Swimming with Men *** (2018, Rob Brydon, Rupert Graves, Jim Carter, Jane Horrocks, Charlotte Riley) – Movie Review

Swimming with Men is good natured and amusing, with a good idea and a nice, friendly cast.

Liked it! Swimming with Men is hardly a great movie but it is good natured and amusing, with a good idea to kick it off and a nice, friendly cast to deliver it. It has a cheerful amateurishness that is appeal. Plus there is a lot of enthusiasm by the nice cast, and that makes up for any script deficiencies.

Rob Brydon is the main star as Eric Scott, who has a shrew of a wife (Jane Horrocks) and a terrible accountancy job, and is suffering a mid-life crisis, so he agrees to join an all-male, middle-aged, amateur synchronised swimming team, who soon get competitive.

With bit more finesse in Oliver Parker’s direction (though to be fair he does try quite a few smart directorial flourishes), and a quite a lot more honing in Aschlin Ditta’s screenplay, we might have had a real gem here. As it is, though, Swimming with Men is certainly pleasant, even pleasing enough. It’s really all about the men, as the title suggests, and Horrocks has a horrible, unsympathetic part to play. But all goes well till the cheesy ending, which unfortunately comes at the end – don’t you just hate that when that happens? – so that’s the bit you remember, instead of the earlier good stuff.

Swimming with Men is good natured and amusing, as we said, and hard to take against, except by the very churlish. Scrooge probably wouldn’t have like Swimming with Men. But it entertains, lightly,bBut it entertains.

Just one thing, giving that it’s synchronised swimming, one of the world’s campest activities, it is very odd that there isn’t at least one gay character in the bunch. Just as well, maybe, because that might have led Swimming with Men into deep waters. It wants to stay shallow, and that’s just fine.

Thomas Turgoose plays the one young character in the group, Jim Carter plays the oldest, Daniel Mays and Adeel Akhtar are in between, and Rupert Graves has most to do as the serious-minded, boat-living member of the crew. All of them are good, but it’s Brydon who keeps it going.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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