By Sarah Weller
Movie Review: Swimfan
By Sarah Weller
Assistant Focus Editor
The psychological teen thriller, Swimfan, starring Jesse Bradford (“Bring It On”) and Erika Christensen (“Traffic”), surprisingly fooled moviegoers and critics alike by becoming No. 1 at the box office opening weekend. Bradford plays the part of Ben Cronin, a former bad boy turned star of the high school swim team and loving boyfriend to Amy, played by Shiri Appleby (TV’s “Roswell”). However, his semi-perfect world gets shaken when the new girl in school, Madison Bell (Christensen), makes him her new object of affection, or obsession.
As the story begins, Ben is under stress from his constant swimming practice in order to impress a college scout from Stanford University at an upcoming meet, and from the serious but conflicted relationship he has with his girlfriend Amy because of the decision they have to make about where to attend college and possibly still be together. But swimming and spending time with his girlfriend seem to be what saved Ben from a previous bout with drugs. Ben offers to give Madison a ride home one day when he almost hit her with his truck, and she leaves a possession behind to give him a reason to see her again. About a third of the way through the movie, Madison is watching Ben’s every move, until one day she goes with him to the pool where he is practicing and the two of them engage in a one-night stand. Pretty soon afterwards, Madison starts pretending Ben is her boyfriend, showing up at his house, sending him hundreds of emails, and even pretending not to know him in front of Amy, until Ben decides it is time to set the record straight. As one might guess, Madison doesn’t take this news very well, and within a matter of minutes, Ben is kicked off the team, he is fired from his job at the local hospital, someone tries to run his girlfriend off the road, and another plot twist that even the most experienced movie fan couldn’t have seen coming . . . with all fingers pointing towards Ben. Is he guilty or has he become a victim of having one extraordinarily crazy fan?
While some may have felt sorry for Ben, I can’t help but notice that he brought this all on himself. The thought of meaningless sex, no strings attached, with a beautiful girl may have turned out to be Ben’s tragic flaw. Being referred to as the “Fatal Attraction” of our generation “Swimfan” is a movie, which shows young adults the dangers and possibly deadly consequences of our reckless actions and careless treatment of other people. But Christensen believably plays the crazy Madison, which shows the other side of the story that there are many out there who need professional help and can be pushed over the edge. Even her character’s cello playing gave an eerie feeling that is cringe-inducing.
The acting is great, the plot and action of this film are satisfactory and at times thrilling, but the ending is not too surprising and almost insulting to our intelligence. Also, Christensen’s character is so psychotic right from the start that we don’t even get a chance to take interest in her. And again we find poor Jesse Bradford (although it turned out to be a job well done) in yet another teen movie.
CARDINAL GRADE: B+
