Since her starring role in Disney and director Kenneth Branagh’s terrific 2015 live-action version of “Cinderella”, Lily James has continued to deliver fantastic performances — in “Darkest Hour”, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” and as Pamela Anderson on the “Pam & Tommy” miniseries. She’s on her A-game again as Whitney Wolfe in the new drama “Swiped”, which is now streaming on Hulu.
It’s a heck of a saga. Wolfe is instrumental in the success of California startup dating app Tinder (including coming-up with the name and getting lots of signups from students on college campuses) but is under-appreciated by the men at the center of the company. She’ll eventually launch competitor Bumble. But there’s so much in between and post-Bumble launch. The layers of this story are fascinating to unravel, and we’re emotionally with Wolfe / James every step of the way. Dan Stevens is almost unrecognizable as the pivotal role of Andrey Andreev.
The script, co-written by director Rachel Lee Goldenberg, is no nonsense, not complicated and has some effective surprises. It only goes a bit too far and feels a little over the top on a few occasions, with just the right amount of light humor (honestly not much). This is a much more intelligent look at the impact of modern dating than Celine Song’s “Materialists” from earlier this year, especially when the film explores Wolfe’s own dating disasters and workplace toxicity.
“Swiped” is this generation’s “The Social Network” and also has elements of “Not Okay” (another smart, recent live-action release under the Disney umbrella that could’ve found an audience in theaters but went the ‘direct to streaming’ route instead). In a sea of tentpoles and endless television series options, it’s nice to be able to enjoy watching an interesting, contemporary, under two-hour story told well, anchored by a reliable star.
LCJ GRADE: B+
Running Time: 110 min.