Swinging with the Finkels

The most cliché gathered Movie I have ever seen. An Indian, with the oh so funny (?) Indian/English accent, the gay Spanish man with a lisp, the french gay guy that wishes he was a woman, the traditional Asian woman at the Nail salon,who of course, gets into your conversation and is, of course, very "sexually outspoken".

Men who goes to the same Nail salon and sits there with facial masks and "treats themselves" and is talking to the same Asian woman.

I mean come on.

Think of all the bad lines, scenes that are supposed to be funny, that you just roll your Eyes at, all the American Pie Movies, take them and put them in a blender. Out comes this Movie.

Enjoy.

Written and directed by Jonathan Newman. British Martin Freeman and american Mandy Moore are the Finkels. Things are getting boring in the bedroom, and they might be ready to try swinging with others. Co-stars Jonathan Silverman (Bernie's) .. and Jerry Stiller (Serenity now !!!) this one has a LOT of talk about marriage, open relationships, role play, keeping things new and fresh in the bedroom. So they find a couple that they both agree on, which is awkward, but okay. This is listed as a comedy, but the only comedy i found was the dirty, dirty names of the drinks they offered to the other couple. That was clever! It's SO predictable... it probably ends just like you think it will. Whatever. The extra scenes during the credits were the best part of this one. They should have left those scenes in the film!

Alvin (Martin Freeman) and Ellie Finkel (Mandy Moore) seem to be a happily married couple in London. Peter (Jonathan Silverman) and Janet (Melissa George) are their married best friends. With issues in the marriage, Ellie suggests swinging.

Freeman and Moore make for a bland couple. They don't have much chemistry which leaves them without any rooting interest. I don't care about saving their marriage. The characters are flat. The humor is cruel but worst of all, it's broadly bland. With all the inappropriate takes and foul language, none of it is that funny, not even as an accidental shock humor. I'm not sure who writer/director Jonathan Newman is. His resume doesn't stand out to me. It's surprising that he has a cast of good actors. I don't know what they read in the script.

I would have liked this movie if it were not for Mandy Moore. She. Can't. Act. She plays the same, saccharin sweet shy girl in every movie. Every single one. She is not believable as Alvin's wife. She is not believable as a fashion designer. What the hell was she wearing on New Year's Eve. She looked like a 50 year old dowdy cat lady, not a fashion designer who just held a show with a truly bizarre and ridiculous collection of crap. I really had to force myself to finish it. Even the ending was anticlimactic and not the least bit endearing bc of her. And the sound quality in the opening sequence. They used the same song as the opening of While You Were Sleeping, but it sounded like it was in a cave. This story had potential, but someone mucked it up big time.

I love movies that deal with sex and marriage because these are topics that, well, are taboo on our society. The movie premise starts great, a marriage with a 'block' on their passion search for alternatives and as I say, it starts great, very liberal in the way it shows the couple trying to search for something different.

Then, all of a sudden, the movie just chickens out, sex and passion stops being the main topic of the movie and it slowly but surely becomes in another super clichéd romantic comedy about a couple fighting and getting back together.

Seriously, I love movies that respect their premise and go for it, this movie is not. Swinging (swingers) is the main title of the movie, but, believe me, swinging is the LEAST you will see on this one.

I don't have a problem with romantic comedies, don't get me wrong, but when the main premise goes to the trash can in the middle of it I get mad.

This movie is very deceptive, it tries to be original and bold in their initial statements but if rapidly falls in the "normal" category.

A real letdown, if you really want to see a fun comedy that don't dare to chicken out like this one, please, go see "A good old fashioned orgy" and do not waste time on this one.