Swimfan

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language, disturbing images) </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="592"><div> Reviewed By Cathy Edsey Collins</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="592"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="592" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="592"><div> Teen femme fatale flick </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Directed by: John Polson</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Written by: Phillip Schneider</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> For those youngsters barely out of the crib in 1987, this suspensor might seem intriguingly fresh. For anyone who remembers Glenn Close icily telling Michael Douglas that she "will not be ignored,"  "Swimfan" will echo the plotlines of "Fatal Attraction," the eighties icon film that gave new meaning to a "woman scorned" and temporarily pigeon-holed Douglas as a character who was led by his libido.</div> <bR> <div> In "Swimfan," Ben (Jesse Bradford) and Amy (Shiri Appleby) are lovers on the brink of a promising future, with Ben the frontrunner for a swimming scholarship to Stanford. The week of the decisive meet, new girl Madison (Erika Christensen) stalks Ben and seduces him in the pool. When he tries to break off the relationship, the increasingly psychotic Madison becomes a one-woman revenge committee, ruining his tryouts, murdering his best friend and eventually trying to kill Amy.  Indeed, with her curly golden tresses, Christensen might be the chubby daughter of that ultimate 80's woman from Hell.</div> <bR> <div> But ultimately this is a poor imitation of the mediocre original. Sure there's tension here<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Symbol" >¾</FONT> the kind that makes you want to yell at the screen.  The characters are so clueless, their motives so irrational that the movie becomes an exercise in frustration.   This is a by-the-numbers flick-a tired Hitchcock homage that injects nothing new to the genre. And the incredibly abrupt, confusing ending creates a deep suspicion that perhaps Madison's deadly scalpel has massacred the movie's final minutes. </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="621" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>Cathyedsey@aol.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>