SWIMMING (Robert J. Siegel, 2002)

Reviewed: September 17th, 2002

Low, low, low key coming of age yarn about a teenage girl (Lauren Ambrose) and her friends' exploits during a lazy, lazy, lazy summer. (Cue the symphonic parade of mouse clicks closing this window.) Saw the movie yesterday and can't remember a single scene worth writing home about. The understated dialogue's true and wise, the acting (by Ambrose, Joelle Carter, Jamie Harrold and particularly firecracker Jennifer Dundas) plays all the right organ keys, but neither writing nor performance is suitable compensation for total-lack-of-originality. All the stock coming of age characters are firmly in place: Ambrose as taciturn, sweet, insecure girl looking to find her footing. Harrold as Ambrose's kind, kooky love interest. Carter as free-spirited, pretty girl who storms into town and teaches Ambrose a few valuable life lessons. Dundas as Ambrose's crazy, troubled best friend (why are the best friends always crazy and troubled?). Swimming's hazy narrative moves with all the thrust of that guy who spends his life pushing that boulder up the hill, only to have it roll back down once the task is finally complete. (Director Robert J. Siegel has trouble keeping even two batons in the air; when the love story gains prominence around a third of the way through, Ambrose's two female friends pull a veritable Houdini.) Bonus points are awarded for Swimming's lack of mawkishness, but excessive repression quickly ceases to make an engaging watch. I'm sure there are young girls out there for whom Swimming's a much-welcomed tonic post the traditionally testosterone-infested summer. Alas, I am not a young girl.

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