the-top climax, and shows that, in a B-movie sort of showcase, she can hold her own. B-

A Time capsule of the early 2000s

[laurasomia · 5/10 · 20 October 2019]

Watched this movie recently with my roommates and we honestly had a good time. The nostalgia factor definitely helped as the storyline really doesn't hold up that much but I'd still recommend it for a chill night in we friends. Also whatever happened to that guy? It seems he was everywhere for a hot second and then completely vanished!

Fatal Attraction......For the kids....

[FlashCallahan · 5/10 · 25 February 2017]

Ben Cronin has the admiration of his friends, a terrific girlfriend, and an appointment with swim scouts from Stanford.

Ben must train for countless hours in the pool for a critical swim meet, work at the local hospital and find time with his girlfriend, Amy.

His life is disrupted by the arrival of Madison Bell. The new girl in town quickly sets her sights on Ben.

While their first few meetings are innocent enough, Madison wants more....

Nothing new to see here, it's your atypical nice person turns psycho after a brush off, and after the rejection, Ben finds his life slowly crashing down around him.

It's the age old tale, never stray off the path, and be faithful to the ones you love, because karma will come a knocking at your door, but it's been done to death, and so much better.

It's mercifully short though, and the two leads are affable enough, but your just sitting there waiting for the inevitable to happen, then it does, you leave the film, and never think of it again.

if you haven't seen any films from this sub-genre before, you may appreciate it more than I did, but you will certainly appreciate the other films in this category.

and there are plenty..

Fatal Attraction with teenagers. And swimming.

[tenten76 · 7/10 · 26 August 2002]

This film succeeds because of Jesse Bradford. I remember him from Bring It On (another excellent performance), but it appears he's done lots of things. He's a great lead actor, and I can see him filling Tom Cruise / Ben Affleck style roles in a few years' time.

The film itself is a fairly respectable effort at a Fatal Attraction style relationship, with teen-thriller-genre elements of the misunderstood wierd guy, the new girl in town with a secret past, and so on. I can only think of one vaguely surprising moment (with Josh, in the pool) - otherwise it's fairly predictable, but enjoyable all the same.

Watching it, I couldn't help but wonder why the school's best swimmer and most attractive guy didn't have a bigger circle of friends (Josh the jock, Randy the drip, and a black girl with a chip on her shoulder (what an original character..).

Also, why would he be tempted by a girl who isn't quite as attractive (or as nice) as his girlfriend? - but I know that's often the case in real life, so I can let that go.

Finally, Jesse didn't need the whole 'troubled teen past' - in the places where it was used, it wasn't really necessary - and although I'm no fan of the family values lobby, I am thoroughly sick of the single-parent-family that seems to exist in every single movie these days. It's just a lazy way of adding to teen angst, and avoids the need to write convincing two-parent scenes.

Swimfan is fine, but is only really a stepping-stone movie onto bigger and (hopefully) better things for the lead actors.

A bit of a mixed bag

[davidwarner_za · 5/10 · 1 April 2006]

Well, after watching this movie (knowing that it was similar to the classic 'Fatal Attraction') - I smiled and shook my head because even though the movie is so predictable, there could have been so much done to change the characters from predictably stupid to vaguely normal.

Having said that, given what they had, the acting was actually quite good. I said good. Not wonderful, not great. Just good. Casting was excellent. Madison (Erika Christensen) is perfectly cast. She looks so seductive, innocent and devilish at the same time. Amy (Shiri Appleby) is fantastically cast as the somewhat quiet girlfriend of Ben (Jesse Bradford). Both girls are very beautiful, which adds to the sex appeal of the movie as well as the plot. We aren't told so, but it's more than obvious that although Ben and Amy are in love, they don't get intimate too often, leading to Ben's weakness (and he didn't try to stop Madison's advances too hard) and his ultimate mistake.

The direction is quite good. Camera angles are suspenseful, lighting is excellent, with an obvious emphasis on blue (which, through the whole movie, exudes a rather powerful 'chilling' feeling) The pacing of the movie in general is okay, although something tells me that a lot of key scenes are lying on the cutting-room floor ... and this brings me to the negatives.

