Swimfan
Tags: romantic, murder

Plot synopsis:
The story opens with Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) who is a star swimmer at his high school and being pressured by his coach to deliver when scouts come to watch him compete in a week. Ben also works at a hospital and has the perfect relationship with his girlfriend, Amy (Shiri Appleby), but the two are under a little pressure since they are leaving for college and aren't sure if they will get into the same school. One day at school, he helps a new girl named Madison Bell(Erika Christensen) get her locker open by picking the lot with her hair pin. Madison tells him to keep her pin just in case she needs saving again.Ben's friend Josh (Clayne Crawford) tells Ben he has a thing for Madison, but she's staying with her cousin Christopher Dante (James DeBello) whom Josh bullies. Later, Ben nearly hits Madison with his car accidentally, and takes her home, but she leaves her notebook of music in his car and goes to her house to return it. The two go to lunch and Ben tells Madison he's been in trouble with drugs and stealing before, but he's changed. Madison tells Ben she plays cello to escape her problems and flirts with him, but Ben tells her he has a girlfriend, which she is fine with. But wants to keep hanging out with him.The two go to a pool, he encourages her to come out in the water, but she can't swim and asks him to teach her. Eventually, she persuades him to have sex with her. Ben hesitates, but they do. She asks him to tell her he loves her, even if he doesn't mean it, and he does. They promise to keep it a secret. But Ben starts having trouble focusing swimming because of his guilt and is criticized by the coach and Josh. At a party that night, Amy introduces Ben to Madison as a friend and the two try to pretend like nothing's happened. Amy later goes to move Ben's car, but Madison tells Ben that she left her panties in his truck. Ben barely gets there in time to stop Amy.Ben tries to avoid Madison even after her attempts to page him and talk to him online with the screenname "swimfan85," but Madison stops by his house and brings his mother flowers. Ben tells her to back off and Madison gets upset that he wants to pretend nothing even happened. The next day Madison sends naked pictures of herself to Ben and is almost caught by Amy. At swim practice, Ben discovers that Madison is now going out with Josh so he assumes she's off his back. But she corners him in the locker room and wants to know why he hasn't been returning her calls. Ben, fed up, just tells her that he wants her to leave him alone, but Madison brings up that Ben told her he loved her. Flustered, Ben says she told him to but doesn't know what else to say and leaves.At work, Ben is in a bad mood. After somehow giving his favorite patient the wrong medication the patient nearly dies. Ben is fired. Furious, he goes to school to find Madison playing her cello which he throws down. He tells her to leave him alone once and for all, which she agrees to do. He decides to tell Amy the truth, but she's busy with work they agree to talk the next day. At school the next morning, everyone knows about his one night stand. Amy slaps him and storms out with tears in her eyes.The next day is the big swim meet. However, Ben's urine tests showed traces of steroids and he is kicked off the team and disqualified. The scouts leave and Ben confronts Josh, convinced that he helped Madison. Because he had drug problems in the past, no one, even his mother or Amy, believes Ben. Later Josh and Madison are kissing in a car when Madison starts to call Ben's name. Josh gets angry and even scolds Madison for messing up Ben's life. Madison is upset.In the locker room, Ben finds a bat in his locker which he sets down, then he goes for a swim only to bump into Josh's dead body floating in the water. His head has been smashed in with a bat that the police say have Ben's fingerprints on it. They tell him not to leave town. Ben goes to Madison's house, but Madison is playing cello for her family. In her room, he finds a bottle of steroids and a hospital volunteer coat. Chris finds him there, tells him to leave or Madison will kill him and sneaks him out. With Chris's help, Ben finds out Madison was obsessed with a sport's star in her hometown named Jake Donnelly who was almost killed in a car accident that Madison survived.Meanwhile, Madison is shown in Ben's car dressed as Ben. She made a copy of his car key when she visited his house and she hits Amy on her bike with Ben's truck. The police are looking for Ben at the hospital while Madison is dressed as a worker and intending to finish Amy off. But she hears Jake Donnelly's name being called over the intercom and sees who she believes is him in the hallway. She follows him to the parking garage only to find out it's Chris in Jake's jacket. She attacks him with a scalpel but Ben stops her and holds it to her throat. She admits to Josh's murder and says Ben doesn't have the guts to do the same. Ben's friend Rene (Kia Goodwin) recorded the whole thing. Madison is arrested.Ben apologizes to Amy who forgives him and Ben returns home only to find that Madison has escaped and attacked his mother. Ben is knocked out. When he wakes up, he finds his mother unconscious and Amy missing. Ben gets in his car and gets a page from Madison that says "Feel like a dip?"He heads to the pool where Madison has Amy handcuffed to a chair. When Ben arrives Madison demands Ben admit that he loves her, but Ben refuses so Madison throws Amy into the pool. Ben swims down to save her but is unable to lift the chair and every time he comes up for air Madison tries to hit him with a bat. He goes to Amy once more and finds Madison's hair pin which he uses to pick the handcuffs and release Amy. Ben resurfaces with Amy in his arms while Madison tries to hit him again. He grabs the bat and pulls Madison into the pool while swimming out with his girlfriend. He gives her CPR to get her breathing again while Madison, who still can't swim, struggles to stay above water. Amy starts breathing again and when they look out to the pool they find that Madison has drowned.

