Swimfan: Movie Review (2008)

John Polson's new teen thriller "Swimfan" owes its soul to Adrian Lyne's "Fatal Attraction," the rip-roaring, 1987 thriller that had yuppies everywhere fretting about the potentially ugly ramifications of infidelity when Glenn Close’s Alex Forrest seduced Michael Douglas’ very-married Dan Gallagher--and then boiled his little girl's rabbit in a psychotic fit of unrequited love.

The film became an event movie of the first order and launched a national dialogue, but here’s a surprise--"Swimfan" won’t enjoy the same celebrity. It’s never as provocative or, for that matter, as PETA-unfriendly, and it doesn’t come backed with an R rating, which truly would have allowed Polson to let loose with a little teen savagery.

In the film, Jesse Bradford ("Clockstoppers," "Bring it On") is Ben Cronin, a high school swimming champ whose checkered past involves all sorts of extracurricular activities, such as rampant drug use and theft, several run-ins with the law and some downtime in jail.

Happily, all of that unpleasantness seems to be behind him. Now, Ben’s life is centered around winning a swimming scholarship to Stanford, working part-time at the hospital where his mother works as a nurse, studying hard to get good grades and spending quality time with his girlfriend, Amy (Shiri Appleby), who’s the love of Ben’s young life and the reason he’s kept himself out of trouble for so long.

Unfortunately for Ben, the new town tramp, Madison Bell (Erika Christensen), also has her eyes set on him--not to mention her claws.

With a face like a cherub, the cold-blooded gaze of a snake and a cloud of blond curls that could conceal a machete, Madison proves herself a force to be reckoned with after she seduces Ben in the school pool, demands a place in his life and then sets out to destroy it and him when she doesn’t get what she wants.

What ensues is so pointedly modeled after "Attraction's" crowd-pleasing formula, it's sometimes difficult to know whether to admire "Swimfan" for being such a tidy little mimic that admittedly has its moments or to hate it for its utter lack of ingenuity and creativity. The film was co-produced by Michael Douglas' production company, Further Films, which accounts for the many parallels it shares with "Attraction," most notable of which is its waterlogged ending, an absurd, over-the-top rush that could easily give Lyne's own ending a run for its money.

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