The story is terrible. Apart from the 'Fatal Attraction' clone (which isn't a problem in itself) - the characters are insanely stupid and naive. As a viewer, you are dragged straight into the story with absolutely no room to begin to understand the characters. There is absolutely no character development, no character arcs and no plot twists whatsoever. We are not given any motivation as to why Madison is the way she is, what her motivations are, why she's attracted to Ben (or other athletes), how she really got to know about Ben so soon, and we're also rushed through major scenes in the movie (the urine-switch etc.) It all culminates to an overly-dramatic climax which is frankly quite disappointing but predictable. I would like to have seen a 'stalker wins' kind of ending, just adding another victim to her tally.

If the point of the movie was to be a dramatic thriller, then they failed miserably. Too dramatic, not thrilling. Mildly comedic, and quite irritating at times. You just want to shake Ben and say to him (when the coach tells him that his urine tested positive for steroids) "Dude! Demand a re-analysis! MAKE A FUSS for crying out loud!!" - But he stupidly walks off after a weak attempt at convincing the coach of his innocence, only to open his locker and find a baseball bat (as a viewer, I thought "Huh? Where did this come from??") Anyway, a passable movie...entertaining but not good enough to make me want to watch it again in a hurry. Major plot holes, stupid characters and key elements that were glanced over or cut out (or not written in the first place) changes this from a 8/10 to a 5/10.

Surprising though, I thought that Polson did a fantastic job with Hide & Seek. Lets hope he keeps improving!

A teen "Fatal Attraction"

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 12 September 2002]

Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) has it all--he's a high schooler with a great mother, a wonderful girlfriend and a great career ahead of him as a swimmer. However he meets beautiful Madison Bell (Erika Christensen) and (stupidly) has sex with her. It turns out she's a psycho and when he rejects her she goes out to turn his life into a living hell...and she's not above murdering someone.

Totally predictable but surprisingly not bad at all. The characters talk and act like teens (although they all look their age--early 20s), the story moves fairly quickly and I was never bored. There are some glaring lapses in logic but, while I was watching the movie, they didn't bother me. For instance, it's impossible for Bell to do all the things she does. Also the sex and violence is very toned down for the PG-13 rating. Good performances really make the film work. Bradford is very good as Cronin. Handsome, muscular and believable. Shiri Appleby does wonders with her sadly underwritten role as his girlfriend. Christensen is excellent as Bell. She's both beautiful and very scary.

No masterpiece bit a good, solid teen thriller. I paid $9.50 and thought it was money well spent! Worth catching.

boring Fatal Attraction for teens

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 8 June 2014]

High school student Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) works hard swimming with a Stanford scout coming. His sweet girlfriend Amy Miller (Shiri Appleby) keeps him away from his checkered past of drug and stealing. He works at the hospital with his single mom. Madison Bell (Erika Christensen) is the new girl in school. She gets on Ben's mind and they have one night in the swimming pool. They agree to stay friends but Madison seems to have something else in mind. Madison befriends Amy and things get uncomfortable for Ben.

It's Fatal Attraction for teens. It takes way too long to get going and is far too slow. There is no surprises and no originality in this bland thriller. There is no tension at all. Jesse Bradford is playing a weak character which kind of fits. Erika Christensen has a cold determination and cool demeanor about her. She is definitely beautiful enough to catch anybody's eyes. It is probably a mistake to have cousin Christopher Dante. The point is to isolate Ben till he has nobody to rely on. It's a problem for him to have an ally. There is just nothing special in this movie and the ending is way too convoluted.

A successful drama film with all of the requirements a thrilling romance needs

[chrishewittpiano · 9/10 · 14 January 2003]

This very serious and dramatic movie puts fourth the clue that it is about obsession, betrayal, and revenge. In the movie, Madison Bell played by very talented Erika Christensen, is the new girl that has a sudden likeness for Ben Cronin, played by Jesse Bradford. What Ben doesn't know is that this new girl will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Even if it requires some dirty work.

