It is no worse than the average of the genre, but it is one of the most unremarkable, garden-variety installments I've seen.
Swimfan (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:89
Fresh:13
Rotten:76
Average Rating:3.9/10
Consensus: A Fatal Attraction rip-off, Swimfan is a predictable, mediocre thriller.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for mature thematic elements, sexual content, disturbing images and language
Runtime: 85 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Sep 6, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $28,303,771
Synopsis: This teen psychodrama directed by John Polson plays like a Generation Y version of FATAL ATTRACTION. Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) is a high school swimmer with an incredibly promising future. On the... This teen psychodrama directed by John Polson plays like a Generation Y version of FATAL ATTRACTION. Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) is a high school swimmer with an incredibly promising future. On the verge of securing a scholarship to Stanford, and in love with the too-good-to-be-true Amy (Shiri Appleby), Ben seems to have it all. But the arrival of a new student threatens to ruin everything Ben has worked so hard to attain. Temptation arrives in the form of Madison Bell (Erika Christiansen), a beautiful, sultry cellist whose overt sexuality is too much for Ben too handle. In a fit of passion, he succumbs to her advances, but is immediately wracked with guilt. Trying to eradicate his mistake before it can escalate any further, Ben confronts Madison. To his dismay, he discovers that she has formed an abnormally strong attachment to him. Soon, Ben has been accused of taking steroids, fired from his hospital job, and targeted by the police for trying to kill Amy. With the help of friends, Ben must find a way to expose Madison and stop her reign of terror. Polson's entertaining film is fueled by an amped hard rock soundtrack and Louis Febre's moody score. [More]
Starring: Jesse Bradford, Shiri Appleby, Erika Christensen, Dan Hedaya
Starring: Jesse Bradford, Shiri Appleby, Erika Christensen, Dan Hedaya, Kate Burton, Kia Joy Goodwin, Nick Sandow, Michael Higgins
Director: John Polson
Director: John Polson
Screenwriter: Philip Schneider, Charles Bohl
Producer: John Penotti, Allison Lyon Segan, Joseph M. Caracciolo
Composer: Louis Febre
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Reviews for Swimfan
A technically well-made suspenser...but its abrupt drop in IQ points as it races to the finish line proves simply too discouraging to let slide.
Dialogue so deadening and repetitive that it takes on the cadence of MAD Magazine set to a Gregorian chant.
SWIMFAN could have been a good movie if the screenwriters had put some psychological weight into it.
It would be great to see this turd squashed under a truck, preferably a semi.
Nothing comes as a surprise, and viewers will be pondering how certain things managed to occur -- especially involving the villain's apparent super-human strength.
The first Fatal Attraction was vile enough. Do we really need the Tiger Beat version?
Swimfan will not be mistaken for War & Peace on the big screen, but it is certainly head and shoulders above everything else out there that alleges to be for teenagers.
If swimfan does catch on, it may be because teens are looking for something to make them laugh.
Without delivering chills or suspense, it reiterates the old message that cheating is fine, unless you happen to choose a psycho.
The only excitement comes when the credits finally roll and you get to leave the theater.
Made for teens and reviewed as such, this is recommended only for those under 20 years of age...and then only as a very mild rental.
There's nothing redeeming about this movie - it should be called Drowning in the Cinematic Cesspool.
Christensen...is such a fun, wicked, spiteful villainess that she keeps the flick afloat all by herself.
essentially "Fatal Attraction" remade for viewers who were in diapers when the original was released in 1987. ...this story gets sillier, not scarier, as it goes along...
On the surface, the film is played straight, with sustained tension and effective frights. But the director has done his research, and fills every scene with a subversive humor that's 100% pure imitation Hitchcock.
[Swimfan] falls victim to sloppy plotting, an insultingly unbelievable final act and a villainess who is too crazy to be interesting.
This could have been a fun, teen Fatal Attraction, but the scorned character's violent rampage is so far-fetched and ugly that it sinks the film and any shot at being a crowd-pleasing popcorn movie.
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John Polson, the filmmaker who last directed the Robert De Niro / Dakota Fanning thriller "Hide and Seek," will soon step back behind the cameras, says Variety. Mr.... More...
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