Review: He's a great lead actor, and I can see him filling Tom Cruise / Ben Affleck style roles in a few years' time.The 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 it's fairly predictable, but enjoyable all the same.Watching it, I couldn't help but wonder why the school's best swimmer and most attractive guy didn'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..).Also, why would he be tempted by a girl who isn't quite as attractive (or as nice) as his girlfriend?
- but I know that's often the case in real life, so I can let that go.Finally, Jesse didn't need the whole 'troubled teen past' - in the places where it was used, it wasn't really necessary - and although I'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.
It's just a lazy way of adding to teen angst, and avoids the need to write convincing two-parent scenes.Swimfan is fine, but is only really a stepping-stone movie onto bigger and (hopefully) better things for the lead actors..
I would like to say that this movie hasn't got many reasons to be as good as it is, because it is a teen/twentysomething play on a formula that's kind of, or for lack of a better phrase truly, been done to death.
However, it's extremely well made by director John Polson and well-acted by the young cast, particularly Traffic's Erika Christensen, who shines as Madison Bell, the obsessive swim fan of the title.The story deals with Ben Cronin, a high school senior who's life is going pretty well, as the hero's usually is at the start of these pictures, he has a lot of good friends, he has a girlfriend Amy (Shiri Appleby) who is as sweet as apple pie, and he's on the way to a swimming scholarship to Stanford.
I suppose I don't have to say that because that is pretty much how a Fatal Attraction picture works.What makes this movie work is that it is well done, and it is as creepy as most FA clones need to be if they expect to work.
Plus, the three leads are all very good, albeit this film belongs to Erika Christensen, who does a pretty good job of stealing the movie..
It's a typical teen flick, a version in their age bracket of Fatal Attraction.Jesse's the object of the obsession of Erika Christiansen, a most disturbed young woman who had a tragedy that most of the cast doesn't know about, but that truly unhinges her.After Erika seduces Jesse in a steamy seduction scene at the high school pool, she enters his life in all sorts of unwanted ways.
When one of Jesse's swimming teammates winds up dead in the selfsame swimming pool, he's looking mighty good for it to the police.Swimfan is not a badly done teen flick and in Bradford one has a young Tyrone Power so Erika's obsession is understandable.Hey, I think he looks a bit like Power, maybe Rob Lowe..
Ben Cronin (Bradford) is one of those high schoolers that almost had it all: plenty of good friends, a sweet girlfriend (Appleby), and the swimming skills of a champion.
Madison seduces Ben in the pool one night, and while he feels guilty after a session of horizontal watersports, Masison goes Glen Close in Fatal Attraction crazy when he turns her down, and the movie starts to turn.From the previews, Swimfan looked like a bad movie, an "Attraction" set in high school suburbia with Michael Douglas' role as a swim fanatic instead of a businessman.
Christensen, who made a startling breakout role as a judge's intoxicated daughter in 2000's Traffic, plays it rather straight and sensual, which gives the film a boost, until her over-the-top climax, and shows that, in a B-movie sort of showcase, she can hold her own.