The overall performance of this movie ended up quite well in my opinion. The scenes and camera angles were stupendous, and the music puts the entire film into a setting of whatever the music is explaining. The story, although some people say it was a remake of some other movie, was done with suspicion, suspense, and wonder. The trailer for this movie looked good when I saw it advertising on television or in the theaters. So I had to check it out and see if it was any good. I was satisfied with the end result and had a chill down my spine in every other scene. This is probably one of the perfect examples of a dramatic love movie, in the eyes of some. I think that most of the scenes that were included in the final picture were necessary, except for a few long and dragging on parts. I cannot recall remembering any parts that were poorly filmed, poorly acted, poorly edited, and so on. The main characters were what made this movie a success.

First off, Jesse Bradford is a good actor for his age, putting him behind Leonardo DiCaprio, but in front of Macaulay Culkin in terms of their skills in how well they appear to be the character they were assigned to play. I had only heard of Jesse Bradford after seeing the movie "Clockstoppers" about four of five months before that. So I thought that if he puts on a relatively good performance in "Clockstoppers", he must do well in this movie. And so he did. He will most likely come a long way in his career in the future with more dramatic acts and roles. As for Erika Christensen, she has a lot more talent than I would have thought. I first noticed her in the remake of the classic series "Leave it to Beaver". She delivered a good, wholesome attainment in that movie, along with her other big hit in '99, "Can of Worms". But she has come a long way since then. Now she has more of a figure, has more skill in whatever role she is put up to, and will most likely succeed high in her career as well.

The co-stars of this movie include Shiri Appleby, playing "Amy". She reminds me of a younger version of Denise Richards from her character "Carmen" in "Starship Troopers". They somewhat relate on account of their astounding talent to contrive worried expressions whenever needed. Clayne Crawford, playing the jock, "Josh", is also remarkable as his supporting role in this movie. He is probably just as talented as the main actor Jesse Bradford, only in a smaller role. There was also the character of "Christopher", played by James DeBello who is pretty good as his character, as is all the rest of the cast in which I have not listed.

The extensively few cons that I have to this movie is that it really could have been longer. I mean, take "Minority Report" for example. Although the plots have nothing alike, "Minority Report" was nearly twice as long. But what Hollywood seems to be doing is making all of the movies that they think people will see and make them really short, so even though they see it in the theaters, they will pay the same amount of money for a 2 and a half hour movie as they do an 80-minute film. So instead of spending the extra money to make the movie longer, they just shorten it up a bit. I think that there also could have been more scenes with the school and with the development of characters. Since this took place in a high school, it doesn't really make sense how Jesse Bradford, a 23-year old, is playing an 18 year old? That was the same way in the movie "Clockstoppers" as well. He was playing a younger character, even though he may be up to five years older than the person he is portraying. The main concept is that the end result looks real and is successful in the end. I would give this movie a 9 out of 10 stars only because I believe that it could have been longer, with room for more character development and some improvements. But if you are a person who has a measly hour and a half to spare, this movie will send a chill down your spine and something to think about.

Young People's Fatal Attraction

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 16 November 2006]

Having recently seen Jesse Bradford as Rene Gagnon in Clint Eastwood's Flags Of Our Fathers and been impressed I decided to check out Swimfan. It's a typical teen flick, a version in their age bracket of Fatal Attraction.

Jesse's the object of the obsession of Erika Christiansen, a most disturbed young woman who had a tragedy that most of the cast doesn't know about, but that truly unhinges her.

After Erika seduces Jesse in a steamy seduction scene at the high school pool, she enters his life in all sorts of unwanted ways. Jesse has a criminal past, but got himself into swimming and is set for an athletic scholarship in that sport. When one of Jesse's swimming teammates winds up dead in the selfsame swimming pool, he's looking mighty good for it to the police.

Swimfan is not a badly done teen flick and in Bradford one has a young Tyrone Power so Erika's obsession is understandable.

Hey, I think he looks a bit like Power, maybe Rob Lowe.

