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It had potential
by Kizzy (movies profile)
Dec 9, 2006
3
of
3 people found this review helpful
(Written 9/14/02)
Well, where to start? Okay, this movie had the potential to be really good. I mean, a one night stand happens and the girl can't let it go that easily and proceeds to seek revenge for being dissed. Everyone sees that in one way or another..I'm sure it happens quite a lot. In fact, I was actually rooting for the "bad girl" in this movie. While others might think Madison (played by Erika Christensen) was a jeolous psychopath who just needed to be put away somewhere, I felt that me and her were on the same page (take that for whatever you want it to mean).
So, here we have the potential for success..great plot..decent actors...so what went wrong? Well, watching "Swimfan" kind of reminded me of listening to a CD with skips. The movie used the technique (call it that if you will) of jumping from scene to scene with very little transition. I don't really understand the point of that. It kinda gave me the feeling that the movie wasn't done yet. It seems like they just took all the scenes and glued them together and put it on the reel and said "roll it". Maybe they figured 'why bother wasting time with pointless scenes and dialogue..just get to the point'. So, the movie was pretty much straight to the point. This can be good/bad/or indifferent..depends on who you ask. But if they REALLY wanted to be straight to the point, then they wouldn't have let the whole "cheating in the pool" scene last longer than it needed to. The producers also felt that some key lines needed to be repeated..this got annoying. Yes, I heard you the first time..no need to repeat. As far as the acting went..Jesse Bradford (who most know from "Bring it On" and "Clockstoppers") did an okay job with the dramatic elements. However, Erica Christensen (who we've seen in "Traffic" and "Leave it to Beaver") did a very good job playing the revenging b*tch. My props go to her.
Like all teen movies, there is the whole "love will prevail" concept going on..like thats the greatest thing in the world or something. Jesse's character, Ben, of course, has a girlfriend. He endangers this relationship after having is little affair with Madison. However, both of them promise not to tell anyone. Later on, Ben tries to drop Madison altogether, pretend the affair never happened, and be happy with the 'love of his life'. My present situation of couple-hating and singledom plays a VERY large role in why I was cheering on Madison. My point is, if he REALLY loved his girfriend, then he wouldn't have cheated on her. In my opinion, Ben deserved what he got.
I really don't want to give away the ending, so I won't, but I'll just say they could've done a better job with it. They tied up most of the loose ends, but left the audience thinking any or all of the following W's: "Why?", "WTF?!", or "Whatever". The final scene probably really didn't make sense.
All and all, the movie was aight. Most should wait till DVD or Cable TV though, but if you feel the need to run out and check it out..I don't blame ya. They did a very good job on the previews making it look like a great movie. Thats how I got sucked in. |
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