Although Being Predictable, This Teen Version of `Fatal Attraction' is not so Bad. Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) is an ex-addicted in drugs athlete.
When the young woman Madison Bell (Erika Christensen) joins his high-school, he is seduced by her and has an intercourse with her in the swimming pool.
This teen version of `Fatal Attraction' is very predicable, but is not a bad movie.
Don't get me wrong, they probably won't be nominated for any Academy Awards, but they're not a waste of a movie ticket either.Both Jesse Bradford and Erika Christensen carry the film well.
High-school swimmer Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) is good looking, popular, has a pretty devoted girlfriend, Amy (Shiri Appleby), and a promising future—kinda makes you sick doesn't it?
But after new-girl Madison (Erika Christensen) sets him in her sights, seducing him in the school pool, his perfect life gradually turns into a living hell.Yup, it's a teen version of Fatal Attraction, with middle-aged Michael Douglas replaced by hunk Bradford and scary Glenn Close substituted for curvaceous but clearly cuckoo Christensen.
Formulaic, predictable and undemanding, there's very little here to surprise the viewer, and the ease with which Madison goes about her business requires suspension of disbelief on a massive scale; despite this, Swimfan still manages to be a fun little thriller, helped immensely by surprisingly solid performances from the young eye-candy cast and effective direction from John Polson, who at least executes his well-worn clichés with a degree of style..
It's a teenage drama, the story is about a new girl in town acted by the attractive Erika Christensen who eyes an average college guy, with some sport ambitions, a girlfriend relationship who should make him happy for the rest of his life, but with some troubled history of himself that makes him a potential stalker victim.
Find an older film(s) that had good box office results (in this case "Play Misty for Me" and "Fatal Attraction").
The only thing more money-in-the-bank is Disney's re-release of its classics to a new audience every eight years.Although portrayed one-dimensionally, the obsessive character in 'Misty" and "Fatal Attraction" was a deep thinker compared to "Swimfan's" Madison.
The script provides no way for her to communicate what attracts Madison to high-school athletes, what makes her instantly obsessive toward Ben (Jesse Bradford), or even what she finds attractive about him.
Speaking of which, Ben and Madison's sexual tumble in the swimming pool is the movie's one moment of true excellence.
There is no way after the swimming pool scene that Ben would have resisted Christensen and gone back to a sexless nothing like Sheri Appleby (insert "Some Kind of Wonderful" here).
I was unfortunately not impressed at all with this so called 'blockbuster' movie, as i thought it to be a remake of Adrian Lynne's 80's cult classic-"Fatal Attraction".As i watched it, everything seemed so familiar, the 'bad girl' thrillers have been all seen before, and the only way this differs from all of the others is that this is set in high school.
For people who thought this movie was great, they should first check out "Fatal attraction"- the concept is the same.
Jesse Bradford's character is (just) sympathetic enough to side with, Erika Christensen is a very believable and delightfully sardonic femme fatale, and the rest of the cast seem to be remembering their lines and stuff, which is more than good enough for this sort of B-movie.
as a girlfriend makes you consider an adventure.There are some sexy steamy scenes like the one in the pool where Christensen's character, with sexy moans and everything seduces Ben. Also, when she says "panties" is a major turn on.
Though this movie wasn't the best romantic thriller to come along, it was very similiar to the classic 'Fatal Attraction'.
Jesse Bradford plays the perfect guy who's life couldn't be better until his one mistake, an affair with Erika Christenson's psychotic character, Madison, destroys his once perfect life.
The acting is pretty good, especially Erika Christensen's performance as Madison.
In the Deep End. It's a "fatal attraction" for handsome high school swimmer Jesse Bradford (as Ben Cronin) when sexy "Swimfan" Erika Christensen (as Madison Bell) can't get into her sticky locker.
Soon, high school life for Bradford and sweet, steady girlfriend Shiri Appleby (as Amy Miller) is filled with miseryand murder."Swimfan" is smoothly directed by John Polson, nicely photographed by Giles Nuttgens, and contains some engaging performances - but, the film is really very ordinary.
