Swiped tells the story of Whitney Wolfe Herd (Lily James) who, at the age of twenty two, co-founded Tinder. Being the brains behind the famous app, she never got the credit she deserved. Not being able to trust her partner Sean Rad (Ben Schnetzer) and finding herself in a toxic relationship with Justin Mateen (Jackson White), she eventually had no choice but to leave the company. When she meets Andrey Andreev (Dan Stevens) a few years later, he convinces her to start a new app by the name of Bumble.
As someone who has used both apps in the past, I found the film to be very interesting. I didn’t know about their origins and so there was a lot to learn. I thought it would be your average run of the mill biopic that we have seen so many times before. I didn’t realize that there would be a whole other side to the story that inevitably helped elevate it for me.
I have always liked James as an actor and thought that she did a fabulous job as our protagonist. The fact that the real Whitney Wolfe Herd was not involved in the project due to her Tinder NDA meant that James had to dig deeper to sell her performance. Despite how much she went through in her personal relationship as well as trying to make her voice heard in an otherwise male dominant industry, she still preserved. Schnetzer and White were perfect as the stereotypical tech guys. I don’t want to say White has been typecasted as the resident douche, but with this and his character on Tell Me Lies, he really has it down pat. While Stevens wasn’t as prominent as he could have been, I felt like he served his purpose (and he reminded me so much of his character in Eurovision with the accent!) I also loved Whitney’s best friend, cheerleader and colleague Tisha who was portrayed by Myha’la. She was always there in the background, but she played such an important part in Tinder and Bumble respectively.
What I enjoyed most about the film was how empowering it was to watch as a woman. The sisterhood between Whitney and Tisha, as well as the other women who started off working at Tinder and went on to thrive at Bumble was lovely to see. During the short period of time the I dabbled in Tinder, I didn’t have many positive experiences. Seeing this depicted in the film was refreshing because it did shed light on the downsides of online dating as well as the upsides. Having Bumble come into play where women were able to make the first move made me feel safe when it came to romantic and platonic relationships. I’m glad that this was properly explored and that it also reflected the lives of the women who were behind the app in the first place.
Overall, Swiped is definitely one of the better biopics that I have seen in recent years. With a brilliant lead performance by Lily James and the girl power that oozed throughout, I walked away from it feeling like I wanted to do better and be better for all the other women out there. I definitely recommend checking out.
Rating: ♥️♥️♥️.5
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