Swimming for Gold

As a professional swimmer and swimming teacher, I was offended. Australia has always been a reference in the sport, so the least the production team could have done would be to follow two or three days of real training. Or even see how a competition works. Besides, the story and the dramas of the characters don't make any sense.

This is a movie about a depressed professional swimmer trying to find herself again. It's simple, it's cute, and the romance is not at the forefront of the story. No one should look at the cover of this movie and think, "Oh, the swimming scenes will be the most realistic scenes there are." I did not click on this movie, thinking it would be God's gift to man. I picked it thinking it would be a cute movie with hot shirtless boys. It doesn't need ot be more than what it is, and it is good for what it is. I love the characters I love Peyton in this role of in between Disney and just a teen romance. Not every movie must be hyper-realistic.

Yes, the first thing that I noticed was that some of the dialogues appeared staged or scripted rather than natural. There was also little about the storyline that was truly surprising. That being said, I wouldn't write this movie off just yet.

Once I had accepted that this movie wasn't going to win any Oscars, I began focussing on the elements that *were* enjoyable. As a former competitive swimmer, the intensity of training sessions throughout the day, the lack of sportsmanship between teams, and the suspense in winning by just 1/100 second were all recognisable. It was also pleasing to see the underwater shots of flip turns and the attention for peculiar techniques and considerations.

Moreover, the performance of the main actors is admirable. Their physique was unmistakably that of a competitive swimmer, and mind you - this is not something anyone could achieve in six months or something. These actors have clearly been swimming for years. Yet they've also managed to convey the story in a reasonably convincing manner. Assuming that they are swimmers first and actors second, they are really quite all right.

All in all, if you're looking for a story with unexpected turns or for subliminal acting, this might not be the movie for you. However, if you have any affinity with competitive swimming, I'd advise you to give it a shot. There's a good chance of finding many moments that are both relatable and entertaining.

While the main actress is Peyton List whom is American, this is an Australian film. You can find several excellent movies from there in any genre, action, horror, romance, drama, etc... so don't make them think otherwise. This particular movie may not be excellent but it's quite enjoyable if you're looking for a young sports romantic comedy.

We were "surfing" around looking for a movie to watch. With streaming, there is no end to movies. We stumbled across this, and the info on it looked fun. Rarely do we find a really wonderful and uplifting movie. Yes, it is clean, but the story line was great. I'd like to pick out one of these young people to speak about, but the truth is, every single one of them were terrific young actors! It has everything in it to make the watcher feel wonderful. You cared about all of them. The ending had us cheering right along with the characters. I know some think this was a bland movie. It is not! We had a very sad incident on Christmas Eve, and we haven't bounced back. It will be a long time, but this was the first time since then that we felt like no matter how sad or bad something happens, the good can and will come again, thanks to this movie. I don't want to give spoilers, but you will make a huge mistake if you don't watch it!