Terrible "Fatal Attraction" for the new millennium

[MovieAddict2016 · 1/10 · 12 November 2005]

John Polson is quite an inept director (he also directed last year's flop Robert De Niro film, "Hide and Seek") and this 2002 venture was no change of pace for him.

Jesse Bradford stars (and I use the word "stars" rather than "plays," since his "performance" is no more than using a single facial expression for 80 minutes) as a high school jock who is seduced by Erika Christensen and then stalked by her. It's "Fatal Attraction" with teens and it's ridiculous.

The script has problems from the beginning and most of the movie is just a way of cashing in on the '80s' obsession with stalker-flicks - fortunately this helped prove definitively that their crossover into the new millennium was, shall we say, not very successful.

This shouldn't be that good, but it is

[Clams · 6 September 2002]

I would like to say that this movie hasn't got many reasons to be as good as it is, because it is a teen/twentysomething play on a formula that's kind of, or for lack of a better phrase truly, been done to death. Fatal Attraction movies, while occasionally pulling at least one different trick out of their hat, are always the same, that's why Michael Douglas is in 95% of them. However, it's extremely well made by director John Polson and well-acted by the young cast, particularly Traffic's Erika Christensen, who shines as Madison Bell, the obsessive swim fan of the title.

The story deals with Ben Cronin, a high school senior who's life is going pretty well, as the hero's usually is at the start of these pictures, he has a lot of good friends, he has a girlfriend Amy (Shiri Appleby) who is as sweet as apple pie, and he's on the way to a swimming scholarship to Stanford. However, all of that changes once he encounters Madison Bell, the seductive new girl in town. He only wants to be friends with her, but after they have a one night stand, she becomes more obsessive, stalking him, ruining every aspect of his life, and generally acting like a nuisance. I suppose I don't have to say that because that is pretty much how a Fatal Attraction picture works.

What makes this movie work is that it is well done, and it is as creepy as most FA clones need to be if they expect to work. Plus, the three leads are all very good, albeit this film belongs to Erika Christensen, who does a pretty good job of stealing the movie.

Aquatic Travesty Put to Film

[JnB67 · 1/10 · 18 September 2002]

One of the most sadly predictable and irritable films I have seen in a good long while. I believe when casting this film, they neglected to notice that every character in the film had the exact same personal qualities; annoying, ugly, and total lack of acting ability. The movie includes some of the most underdeveloped characters ever put on film, and an ending that will make you wish you had killed yourself halfway through. This movie gives hope to all aspiring filmmakers, saying to them, "No matter how terrible an idea or ridiculous a plot you have, do not despair, someone in Hollywood is dumb enough to produce it!"

Drownfan 2002

[adam_switz2000 · 1/10 · 12 September 2002]

This show could have been a success if it were written to be funny, silly, and just a tongue in cheek toss off of Fatal Attraction. Sadly, it is not.

The writers, producer, director and actors all meant this film to be a serious attempt at real drama for the teen crowd....so why the heck was the entire audience booing, laughing and tossing things at the screen? Barking at Shiri Appleby, hoochie calls at Erika, and booing Jesse?

It was that bad. Passable acting? That is a terrible description. The three leads, Jesse Bradford, Erika Christensen and Shiri Appleby all have long resumes that should imply more than an ability to hit a performance or be passable. They did not succeed. Blame it on writing, directing or whatever. But the truth is that this script had to read as bad as it was and the blame for this rests on the entire crew and cast equally.

It is one thing to be so desperate for a movie or part and that's fine. But don't promote the film to be what it is not. This is not a good film. It is poorly written. Poorly edited. Poorly produced. Poorly casted. And poorly acted. I can respect an actor who admits that they did a bad film, but stress how it was a learning experience. I can not abide a bad film being white washed to mislead people into seeing it, because in the end, it is still a bad film.

I recommend you drown yourself before you bother with this flick. For what its intention was....it failed miserably.

A (bad) teenage version of Fatal Attraction.

