Swimfan (2002)

Swimfan: Directed by John Polson. With Jesse Bradford, Erika Christensen, Shiri Appleby, Kate Burton. A high school senior with a promising swimming career has a one-night stand with consequences.

“This film succeeds because of Jesse Bradford. I remember him from Bring It On (another excellent performance), but it appears heu0026#39;s done lots of things. Heu0026#39;s a great lead actor, and I can see him filling Tom Cruise / Ben Affleck style roles in a few yearsu0026#39; time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film itself is a fairly respectable effort at a Fatal Attraction style relationship, with teen-thriller-genre elements of the misunderstood wierd guy, the new girl in town with a secret past, and so on. I can only think of one vaguely surprising moment (with Josh, in the pool) – otherwise itu0026#39;s fairly predictable, but enjoyable all the same.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWatching it, I couldnu0026#39;t help but wonder why the schoolu0026#39;s best swimmer and most attractive guy didnu0026#39;t have a bigger circle of friends (Josh the jock, Randy the drip, and a black girl with a chip on her shoulder (what an original character..).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlso, why would he be tempted by a girl who isnu0026#39;t quite as attractive (or as nice) as his girlfriend? – but I know thatu0026#39;s often the case in real life, so I can let that go.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFinally, Jesse didnu0026#39;t need the whole u0026#39;troubled teen pastu0026#39; – in the places where it was used, it wasnu0026#39;t really necessary – and although Iu0026#39;m no fan of the family values lobby, I am thoroughly sick of the single-parent-family that seems to exist in every single movie these days. Itu0026#39;s just a lazy way of adding to teen angst, and avoids the need to write convincing two-parent scenes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSwimfan is fine, but is only really a stepping-stone movie onto bigger and (hopefully) better things for the lead actors.”