Taglines: Ben Cronin had the perfect life until he met the new girl.
New Jersey high school senior Ben Cronin is a former juvenile delinquent, whose past criminal behavior was fueled by and for drug use. He credits the support of his now long time girlfriend Amy Miller and getting into competitive swimming as the primary reasons for turning his life around, which includes working part-time at the hospital where his single mother works.
He has become the star swimmer of his high school team, so much so that scouts from Stanford University are coming in a week’s time to watch Ben swim. Ben has a new swim fan in Madison Bell, a recent transfer student to Ben’s high school. Despite Ben making it clear that he is in a committed relationship, Madison seduces him, the seduction to which he succumbs. They agree afterward that their encounter was a one-time only event, but Ben slowly comes to the realization that despite Madison’s assertions to the contrary, she has more in mind with him.
He feels her constant unspoken threats to expose their tryst and ultimately when he rebuffs her totally, unspoken threats to ruin his life in whatever means possible. Ben quickly learns to what extremes Madison is willing to go, especially when he finds out about her past. He has to figure out how to regain his life back from his known stalker, which is aided by the reason Madison is in New Jersey in the first place.
Film Review for Swimfan
Swimfan focuses on Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford), a champion high school swimmer with a suitably attractive girlfriend, Amy (Shiri Appleby). Enter Madison Bell (Erika Christensen), the “new girl in town,” about whom nobody knows anything and who lives in a weird, Dickensian mansion complete with a creepy aunt (Phyllis Somerville) and partially deaf cousin (James Debello). Of course, our young innocent Ben falls victim to the new girl’s charms, and they have a one-night-stand in the high school swimming pool.
And of course, Madison promises Ben that no one should ever speak of this incident again, that they’ll just pretend it never happened. But Madison doesn’t just go away; in fact, she’s louder and clearer than before, leaving Ben notes, jamming his e-mail inbox with hundreds of messages and even bringing birthday flowers to Ben’s mom (Kate Burton).
When all that isn’t enough to win Ben “back,” Madison goes about sabotaging Ben’s life, from his relationship with Amy to his athletic career. And she somehow manages to get away with all this without leaving so much as a shred of incriminating evidence.Indeed, “Swimfan” is a chiller resolutely without chills, in which even the pool water always seems heated.
And inasmuch as the pic never owns up to its own trashiness, it’s not even enjoyable camp — like Mary Lambert’s recent “The In-Crowd” — even though there’s about as much underage drinking, heavy petting and full-on sex as you can imagine this side of a very surprising PG-13 rating. And “Swimfan” doesn’t stop there: Ben’s skills in larceny end up savingthe day, which pretty much quashes any chance the film has at being perceived as a cautionary tale.
The good news is that the pic’s running time of 84 minutes is mercifully brief, and the film is a fine showcase for Christensen, who played Michael Douglas’ daughter in “Traffic.” Also, the frequent underwater photography, courtesy of lenser Giles Nuttgens (“The Deep End”) and underwater d.p. Gary Shlifer, is well accomplished.
Swimfan (2002)
Directed by: John Polson
Starring: Erika Christensen, Shiri Appleby, Kate Burton, Clayne Crawford, Jesse Bradford, Kia Goodwin, Phyllis Somerville, Amy Mapother, Patricia Rae, Tom Cappadona
Screenplay by: Charles F. Bohl, Phillip Scheider
Production Design by: Kalina Ivanov
Cinematography by: Giles Nuttgens
Film Editing by: Sarah Flack
Costume Design by: Arjun Bhasin
Set Decoration by: Diana White
Art Direction by: Frank White
Makeup Department: Caryn Brostoff, Christine Domaniecki, Francie Fillatti
Music by: John Debney
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic elements, sexual content, disturbing images and language.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: September 6, 2002
Visits: 198
