Director: Rachel Lee Goldenberg
Cast: Lily James, Dan Stevens, Myha’la, Jackson White, Ben Schnetzer, Pierson Fodé, Clea Duvall, Pedro Correa, Ian Colletti, Carol Peña
Screenplay: Bill Parker, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Kim Caramele
110 mins. Not Rated.

Swiped is the most recent in a trend of films that one might call brandographies, films about the creation of popular brands, famous gadgets, or famous video games (think Air, Blackberry, and Tetris), but where it separates itself is that more focus is given to the woman who helped shape apps like Tinder and Bumble than the actual apps themselves, if only slightly more.

The film opens with Whitney Wolfe (Lily James, Baby Driver) as she searches for a career of purpose, one that doesn’t fall into a traditional role. She meets Sean Rad (Ben Schnetzer, Warcraft) and is quickly hired to help market an app his team is working with, leading her on the eventual path to co-create Tinder. Things quickly turn sour for Whitney when her relationship with one of the other co-founders ends and the Tinder world becomes a very toxic one. How does she defend herself in a male-dominated environment while also trying to make the dating world safer and better for women?

Perhaps the biggest knock on Swiped is that its plotting is rather pedestrian. The story plays out is exactly the way one would expect, and that comes from someone who didn’t know of Whitney Wolfe or the background goings-on at Tinder. I’ve never used a dating app and I’ve never paid much attention to them. All that to say that Swiped plays by its conventions and tropes, including a character introduction where someone drives like an asshole so I immediately assumed we’d come to find out that he isn’t a very good person. Lo and behold, I was correct.

On the opposite end of things, I believe that it is the central performance by Lily James that elevates the entire piece. While the story has very familiar beats, she lights up the screen during the sequences featured in building the different apps and features. That, and her general chemistry with a number of the supporting players make Swiped as entertaining and hard-hitting as it is. She genuinely wants the dating world to evolve, and she wants to make it better and safer for women is admirable, especially when viewed in the light of recent films like Materialists, where modern dating is chewed up and spit out.

Lily James is uplifted by a solid cast, with particular recognition given to Myha’la (Bodies Bodies Bodies) as Tisha, frequent collaborator with Whitney, and Coral Peña (The Post) as Marta, a reporter tasked with investigating Tinder and the tech industry behind the online dating boom. What really sets this brandography apart from others is the capturing of the female experience within the tech world, and these performances add to Whitney’s journey nicely.

Swiped doesn’t have much to add to the tech world and the brandography subgenre, but the female lens and the performance from Lily James make it worth checking out. If you already know the story, I can’t promise that you’ll get much of anything new from the fairly by-the-numbers plot and familiar character beats, but Whitney Wolfe is an endearing and interesting lead, and James gets the most from her portrayal.

3/5
-Kyle A. Goethe