[paulclaassen · 3/10 · 6 January 2023]

I wonder what my opinion of 'Swimfan' would have been had it not been for the brilliant 'Fatal Attraction'. No, 'Swimfan' is not a remake, but it is so similar, it might as well have been a teenage remake of 'Fatal Attraction'.

Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) is a good swimmer and there's a good chance he might further his career as a professional swimmer. Enter Madison Bell (Erika Christensen) and Ben's life is turned upside down.

'Swimfan' is predictable from the very start, but I decided to pretend to be surprised. Sure enough, the film unfolded just as I had predicted - almost as if I've seen it already. Heterosexual men are like a lap poodle around women. Jeez, I mean seriously!! Ben sure enough didn't waste any time finding an excuse to get to know Madison better. When he offered her a ride and she forgot her notebook in his car, he simply had to take it to her house immediately. And this while he simply could have given it to her at school the next day... It wasn't as if she needed it.

Well, well, and guess what, Ben couldn't keep his dick in his pants and had to have sex with Madison (in the pool, mind you!) the very first opportunity! Off course, soon thereafter Madison makes his life a living hell. If you've seen 'Fatal Attraction' then you'll know what happens next. This film is so cliched, so predictable, and so painfully implausible. Oh, and the final act is just absurd. I literally sat there rolling my eyes. They added the most stupid conveniences just to make the film work, and in the process completely ruined it.

Although Being Predictable, This Teen Version of `Fatal Attraction' is not so Bad

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 11 February 2004]

Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) is an ex-addicted in drugs athlete. He is disputing a participation in the Olympic games and joining Stanford University through swimming. He is in love with his girlfriend Amy Miller (Shiri Appleby) and is a good son, working with his mother in a hospital. When the young woman Madison Bell (Erika Christensen) joins his high-school, he is seduced by her and has an intercourse with her in the swimming pool. Madison chases him, but he turns her down. She becomes obsessed by him and turns his life in hell. This teen version of `Fatal Attraction' is very predicable, but is not a bad movie. The young cast has a good performance and this film is a good entertainment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): `Fixação' (`Fixation')

Had potential but lost it halfway through-still keeps you watching though.

[triple8 · 4/10 · 26 July 2005]

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT:

I'll give Swim Fan this, it keeps your attention. This is a movie along the lines of "Fatal Attraction, "Single White female", "Poison Ivy", and about a dozen or two other ones. The thing is, while this is clearly tailored as (not quite a replica but close) of Fatal Attraction-high school style, there are a couple of things in in's favor.

Number one is that they actually go into Madison's past a teeny tiny bit, unlike Alex in Fatal Attraction. That was my main gripe with that movie. Swim Fan at least tells you where this woman COMES from.

And another plus is the way it is filmed. There were a lot of shots of (surprise) swimming but I rather liked that and I did get involved in wanting to know the outcome of the story. And the whole internet scene where Madison pops on line was original and creepy, I liked how that was done. This movie is not awful, it sure isn't a 1 or 2 and could sort of be a guilty pleasure type movie. Unfortunately there were a few things That just, for me, brought the movie down a lot.

One was the twists and turns the movie started taking. I really thought it might stay off the melodramatic course for awhile because I think that's what dooms a lot of other similar type movies. But by the end of the movie, it was all about different scare tactics and where Madison will turn up next and it sunk a bit into cliché land. I mean we've seen this how many times? It really was interesting and fast paced at first and I wish it hadn't gone the route of predictable.

Second is the lack of explanation for many things that happen and the ending was a bit baffling. I'd have liked less of the clichés (chases, Madison is here, wait now she's here etc etc) and more dialog and emphasis on who the individuals are. That was the way it was going at first and because of that I thought this might actually be a 6 or 7 or so. But it became really to much and it wasn't helped by the fact that strangely all the main characters in Swim Fan resembled the main characters in "Fatal Attraction" to much for me to think it was a coincidence. They could almost be younger versions of them.

Again, this wasn't a terrible movie and I'm not even saying I would not watch it again sometime. It's definitely better then a lot of similar movies about this subject matter. But, as the case with many a movie it kind of lost it's way as it neared it's conclusion.Good job from the cast though. My vote's somewhere between a 4 and average(5.)

