SYNOPSICS
Swimfan (2002) is a English movie. John Polson has directed this movie. Jesse Bradford,Erika Christensen,Shiri Appleby,Kate Burton are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2002. Swimfan (2002) is considered one of the best Drama,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
New Jersey high school senior Ben Cronin is a former juvenile delinquent, whose past criminal behavior was fueled by and for drug use. He credits the support of his now long time girlfriend Amy Miller and getting into competitive swimming as the primary reasons for turning his life around, which includes working part-time at the hospital where his single mother works. He has become the star swimmer of his high school team, so much so that scouts from Stanford University are coming in a week's time to watch Ben swim. Ben has a new swim fan in Madison Bell, a recent transfer student to Ben's high school. Despite Ben making it clear that he is in a committed relationship, Madison seduces him, the seduction to which he succumbs. They agree afterward that their encounter was a one-time only event, but Ben slowly comes to the realization that despite Madison's assertions to the contrary, she has more in mind with him. He feels her constant unspoken threats to expose their tryst and ...
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Swimfan (2002) Reviews
Fatal Attraction with teenagers. And swimming.
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 teen "Fatal Attraction"
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.
Femme Fatale With Superhuman Powers
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.
lowest common denominator thriller
If you've seen `Fatal Attraction,' then there really isn't much reason for you to check out `Swimfan,' which carries the psycho stalker scenario to absurd heights. But since the target audience for this film is today's teens, chances are many of its viewers will never even have heard of `Fatal Attraction,' let alone seen it. `Swimfan' is set in one of those high schools that exist only in the movies you know, the ones that seem to be populated almost entirely by twenty-something hunks and babes (with the occasional nerd thrown in) and which appear to be utterly devoid of teachers, principals, counselors or any other adult supervisory staff to run the place (in all fairness, we DO get to see one swim coach). None of these students are ever seen attending a class, cracking open a book or doing any homework, but then that would sort of spoil the fun of the high school experience now, wouldn't it? Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) doesn't ask much out of life. All he wants is to be left alone to concentrate on his swimming so that he'll be in tiptop shape to impress the scouts who are coming out from Stanford to have a look at him. That's his plan anyway, until one day, into his life, strolls Madison Belle (Erika Christensen), a pretty young seductress, who, upon her arrival at the school, makes an immediate beeline for Ben, seducing him in the school's swimming pool and making his life thoroughly miserable thereafter. Soon Madison is stalking our hero in true Glenn Close fashion, finding ways to insinuate herself into every aspect of Ben's once seemingly ideal life. Indeed, Ben has every thing going for him: popularity, good looks, athletic prowess, a devoted mother, a girlfriend who loves him and it all threatens to come crashing down around him after just one night of unbridled passion with this fresh-from-out-of-town psychotic nut case. About the only interesting aspect of `Swimfan' is how it shows that, in this technologically advanced age, a genuine stalker now has so many more options at his or her disposal answering machines, cell phones, pagers, voice mail, email, instant messages. The possibilities are endless. It's enough to make one long for the good old days when an obsessed paramour had to at least foot the bill for a phone call or buy a stamp to send a deranged letter, or at least find ever more clever ways of skulking around. Stalking just seems way too easy these days. Technology appears to have taken all the challenge out of it. Unlike `Fatal Attraction,' which at least managed to achieve a level of credibility before it went off the deep end in the final act, `Swimfan' never establishes a believable tone. Madison's actions always just feel like melodramatic plot points, and Ben's retaliatory measures aren't much better. And the law enforcement in the town well, the less said about THEM the better! Ultimately, the story becomes more and more preposterous as it churns along, so much so that the film actually ends up generating more laughs than gasps by the time it is over. Jesse Bradford and Erika Christensen may still have solid acting careers ahead of them, but my suspicion is that `Swimfan' will not rank very high on either of their resumes.
This shouldn't be that good, but it is
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.