VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Swimfan (2003)
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In the mad scramble to appeal to America's most popular
demographic -- the spend-happy teen-ager -- Hollywood has apparently given
up on trying to concoct intelligent, original products. Pictures like Donnie
Darko fall by the wayside, apart from the few hip, smart kids willing
to give it a shot. Studios are opting instead to take popular adult-oriented
projects, recast them with teens, and then take out all the objectionable
bits that made the originals worth watching in order to earn a coveted PG-13
rating. Take Swimfan, for example, which is basically Dawson's
Creek meets Fatal Attraction, with cutie-pie Jesse Bradford as
a high school swim jock trying to put his drug-abusing, bad-boy days behind
him and stroke his way to a college scholarship. But after a night of aquatic
hanky-panky with the new girl in school (Erika Christensen), he's suddenly
on the business end of a good, old-fashioned stalking. Predictible and pointless,
it's not even worth renting for the beefcake (which, despite the trailers
and the picture above, is sadly in short supply), and Christensen is about
as menacing as a chained Pomeranian. The DVD contains director and actor
commentaries; trailers; deleted scenes; a making-of featurette; full- or
widescreen formats.