The supporting cast includes Richard Burton's daughter Kate (a very sweet lady), and John Ritter's son Randy (nepotism doesn't run in the Ritter family, it gallops).**** Swimfan (8/19/02) John Polson ~ Jesse Bradford, Erika Christensen, Shiri Appleby.
Swimfan is a drama/romance/thriller directed by John Polson, also the director for Hide and Seek, that stars Jesse Bradford (Cherry Falls, Clockstoppers), Erika Christensen (Flightplan, The Perfect Score), and Shiri Appleby (Darklight, Undertow).This movie made me cry at the end.
Otherwise I'd be so sad.Anyway, the whole plot is, Ben Cronin (Bradford) has it all: the friends, the perfect girlfriend named Amy (Appleby), and good grades, and a great chance at a swimming scholarship.
Ben doesn't want her, and that's what gets Madison mad (she's basically psycho in the movie, and hides it very well, by the way).
SWIMFAN **1/2 Athletic high school jock is seduced and then stalked by Erika Christensen, who seems to be a normal enough teenager at first but appears psychologically imbalanced as the story fortifies.
But the film just does not present them in a way to make 'Swimfan' commendable or recommendable to watch.Rating System ***** Excellent **** Good *** Fair ** Poor * Bad. An Interesting, but flawed thriller.....
There's always that one movie that you think it's going to be good, but you leave the theater a little disappointed.Swimfan has the makings of a really good thriller that could touch bases to Fatal Attraction, but more for a younger audience.
However, the film fails to get up in the ranks with the really big thrillers.Ben Cronin(Jesse Bradford) has a popular student from his school and has great hopes of getting a scholarship for swimming.
Ben tries to avoid her, but she keeps trying going to the same places as he is and is concern about his own relationship with Amy.Though, the film is suspenseful at times, it fails to exceeds in terms of plot, and dialog.
Unique "teenage" take on "Play Misty for Me" or "Fatal Attraction."Bad elements of this film: Some really cheesy acting.
And a subject matter very overdone and played out in years past.Side note: On the DVD, where the director makes comments about certain scenes, etc., the film's relation to "Fatal Attraction" comes up.
You have a teen(Ben) who's swimming for a scholarship, having a good girlfriend(Amy) to back you up all the way, what more could a guy want?
This was an awesome thriller that was 1:HIGHLY entertaining 2: There was great acting 3: It kept you on the edge of your seat through the whole movie 4: The story is really good and clever, and it really reminded me of Fatal Attraction and 5: It was just great!
The reviewers hated it, my teenagers hated it, and I left the movie theatre before it was done and only came back for the ending, which once again was the worst I've ever seen.Now I know why the supporters of this film withheld it from the reviewers before it's opening and hired a reviewer to give it a good rating.
In the movie, Madison Bell played by very talented Erika Christensen, is the new girl that has a sudden likeness for Ben Cronin, played by Jesse Bradford.
Now she has more of a figure, has more skill in whatever role she is put up to, and will most likely succeed high in her career as well.The co-stars of this movie include Shiri Appleby, playing "Amy".
Thats the way this film is , really bad, but I watched it so have to give it more than two stars.Ben, good looking swimmer boy has cute girlfriend, but new chic comes to town.
High school student Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) works hard swimming with a Stanford scout coming.
Madison Bell (Erika Christensen) is the new girl in school.
Madison befriends Amy and things get uncomfortable for Ben.It's Fatal Attraction for teens.
But the rest of the Cast doesn't Quite Reach Professional and should be Glad to get a Paycheck.It is a Not So Bad Entertainment that would have been Much Better if it had just Given in to an R-Rating and Go for the Juggler, because as it Turned Out the Talent at Work here was not Able to make a PG-13 Anything more than a Low-Rent, Hum-Drum Movie that is Unlikely to be Enjoyed by its No-Gore Targeted Audience..
'Swimfan' is definitely a movie for those who are interested in 'High School Fatal Attraction'..
Not sexy or edgy enough to swim with the big fish (i.e. Fatal Attraction), this film drowns in its own predictability.
With great natural ability and the support of a loving girlfriend he's looking forward to competing for a prestigious college scholarship, but all that changes when he has a fling with new girl in school Madison Bell, an obsessive sociopath who's fixated on becoming a part of his life whether he wants her to or not.
