Swinging with the Finkels

I hesitate to call this a straight comedy but there are plenty of laughs. It's just that on my TiVo this was identified only as "romance, comedy". It is my opinion that mainly in the second half, this becomes more of a "comedy-drama". But it is entertaining and intelligent nevertheless. It's not constant laugh out loud zaniness.

Mandy Moore is not beautiful but attractive and likeable, and certainly smart and capable of speaking her mind.

Jerry Stiller stands out in a few scenes as Ellie's grandfather. He is a nearly perfect grumpy old man but seems happy with his longtime wife. I don't know who Beverley Klein is but she seems likeable enough. Both are presented with a nasty surprise when they make a surprise visit.

Melissa George does a great job too. Not the most likeable character, but she effectively shows us frustration. I will say this. Janet is not that pretty during most of the movie but she is just plain hot, with gorgeous hair and gorgeous everything else. toward movie's end.

I don't remember his name, but Ellie's gay co-worker also stands out.

Another standout actor does nails and is Asian. I don't remember her name, and she did have only two lines (in different scenes), but she made the most of them. Elizabeth Tan is listed in the credits as "pedicurist", so that must be her

What I really liked about this movie was the music. There are a couple of classical works, but most of the music is jazz, and the good kind of jazz. Not smooth jazz, and not the intellectual, depressing Miles Davis type of jazz either. Fun music that makes me think of Ed Sullivan. And of course the pleasant background music so many movies have. There are also a couple of vocal "standards", really nice music that mature people enjoyed in the 60s while the kids were shocking their parents by blasting this evil rock and roll. One of those accompanies one of the most enjoyable sequences, with flashbacks of Ellie and Alvin meeting in college and the early stages of their relationship, followed by Ellie looking at wedding pictures.

And there is also "music" that reminds me of the green truck that wakes me on Thursdays. In the bar when Ellie's co-worker and his husband (he's quite a character too) explain "swinging", and Ellie's fashion show. Other than the music, that's pretty impressive, and the "music" is appropriate, I guess. Another scene has Peter playing a video game with heavy metal.

Is this family friendly? Given the subject matter, do you even have to ask? Especially when the couples are being interviewed. Once the one couple is selected, it's done quite tastefully, but overall, so many words had to be bleeped for broadcast TV that some scenes make no sense at all.

Stay around for the credits, because some of the funniest and naughtiest material from the couples who auditioned is still to come.

Overall, it's a pretty enjoyable experience.

Oh dear. Yet another failed attempt to do a 'Four Weddings'. Take a selection of 'hilarious' middle-class characters, throw in a bit of sexual experimentation, some London landmarks and a barrage of romantic clichés, and you have the formula for this soggy mass of mediocrity. The script is banal, the characters unappealing, and the hodge-podge of nationalities baffling (would you believe English, American, Canadian, Australian, Indian and Eurasian characters all together in anything except the Olympics?). Martin Freeman plays a remarkably unsympathetic character, and has little to do except pull his usual variety of faces. The problem with the British film industry is that it's only possible to get funding for this sort of gloop, or for gangster films.

Written and directed by Jonathan Newman. British Martin Freeman and american Mandy Moore are the Finkels. Things are getting boring in the bedroom, and they might be ready to try swinging with others. Co-stars Jonathan Silverman (Bernie's) .. and Jerry Stiller (Serenity now !!!) this one has a LOT of talk about marriage, open relationships, role play, keeping things new and fresh in the bedroom. So they find a couple that they both agree on, which is awkward, but okay. This is listed as a comedy, but the only comedy i found was the dirty, dirty names of the drinks they offered to the other couple. That was clever! It's SO predictable... it probably ends just like you think it will. Whatever. The extra scenes during the credits were the best part of this one. They should have left those scenes in the film!

I love movies that deal with sex and marriage because these are topics that, well, are taboo on our society. The movie premise starts great, a marriage with a 'block' on their passion search for alternatives and as I say, it starts great, very liberal in the way it shows the couple trying to search for something different.

Then, all of a sudden, the movie just chickens out, sex and passion stops being the main topic of the movie and it slowly but surely becomes in another super clichéd romantic comedy about a couple fighting and getting back together.

Seriously, I love movies that respect their premise and go for it, this movie is not. Swinging (swingers) is the main title of the movie, but, believe me, swinging is the LEAST you will see on this one.

I don't have a problem with romantic comedies, don't get me wrong, but when the main premise goes to the trash can in the middle of it I get mad.

This movie is very deceptive, it tries to be original and bold in their initial statements but if rapidly falls in the "normal" category.

A real letdown, if you really want to see a fun comedy that don't dare to chicken out like this one, please, go see "A good old fashioned orgy" and do not waste time on this one.

I guess that sums it up good. Hopefully you don't have bad feelings towards the actors involved (especially Mandy Moore), because you wouldn't be able to like or enjoy the movie otherwise. But Martin Freeman and Moore do have a special chemistry and it works for the purpose of the movie. It's not that you will be cheering at the screen (I'm assuming here), but you will like them.

If that is not enough, maybe the decent comedy in place will please you. The theme is an adult one, which although there is not that much going on (explicit wise), the movie is rated R in America. In Germany and other European countries this probably looks different, because it is tame by their standards. A heads up to what you may expect.