SWIMMING WITH MEN (2018)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Oliver Parker
Cast: Charlotte Riley, Rupert Graves, Rob Brydon, Jim Carter, Adeel Akhtar, Thomas Turgoose, Jane Horrocks, Daniel Mays
RunTime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 12 July 2018

Synopsis: Faced with a full-blown mid-life crisis, accountant Eric (Rob Brydon) joins an all-male group of synchronised swimmers, discovering that making patterns in a pool can, for a couple of hours at least, smooth out the bumps in his work and marriage. Initially keeping their personal lives in the locker, the ramshackle squad and coach Susan slowly learn to reveal their inner lives, as well as their paunches. But can they get their lives and routines in sync as they embark on an unlikely journey to Milan to compete in the World Championship?

Movie Review:

Two decades after a couple of middle-aged down-and-out British men found fulfilment by being themselves and baring their skin, along comes another bunch of similarly-disillusioned similarly-aged blokes hoping to do just the same. Though based on a true story of a group of Swedish men who competed in the synchronised swimming world championship, ‘Swimming with Men’ is ultimately reminiscent of ‘The Full Monty’, but that comparison only serves to emphasise the flaws within Oliver Parker’s wannabe feel-good comedy.

As penned by Aschlin Ditta, it lacks the character depth needed for us to empathise with these members of the swimming club. Faring the best among them is Rob Brydon’s central Reggie Perrin-like figure Eric, a tax accountant going through an existential crisis about the monotony of his life, so much so that he’s convinced that his newly elected local councillor wife Heather (Jane Horrocks) is having an affair with her smarmy boss. Eric finds calm in his regular swims at the local pool, and one evening geekily advises the seven chaps of an amateur synchronised swimming team he’s been seeing around of the mathematical imbalance of the geometrical manoeuvre they have been practising. Of course, Eric will eventually join them and find both purpose and meaning in his life, prompting him to try to reconcile with Heather, but his irresponsibility towards his wife and teenage son by having walked out of them in the first place makes it difficult for us to have any sympathy for him.

The rest of Eric’s fellow swimmers get any shorter shrift, including Jim Carter’s lonely widow, Adeel Ahktar’s secretive Kurt, Thomas Turgoose’s young delinquent Tom, Rupert Graves’ divorced silver fox Luke and Daniel Mays’ builder-cum-frustrated-footballer Colin. Each one is almost superficially assigned a certain middle-aged burden, whether divorce or criminality or a difficult partner, for which swimming becomes both a refuge and a source of hope in their lives. But we hardly, if at all, get to see any of them outside of the swim club, which seems artificially kept apart so that one need not complicate the other. That may be conveniently structured to keep the narrative lean, but it also reduces the other seven individuals to largely one-dimensional creations. We should also say the same of Charlotte Riley’s considerably younger swim coach Susan, who again so happens to be in a relationship with a Swedish synchro swimmer and has all the time in a week to train them.

That the finale still proves mildly rousing is credit to the well-chosen cast, who wring as much as possible from the thin material and share some winning chemistry with one another. You’ll recognise their faces if you’re a fan of British fare, and they lend the film some much-needed poignancy exploring the strengths and weaknesses of male friendship. They also deserve credit for mostly performing the moves by themselves, including back flips, frog dives and synchronised dives, which certainly require a considerable amount of training and practice in order to get right for the shots that we do see. Kudos too to the real-life Swedish team who inspired the film, for turning up as themselves when the film goes to the world championships in Milan where the fictional English team win their redemption.

Notwithstanding, ‘Swimming with Men’ comes up lacking in character and thematic resonance vis-à-vis ‘The Full Monty’, and it is for both these reasons that we said is why this film pales in comparison. Despite a strong cast and a promising set-up, Parker fails to make good on either by forgetting how important characterisation is to the comedy and being content with bare-bones plotting. There’s no denying that most of the gentle humour does hit the mark, and if you’re looking for an undemanding watch on a lazy afternoon that you’ll probably find yourself reasonably entertained, but anyone else hoping for more will quite certainly be disappointed that its plunge into middle-aged male neurosis is this shallow.

Movie Rating:

(It is no 'Full Monty', despite its ambition, but this amiable comedy of similarly-disillusioned similarly-aged blokes finding meaning and purpose in synchronised swimming is lifted by strong performances and good chemistry)

Review by Gabriel Chong