On par with Urban Legend and the other teen flix

[jsoko1 · 6/10 · 6 September 2002]

Have to admit that I enjoy watching the infamous teen horror films. Don't get me wrong, they probably won't be nominated for any Academy Awards, but they're not a waste of a movie ticket either.

Both Jesse Bradford and Erika Christensen carry the film well. Although much of the plot remains predictable, with a lot of help from the trailers, there are still a few plot twists that will keep viewers interested. Madison Bell (Christensen) is the new student who gets what she wants, at any cost. Obession can be a very interesting and intriguing game as she sets her sights on Ben Cronin (Bradford). However, Ben already has the perfect life as a high school student (a chance at Stanford, the perfect girl and a solid swimming career. Throw a monkey wrench into the equation, and Ben's world spins out of control.

A good movie to see on a date, or if City by the Sea isn't appealing. Leave the youngsters at home on this one.

Drowning in predictability

[celticjunkie · 4/10 · 29 August 2009]

Not sexy or edgy enough to swim with the big fish (i.e. Fatal Attraction), this film drowns in its own predictability. Sloppy direction and editing, a lackluster femme fatale, and a pervasive lack of realism (he carried a beeper? tell me nobody carried a cell phone in a NJ high school in 2002? puh-leeze) make this more of a snoozer than a suspense film.

Having just watched the DVD "Obsessed" with Beyonce and Ali Larter, I can see we haven't improved much in the 7 years since Swimfan was released. Again, predictable and preposterous. But at least Ali Larter had a bit of spark (only a bit, mind you) whereas the evil stalker chick (Erika Christesen)in Swimfan has a face so deadpan and expressionless you'd swear she just had a partial lobotomy.

Just hear me out...

[josephyoung76 · 8/10 · 25 December 2021]

No, it's not cinema gold. Experience this movie with no expectations other than to be entertained. Will you be? Absolutely. It's a cool Generation X take on the Fatal Attraction type genre.

It's well directed and the cinematography is great. Unlike most movies of this kind, this one actually seems to have had some real money put into it so it feels like the setting of a big thriller. That's always nice. I appreciate high quality film.

The appeal of this film is that most everyone at some point in their life has had a psycho in their life whether it be a mild one or an off the charts nut job, so you can either relate, or be glad you have been lucky enough to have never met a woman as unstable as this one. I personally have and they can ruin your life with very little effort.

Sure, there is no epic finger-bang scene like in Fear, but there's plenty of creepy lessons to be learned, gentlemen.

A fun-filled ride

[mattymatt4ever · 7/10 · 18 September 2002]

Sure, this premise has been used before. Blah, blah, blah. Who the hell cares??? It's not completely original, but it's put to good use. I saw this movie the day after seeing "One Hour Photo," which I regard as a cinematic masterpiece and one of the best thrillers I've ever seen. So I thought my mindset when entering "Swimfan" would be pretty darn negative. But I was able to enjoy it for what it is. It's an often predictable thriller with some goofy elements, but all in all it's very entertaining and a hell of a lot better than some of the crap that comes out nowadays.

Jesse Bradford is a handsome, charming actor and proves that he is leading man material. I'd even go as far as saying he could be the next Tom Cruise. He has the looks, he has the charisma, he has the skills. I enjoyed him in "Bring It On" and here he gives another fine performance. Erika Christiansen makes a perfect b**ch. She's a beautiful actress with a smile to die for, but she becomes terrifying as the movie progresses that I became terrified whenever her face would pop up on screen--which is a lot.

The film is well-directed and the premise, though it's been used before, is quite intriguing. I had a real good time with this movie. Sure, it has its standard Hollywood contrivances, like the creepy guy who knows all the answers, but I was able to shake those off. But there was one flaw that really irked me: A high school swimming pool wouldn't be so poorly guarded. I would expect there'd either be a lifeguard on duty or surveillance cameras watching, or they'd close down the pool.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

Another Wasted Opportunity

[aimless-46 · 4/10 · 15 October 2005]

"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".