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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 30773
Released: March 11, 2003 |
| Our Price: $3.00 |
| Used Price: $0.02 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Jesse Bradford (Bring It On, Clockstoppers) and Erika Christensen (Traffic, The Banger Sisters) plunge into a world of desire and deceit in this scary, suspenseful surprise! (Access Hollywood) High School senior Ben Cronin (Bradford) has it all: good friends, a loyal sweetheart, and a great shot at a Stanford University swimming scholarship. But a chance encounter with a sexy new student (Christensen) turns Ben's dream into the ultimate nightmare as her schoolgirl crush quickly escalates to obsession and, ultimately, murder.
Description of Swimfan:
Best enjoyed as unintentional comedy, Swimfan is Fatal Attraction in high school, with a modest trick up its sleeve. Pay close attention to the opening minutes and you'll understand why new student Madison Bell (Erika Christensen) is so obsessed with swim-team star Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford), but the movie's nearly over before that early clue is fully explained. By that time anyone with a pulse will be ahead of the hackneyed screenplay, so Madison's fatal attraction turns increasingly, and hilariously, predictable. Poor Ben has to suffer her suffocating manipulations, assuring his girlfriend (Shiri Appleby) that his quickie with Madison was a one-time mistake. Too late! Madison conned him into saying "I love you," and she's determined to be his girl... no matter what it takes. Credit Bradford and especially Christensen for keeping a straight face, and Aussie director John Polson for milking tension out of this trashy take on psychotic jealousy. Against all odds, it's garishly entertaining. --Jeff Shannon
Swimfan Reviews:
Great Movie! 
2009-09-02 - Before I start, I'm tired of hearing all of these reviewers yelling Fatal Attraction! referring to the movie. Like we KNow!!!!!! That being said, the movie should be a cult classic because of how it starts and then turns out. Ben (our hero) has some pool sex with Madison (psycho new girl) and then she says "still friends right?" "you're not gonna tell anyone are you?" Ben looking lost and dumb as ever is like "no-no- im not gonna tell anyone." The very next day at school, its on!!!! He starts getting subtle hints on his locker that its not over and they are more than friends. He cheated and there is pretty much no way out! It gets worse as Madison befriends all of his friends, his girlfriend, his moms, and goes out with his best friend Josh. She gets him fired from his job at the Hospital, should I keep going? This is a cult classic because just 4 words out of Ben's mouth ended his career..."what u wanna do?" lol and he looks so dumb and lost saying it as Madison grins an evil grin.....I knew it was over and he told her he had a girl, he did!!!! I can appreciate this movie because I can relate to Ben even though it didn't go as far thank goodness. Must see this movie! Its only like $0.01 now so what do you have to lose? I'm waiting for this to come out on blu-ray!
"Very Suspenseful!"
2009-07-10 - "Swimfan" is actually the teen version of "Fatal Attraction" in which a good-looking swim jock, engaged to a cute simple creature, sleeps with another girl unbeknownst to him who is a psycho. Once this psycho realizes she can never have the jock she goes out of her way to destroy him and his girlfriend. I was actually surprised how good this film was. Jesse Bradford is breathtaking to look at and Erika Christensen portrays the role of the psycho to perfection. The movie had a lot of exciting moments and the message of it is clear: if you play around you can get burned.
The DVD features 10 deleted scenes, audio commentary by the stars and director John Polson, and a wonderful featurette "The Girlfriend From Hell".
The Associated Press calls "Swimfan" a "creepy thriller".
Watchable but it's all been done before and to better effect 
2008-10-17 - This is more than watchable but the type of story is probably the most overdone in Hollywood. Boy and girl are happy. Boy meets another girl and has a brief fling. Boy wants to be left alone. The "other" girl now scorned goes to any lengths to get him back. The performances with the exception of Erika Christensen who shows promise are medicore at best. Something that irritates me with these films is how the "good" girl who gets cheated on quickly forgives the boy for what he's done. There have been plenty of opportunities for these "Fatal Attraction" films to do something different to set itself apart from all the other imitators. How about the girl does not forgive the boyfriend and perhaps she can become the one who gets revenge on him and the girl he cheated with or maybe she can leave town for good and let him deal with the aftermath himself like he deserves. Anything but the standard formula would make me give it an extra star just for thinking outside the box. I loved Fatal Attraction and even The Crush, but nothing in this is worth remembering or watching again. Swim away from this typical candybag because it will not make a fan out of you. I would have given it 2 stars but Erika Christensen makes it 3.
Good 
2008-10-08 - This movie was okay.... The suspense is what kept me watching this movie. The movie is very good. They had picked very good actors to play the roles in these roles. You should definetly watch this movie!
I'm not a fan of the movie, but I am a fan of its stars... 
2008-02-19 - Like `Fear' meets `Fatal Attraction', yet not nearly half as good as either; `Swimfan' winds up being stale. Sure, it has it's moments but those moments are few and far in between. The best thing to be said about `Swimfan' is that it boasts some very decent performances by some very young up-and-comers (at the time they were up-and-coming, now they are no where to be seen, which is a shame because they are both talented). Yes, I'm talking about Erika Christensen and Jesse Bradford. Both actors nail their parts and deliver the only shred of enjoyment in this rather dull, irritatingly predictable teenage thriller.
The film revolves around a big mistake made by Ben Cronin. Ben has his whole life ahead of him. He has a beautiful girlfriend and a very promising swimming career, but he washes it all down the drain when he meets the mysterious and attractive Madison Bell. Madison is obviously attracted to Ben and even though he tries at first to resist her he can't overcome her persistence and eventually he makes that dire mistake that costs him everything. Once he has `been' with her he realizes he'll never be rid of her. She is convinced that he loves her and thus will stop at nothing to have him all to herself.
Like I said, the acting on the part of the two lead stars helps save this movie from complete and utter drivel. Bradford is very convincing as the teen overwhelmed by the heap of trouble he got himself into, and while the character of Madison Bell is a walking cliché Erika Christensen attacks the performance with vigor and dedication. It's a performance she could have easily phoned in but it's apparent she didn't.
The script is half baked and really falls apart in the end, and the film is put together rather sloppily. I never felt any real emotion. I was never scared, never even tense. I knew what was going to happen and I guessed the ending, which is sad.
There really isn't anything to look forward to when watching `Swimfan'.
I really wish that Bradford and Christensen would have had better careers. I haven't really seen them in anything recently, and that is a shame because they were both so promising. If you don't believe me then watch `Traffic' and see the performance the Academy overlooked. Christensen is masterful in that film, riveting and flawless. I remember when I first saw Bradford in `Bring it On' and I loved his charisma. He recently did `Happy Endings' and delivered, but was overshadowed by his co-stars. The fact that they could elevate this predictable mess is enough reason that they should have received better careers. Hopefully in time they will get them.
