Swimfan - La fille de la piscine

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.

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.

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.

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')

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.