Review by Doug Cooper
Stars Mandy Moore, Martin Freeman, Melissa George, Jerry Stiller, Jonathan Silverman, Carolyn Tomkinson, Elizabeth Tan, Daisy Beaumont, Angus Deayton
Written by Jonathan Newman
Certification UK 15 | US R
Runtime 85 minutes
Directed by Jonathan Newman
Don't go along to this expecting a risque sex comedy. You ain't gonna find it. What you willl view though is an anemic romcom - smutty, obvious and unoriginal. Which is a shame really as the first 10 minutes start off well and possess a certain charm. Not least Martin Freeman who can do deadpan delivery and exasperation impeccably. He's naturally gifted as feckless husband Alvin. An early scene in a fashionable restaurant where he and his American pal Peter (Silverman) justify eyeing up other women to their respective wives is very amusing. But it all goes downhill quickly after this.
Alvin has been married to attractive Ellie (Moore) for nine years. They're bored with their marriage and try to think up ways to enliven it. She suggests hooking up with another couple and a "consensual affair" taking place. They interview various couples and settle upon staid Deayton and enthusiastic Beaumont. But the night of their sexual trysts doesn't go according to plan.
This section takes up about 10 minutes of screen time so the movie isn't really about the couple swinging at all. It's more an attempt to delineate their relationship in a lighthearted fashion, padding out the narrative which has been expanded from a short with witless and vapid scenes that rarely go anywhere. Peter's visit to a doctor? Excruciating. Elli's masturbating with a cucumber when her aged parents walk in? Hopeless. Alvin and Ellie seem to live in an enormous house but are certainly not millionaires. Implausibility is to the fore here.
Freeman can play comedy but Moore can't so they seem a mismatched pair. Silverman tries too hard, but then one can hardly blame him. The dialogue the characters spout is hardly gold. Truth be told, Swinging with the Finkels is a stinker. A nice idea but a dire result. Dreadful.