Hayleigh Joseph
This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.
Tobias Burrows
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Paynbob
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
LeonLouisRicci
It is a Difficult, even Monumental Task, this Type of Thing. That is, Making a Murderous Psycho-Thriller for Impressionable Pre-R-Rated Teens that is Edgy, Thrilling, and well, Makes an Impression. It is for the Most Talented of Filmmakers because it Certainly Needs Wit, Creativity, and Flare.None here are Up to the Task. The Director seems to have an Eye for Camera Set-Ups and Smooth, Attractive Visuals but that is about All that High-Lights this Soggy, Stalker, Formulaic Film. The Acting is Only Passable with Erika Christensen's Dull, Staring Look just Managing to Emote Emotionless Psychopathy. But the rest of the Cast doesn't Quite Reach Professional and should be Glad to get a Paycheck.It is a Not So Bad Entertainment that would have been Much Better if it had just Given in to an R-Rating and Go for the Juggler, because as it Turned Out the Talent at Work here was not Able to make a PG-13 Anything more than a Low-Rent, Hum-Drum Movie that is Unlikely to be Enjoyed by its No-Gore Targeted Audience.
peedubbelu
This teenager 'Fatal Attraction' clone has left me torn. I really like the first part where the main character Ben is seduced by Madison; the new kid in town. Although you know straight away that she is going to seduce him you wonder whether Ben is just oblivious to this or that he does know, but that he is young and foolish, and just a man....The plot then unravels nicely and you are sucked into the story big time. Alas halfway the movies quality changes dramatically. Madison becomes from intriguing and scary to pathetic and stupid. The whole story becomes more and more unbelievable as the movie continues, which is a shame really as it started out so nicely.The acting was actually quite good. Madison (Erika Christensen) is perfectly cast as she looks seductive, innocent, bitchy and devilish at the same time. All the other actors are quite good too. In short, not too bad, but could have been a lot better.
Lechuguilla
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.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
A rather poor story. Two nice young people love each other. The boy is in the swimming team and the girl is happily going along in her life of work and school. Then a vulture arrives. She is blonde, she is cannibalistic, she is ready to kill to possess what she wants and she does not take no as an answer to her orders. Then the boy says yes under pressure and she will not accept his no later on and will kill everything she can lay her hands on : friends, girl friend, mother, and the list could go on forever. The boy, with the help of a couple of people, bait that vulture with the coat of one she had tried to kill, and she is tricked into revealing her real identity, and even so she is not finished and she takes advantage of an amateurish cop to commit a couple more crime. What do we get out of this melodramatic horror? A complete feeling of emptiness that gives you a taste of ashes in your mouth, the ashes of something that is dead somewhere. Crime is never mechanical. To kill someone requires some imagination. In this case it is nothing but a bad habit that no one can cut out of her.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne