This was one of the worst films I've ever seen. Joseph Fiennes must have studied old James Dean movies before making this one, because all he ever did was look constipated, while wearing a perpetual frown on his face. Apparently, writer/director Peter Callahan must not be a believer in continuity or research. The "Big Swim" of the Hudson River is supposed to start just below Troy and end up at the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge, but guess what? The scenes move down the river, up the river, down the river, up the river, without the slightest attention to the proposed progression of the swim. At one point, when Fiennes character, Paul, has announced that he expects to finish the following day, the three-person party is approached by a sheriff's boat with two officers in it from Albany, who tell them that they've got 90 more miles to go to reach the bridge. My wife and I laughed aloud at the stupidity. Mary Tyler Moore must be desperate for work to have taken the idiotic role of the judgmental mother of Elizabeth Reaser's character. In one scene, Ms. Moore "pretends" to be driving a car while holding a drink, and never once looks at the road, as she spews venomous remarks about her various neighbors. The only bright spot for us was the performance of Justin Kirk as Jeff, a bartender turned swimming coach. Despite the pathetic script, he still maintained a level of professionalism and delivered his lines with conviction. Okay the music was decent, too. So, there you have it: a ridiculous plot, amateurish script, even more amateurish directing and editing, for a complete waste of time.
Review of Against the Current
