Pacionsbo
Absolutely Fantastic
Rosie Searle
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Dana
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Wizard-8
As you have no doubt concluded, even if you have just read the premise of this movie and not have actually watched it yourself, what we have here is a rip-off of "Fatal Attraction" - though this rip-off is aimed at a youth audience. But I think any youth who has some smarts will see this as a really bad movie. It makes the same mistake "Fatal Attraction" did - it makes its male protagonist an unlikable figure (he has a criminal past, he cheats on his girlfriend, etc.) But the problems with the screenplay go beyond that. The male protagonist is also very stupid, failing to tell key people his problem (though that may have ended the movie quickly). The story is painfully predictable even if you haven't seen "Fatal Attraction", and things are wrapped up at the end so quickly, you'll be thinking, "That's it?" While "Fatal Attraction" had some serious flaws, I would encourage youths (or anyone else) to watch that movie instead of "Swimfan".
paisley quinn
Not sexy or edgy enough to swim with the big fish (i.e. Fatal Attraction), this film drowns in its own predictability. Sloppy direction and editing, a lackluster femme fatale, and a pervasive lack of realism (he carried a beeper? tell me nobody carried a cell phone in a NJ high school in 2002? puh-leeze) make this more of a snoozer than a suspense film.Having just watched the DVD "Obsessed" with Beyonce and Ali Larter, I can see we haven't improved much in the 7 years since Swimfan was released. Again, predictable and preposterous. But at least Ali Larter had a bit of spark (only a bit, mind you) whereas the evil stalker chick (Erika Christesen)in Swimfan has a face so deadpan and expressionless you'd swear she just had a partial lobotomy.
peedubbelu
This teenager 'Fatal Attraction' clone has left me torn. I really like the first part where the main character Ben is seduced by Madison; the new kid in town. Although you know straight away that she is going to seduce him you wonder whether Ben is just oblivious to this or that he does know, but that he is young and foolish, and just a man....The plot then unravels nicely and you are sucked into the story big time. Alas halfway the movies quality changes dramatically. Madison becomes from intriguing and scary to pathetic and stupid. The whole story becomes more and more unbelievable as the movie continues, which is a shame really as it started out so nicely.The acting was actually quite good. Madison (Erika Christensen) is perfectly cast as she looks seductive, innocent, bitchy and devilish at the same time. All the other actors are quite good too. In short, not too bad, but could have been a lot better.
bkoganbing
Having recently seen Jesse Bradford as Rene Gagnon in Clint Eastwood's Flags Of Our Fathers and been impressed I decided to check out Swimfan. It's a typical teen flick, a version in their age bracket of Fatal Attraction.Jesse's the object of the obsession of Erika Christiansen, a most disturbed young woman who had a tragedy that most of the cast doesn't know about, but that truly unhinges her.After Erika seduces Jesse in a steamy seduction scene at the high school pool, she enters his life in all sorts of unwanted ways. Jesse has a criminal past, but got himself into swimming and is set for an athletic scholarship in that sport. When one of Jesse's swimming teammates winds up dead in the selfsame swimming pool, he's looking mighty good for it to the police.Swimfan is not a badly done teen flick and in Bradford one has a young Tyrone Power so Erika's obsession is understandable.Hey, I think he looks a bit like Power, maybe Rob Lowe.
