Product Details

• Actors: Paget Brewster, Jeff Branson, Jess Weixler, Ricky Ullman
• Directors: Ishai Setton
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: July 24, 2007
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000PKG6GM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,069 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Big Bad Swim" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

BIG BAD SWIM - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jump into "The Big Bad Swim", October 4, 2007

By 

D. C. Johnston (Syracuse, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Big Bad Swim (DVD)

A community pool in Connecticut is the setting for this "under the radar" film
which is charming, funny,entertaining, and appealing. Although it won prizes
in major film festivals, The Big Bad Swim was not widely released to theatres
across America, but was distributed in DVD form, and selectively shown.

It is unfortunate that The Big Bad Swim never had the marketing muscle of a Hollywood
release, considering how many sinkers Hollywood HAS released this year.
The Big Bad Swim, a genuinely good independent film, has to swim upstream on its own.

In "The Big Bad Swim," actress Paget Brewster is endearing and believable as Amy, the
wired-to-breaking point math teacher who loses her husband and is about to also
lose her job, but then ends up taking a gamble on a new life. TV soap actor Jeff Branson--
who is HOT-- plays Noah, the earnest, vulnerable swim teacher who goes the extra pool
length to help his students overcome their fears, and discovers he can learn from his
students. Pretty, sexy Jess Weixler deftly plays Jordan, the swimmer to be who works two
jobs, one as a pole dancer, the other as a blackjack dealer. Her character provides the
catalyst for change amongst the ensemble, but is the least understandable of the characters,
because of alack of a "back story" or motivation as to why she does what she does. Jordan
is young enough to stilllive at home with a ubiquitous, video camera toting younger
brother who spies on her, but her parents arenot shown to be involved with her life in
any way, which seems odd. There's no drunken mother or abusivefather here to explain
why a normal, attractive girlfrom a Connecticut suburb would choose to be a self
medicating pole dancer who debases herself for loutish bachelor parties. Despite this
nagging doubt, The Big Bad Swim succeeds, in large part, because it is a happy, feel good film.

As one might expect, learning to swim is the metaphor for life, where it's better to jump
in with both feet,and get in the swim, than to sit on the deck, because life happens
to you anyway.

The Big Bad Swim is a great date movie, a great dorm movie, a great "what haven't I seen" movie, and men
like it as well as women.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Story on a very human scale...., July 19, 2008

By 

D. S. Thurlow (Alaska) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Big Bad Swim (DVD)

The premise for 2006's "The Big Bad Swim" is an adult swim class at a pool in Connecticut, at which a young instructor tries to help the members of the class overcome their respective fears of the water. Away from the pool, the camera will follow the instructor and two of the students as they work through personal challenges, the resolution of which ultimately loop back through the class.

The movie portrays a very human-scale story. There are no car chases, murders, or extraordinary events, just people working through disappointments, divorces, deadend jobs, and second chances. Jeff Branson is the swimming instructor, an earnest young man trying to deal with a significant disappointment, the nature of which is not immediately revealed. His heart is in the right place, and we cannot help but root for his success. Paget Brewster plays a high school teacher going through a painful divorce and trying to restart her life. A chance friendship made at the class leads to new possibilities she is alternatively eager and reluctant to embrace. Jess Weixler plays a casino card dealer and hardened part-time stripper looking for an upside to her life, who finds that sometimes, you just have to ask.

The approach is generally humorous, although we are allowed to share the anxiety of the students over their fear of the water and other challenges in their lives. The plot device of having a couple of students present part of the story as a film documentary is only a partial success. However, tight direction and the deliberate, naturalistic pacing of the story carry the day.

"The Big Bad Swim" is very highly recommended as an entertaining and different indie film, a comedy-drama presented on a very human scale.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars See it!, July 24, 2007

By 

McG - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Bad Swim (DVD)

Funny, warm hearted comedy. Excellent cast. See it! (And don't be put off by the misguided cover art)