Swiped

James is a compelling leading presence for the saga, capturing both Whitney’s youthful effervescence and the gripping fear that begins to take over her life. That the film can depict the emotional abuse Whitney experiences while still keeping an eye on the misogyny she herself perpetuates is an impressive tightrope. And James’ charisma helps carry the story through its occasional script stumble or on-the-nose moment.

Swiped is constructed well-enough for the movie it’s trying to be, but its lack of ambition and nuance keep it from being its best self. It can still be a worthwhile enough watch for Lily James’ admirable performance as Whitney Wolfe, but the movie never affords its subject the same level of depth as what James tries to imbue her with.

At a time when it seems like women’s representation seems to be regressing, the intention of the film feels more timely now than when the film ends in 2019, before the pandemic, and the fondness for dating apps starts to wear off. But it was the user experience of the film—where its simplistic narrative design leaves no surprises and plenty of shallow characters—that felt unsatisfying.

Hulu's Whitney Wolfe biopic never tries to break free from the predictable confines of the genre.

Swiped is far more interested in convincing us that Bumble’s earned its feminist credentials than in exploring what being a “feminist company” actually means when there are billions of dollars on the table.

Swiped’s story sits right at the center of so many vital issues, and a smarter, braver rendition of it—that is, one interested in actually probing beneath the surface of things—might have yielded a film truly worthy of comparison to The Social Network. Instead, we get a piece of corporate hagiography that sweeps all those issues aside to celebrate another tech billionaire.

Though this film does gesture towards urgent issues, like misogyny being endemic to the modern tech industry, and is genuine in how it seeks to talk about them in a more crowd-pleasing package, it never amounts to being more than one note.

Swiped is one of those easy, modern rom-coms you can just throw on without expecting too much. It’s built around dating apps and hookup culture, so it feels pretty current, and for the most part it moves at a decent pace. I wouldn’t call it great, but I didn’t find it boring either.What worked for me was how simple and watchable it is. The story doesn’t try to be overly complicated, and there are a few moments that feel relatable if you’ve ever dealt with dating apps or awkward connections. Some of the humor lands, and the characters are just likable enough to keep things going.That said, I didn’t really connect with the message the movie pushes. It leans into a certain perspective on relationships and dynamics that just wasn’t my thing, and that pulled me out of it at times. It didn’t ruin the entire experience, but it definitely affected how much I enjoyed it overall.Still, if you ignore that side of it, the movie is fine for a casual watch. Nothing special, nothing terrible — just something you can sit through without getting bored. For me, it lands at a 6/10 — decent, but not something I’d go back to.

Há um estória interessante aqui, mas se o cinema já ganhou eemplares como "A rede social", esse aqui fica só na tentativa frustrada de ser memorável, mesmo com a história muito mais interessante (em minha opinião), mas com uma execução muito aquém do que merece. Há um excesso de didatismo e de maniqueísmo que torna isso mais próximo de uma série televisiva do que de cinema nos poros, enfraquecendo a narrativa. Até masmo as atuações não ajudam tanto...

"Swiped" is a standard pain by numbers biopic about a tech billionaire industry that fails to dive deep into the issues and baggage of the social economy, it may not have anything revolutionary to say, but it’s an effective and entertaining watch thanks to Lily James’ performance. It’s silly to say, but it’s almost hard to think back to a time when dating apps weren’t a thing and people met partners organically. It’s been more than 10 years since Tinder and Bumble launched, and they entirely changed the dating game for people of all ages all over the world. “Swiped,” which highlights CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd’s rise, fall, and rise again in the industry but is as basic as a straight-to-streaming biopic can get. Just a year out of college, Whitney (Lily James) is ready to make the next big startup, hoping to connect volunteers to orphanages around the world. Sadly, the tech bros around her are only interested in the next Facebook or Twitter, or getting her number. But a chance meeting with Sean Rad (Ben Schnetzer), the head of a startup company, leads to an even bigger break than she could have expected. Soon, she’s hired to be the marketing director for a new dating app called Tinder (which she named), and after she goes from university to university pitching the platform to college students, it becomes a hit. The further this film goes on, however, Goldenberg’s direction starts to let this story down. As Whitney starts a relationship with one of her colleagues, Justin (Jackson White) – funnily enough, without the aid of their app the director decides to put their big “falling in love” moment in the middle of a chaotic family gathering where so much is happening and their conversation keeps getting interrupted. Sparks fly from that moment on, but soon Justin’s jealousy starts to take hold when Whitney becomes a co-founder of the app. It’s not entirely clear why he becomes so harsh toward her – he’s already her boss and a co-founder – but after they break up, he threatens to fire her and harasses her with an onslaught of nasty text messages. One area where this film does excel is in showing the boys culture at tech companies and how much they fail women. She’s one of few women working at this company, and whenever she tries to bring up concerns about safety on the app, her ideas are disregarded or the men just talk over her. Once she and Justin break up, the environment becomes even more toxic as she’s excluded from meetings and ultimately forced out. James is another highlight in this film, elevating a basic script and giving us someone to root for every step of the way. In particular, seeing Whitney at her lowest points, when she’s harassed by people online, gives her room to flex her acting muscles. But there’s only so much she can do when she’s given very little inspiring material. Because Wolfe Herd could not participate in the creation of this film, we’re given little insight into her actual life that’s not work-related. We don’t know anything about her family (other than meeting her future husband at a bar), who her friends are outside of the office, or what she likes to do when she’s not working (aside from the orphanage work mentioned at the start of the film, which is quickly forgotten). The film also isn’t interested in doing a deep dive into her own shortcomings, such as not championing women to climb up the ladder at Tinder (like her friend played by Myha’la, who is so underutilized). Her reckoning comes toward the end of the film, but one scene is not nearly enough time to spend on something as interesting as this. As the film heads into its third act, we get to see the early days of Bumble and how Whitney’s career starts to rise again. The difference between this workplace environment and Tinder’s is night and day, as Bumble is made up almost entirely of women who support each other and encourage ideas. Dan Stevens as the CEO of a European dating app that’s funding the company is a well-needed addition to the film. He’s almost unrecognizable with a dark hairstyle and thick accent, and he delivers a solid performance even if he doesn’t have a whole lot to do. When yet another scandal breaks out – this one regarding sexual assault allegations – the film stumbles again to get into this topic for more than two scenes. “Swiped” would have made more sense as a miniseries, such as “The Dropout” or “WeCrashed,” so that issues and characters could have been given the time needed to develop. There’s so much depth missing from this story that it doesn’t do Wolfe Herd any justice. “Swiped” misses quite a few marks in telling this hero story. Though James does her best with what she’s given, this movie doesn’t provide a full and rich look at Wolfe Herd’s life, who is certainly a lot more than just her career achievements (they are immensely impressive, but shouldn’t define her). Goldenberg’s questionable direction and a hasty screenplay also don’t do justice to vital topics covered in this film.