The New Girl at school is obsessed with a swimmer named Ben Croin,who has a girlfriend.They make love one night by accident,and his life is turned around.
It was pretty entertaining for like 20 minutes, and the girl who plays psycho bitch who is chunky as hell started acting like any other stupid evil character in every American movie of the last 50 years.
Slick high school hunk Bradford living on the east coast has a close to ideal life with a girlfriend and a swimming scholarship toward Stanford-but ironically when the new-girl-in-school (Christensen) keeps running into him, she leads him into a forbidding (and routine) trap beginning with seducing him in the pool.
And apparently this high school doesn't believe in ever locking the doors to the swimming pool since the kids go there anytime they want.Of course, the crazy girl does mean things to her obsession, like getting him kicked off the swim team and trying to kill his girlfriend.
I rented this video because of the cast, two of whom are Soderberg alumni, Jesse Bradford (King of the Hill) and Erika Christensen (Traffic), they were great on those movies, but not on this piece of crap.The story is so derivative and worn out.
Swim star Ben (Jesse Bradford) has a picture-perfect romance with Amy (Shiri Appleby) until Madison (Erika Christensen) comes around.
I don't see how u guys think this movie is bad.It's very good.So what if some of the things are a little confusing.Like how Madison got out of the police car.It's a movie.Use ur imagination.Didn't u ever watch Barney.LOL.But I think it's great.I give it 10 stars and 2 thumbs up..
swimfan is for a teen-movie a good case.
With a great first half hour...Ben (Jesse Bradford) and very sexy Madison (Erika Christensen) are great in seducting each other.
** out of ****Swimfan stars Jesse Bradford as Ben Cronin, the high school swimming champ who's gearing up for the big competition that could determine his future.
He tries to break it off with Madison, not knowing she's a psychopath who won't take "no" for an answer.Swimfan is actually not a bad movie, for the most part, at least.
Ex-Bad Boy Jesse Bradford is a Swim Team phenom, about to be recruited by a Major College; his girlfriend, Shiri Appleby, is sweetly naive, but happily hops into bed because she believes in him; his coach (grimly determined and one-dimensional Dan Hedaya), his mom (a somewhat spacy Kate Burton), and his teammates all LOVE him.Enter new girl Erika Christensen, a cello-playing chubby blonde nymphet with AN ATTITUDE.
This movie is just a teenaged Fatal Attraction.
Ben Cronin(Jesse Bradford) has a promising future ahead of him with his successful swimming career and his high school sweetheart girlfriend Amy(Shiri Appleby).
Things do not go swimmingly for Speedo-sportin' stud Ben (Bradford) after he has hot sex in the pool with new-girl-in-school Madison (Christensen).
I think that this movie is actually interesting and it has a great cast!Jesse Bradford is a good-looking guy who was in movies like Bring It On and Clockstoppers.Erika Christensen is a semi-pretty girl who is believable as a psyco-chick (I dont know if thats a good thing or a bad thing).She was in movies like Traffic and The Banger Sisters.Then Shiri Appleby,she is one of the most beautiful actresses out there.She was in movies like A Time For Dancing and she was on the show Roswell as Liz..
Erika Christensen, as the homicidal psycho girl who becomes obsessive whenever Jesse Bradford takes his shirt off, steals the movie as Madison Bell, an intelligent, attractive girl who thinks everyone else around her is a dim, uninteresting moron.
Shiri Appleby, that girl from "Roswell," plays Bradford's boring-as-hell, plain-Jane, working-class, sweet girlfriend so well that you wonder why on Earth he'd be attracted to her over the gorgeous, forward, albeit nutso Erika Christensen.When my friend Kacoon and I saw this, our favorite scene was Madison's "swimming lesson," where she essentially rides cleavage-first on Jesse Bradford's chest until he takes the not-so-subtle hint.The plot is your formula psycho-stalker movie, done to death with films like "Fatal Attraction" and "The Temp." If you want to see a variation on the theme that actually works really well, watch "One Hour Photo."To see cute people in trouble and in the swimming pool, watch this..
The performances in this film were also outstanding, especially Erika Christensen who was a very believable Madison..