Film of the Week: Swimming With Men

After the intense film that is Hereditary, I thought I’d share with you a more light-hearted film, Swimming With Men. It’s a simple comedy, not intended to have moments where you laugh out loud, but amusing, feel-good instances, surrounding a story that has been told countless times before – a team is put together, they submit themselves for the big leagues, have a small moment doubting themselves, compete, is successful – but in no way does it feel clichéd. The very essence and heart of the team is to put meaning back into their lives – and it is a logical step to compete within the world championships to cement their statement of having a life after their mid-life crisis. It can get away with having a story that’s been told so many times, because it’s not entirely about the characters following the story, but instead is the characters telling their story, their way, with the intent of coming together, having fun, and not worrying about whether they actually win.

It’s not a hard watch at all. There are a couple of funny moments that happens in the background, which if you’re eyes aren’t entirely on the screen, you will miss them, but they’re not integral to the story, just little moments here and there; the funniest being when the clown at a children’s party is pushed into the pool by one of the children, and everyone just continues doing whatever they’re doing at the time. Because it happens in the background, it emphasises the comedic value of that moment.

Swimming With Men does have a main character, Eric Scott (played by Rob Brydon), and is later given the nickname Archie – the groups shortened down version of Archimedes – due to him being an excellent accountant who uses maths to calculate how certain moves during their synchronised swimming routine can be done perfectly. He’s the first character we’re introduced to, and is the film’s way of presenting us with the rest of the team. From there, the role of the main character includes everyone in the team. From the first scene we see the team, every member is included within the world of being a main character, and the film does this shift expertly – highlighting the very essence of what that team represents.

It does have a couple of scenes where Eric is elevated above the team, but only to help the other team members rise to his level once again and once again become main characters not just in the film, but in the team as well.

The film is about friendship, the film is about having fun, the film is about finding something you love doing to escape the big wide world for a period of time – forgetting about your troubles, letting the dust settle and the slate to be wiped clean once again. The film is about not caring who you are outside the team, but who you want to be within the team – or the world you want to create.

It is a simple, comedic film, easy to watch that has a strong message that no only middle-aged men should follow, but everyone should as well. Yes, it looks silly; yes, if you were to give the synopsis to someone they may think it’s stupid; but the one thing this film does well at, and that’s simply not caring how people think about it. There’s none of this deliberately-not-taking-itself-seriously-in-a-serious-world atmosphere, it’s plainly and simply a film that just gets people together, have fun, and happen to find themselves competing within the world championship.

Unfortunately, given the nature of the film, I can see it slipping under people’s radars, but for those few who have seen it, I do hope they’ve seen the message within, and I can see it becoming a classic, underrated film in the future.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)