Just Swipe movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Just Swipe

This romantic comedy premieres on Amazon Prime and Apple TV on February just in time for Valentine’s Day.

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 22 minutes

IN A NUTSHELL:

Finding true love isn’t easy, and the pandemic has made it even harder! When Vanessa (Jodie Sweetin) and Brandon (David Lipper) both swipe right, it seems like they have found what they are looking for. Can you really fall in love with someone you have never met in person? Vanessa has always had trouble in the dating world, never mind now being confined to her home. She soon discovers just how much you can get away with dating via webcam, but is the love she feels true or only a distorted version of reality?

About the film, the director stated, “As a huge fan of rom-coms, I also took pride in telling a new style of romantic comedy,” says Blake-Thomas. “Technology is such a huge part of most people’s lives nowadays. Mix in quarantine and the accessibility of dating apps and video chat platforms like Zoom, and you have a comical, relatable setting for romance. It was such a joy making this rom-com, as we all need to have a laugh, in today’s world now more than ever. With so many hardships over the recent years, it is important to laugh at the world and laugh at ourselves.”

On a personal note, I wrote a dating book with one of my sons, and then he went on to create the popular Christian dating app called Mutual. It’s been super entertaining to hear his stories about what people put on their profiles while searching for love. I’m so proud of him for bringing thousands of people together with something he created!

THINGS I LIKED:

The charming film stars Jodie Sweetin and David Lipper. Just Swipe is the first time that Sweetin and Lipper have starred in a motion picture together. The two starred in the classic family series Full House, where Sweetin played Stephanie Tanner and Lipper appeared in the final season as DJ’s boyfriend, Viper. They both also reprised their roles for Fuller House. David Lipper also produced the film! He stated, “It’s funny, I was closest with John Stamos and Bob Saget when filming the show, and of course did most of my work with Candace Cameron, who I adore, but Jodie was pretty young when I was on so I didn’t really know her well. In later years, I got to know Jodie a lot better and when I was brought back to Fuller House all these years later, I realized she was someone I had to work with. Being a producer now gives me the luxury of hiring the people I like, and I was thrilled to have this opportunity with Jodie, who’s grown into a wonderfully talented comedic actress.”
The cast is very diverse and includes people talking in sign language (with subtitles), homosexuals, a transvestite, and a woman in a wheelchair. In addition to the two romantic leads, the rest of the screen time mostly features Alec Mapa (Don’t Mess With The Zohan, Marley & Me), and Danielle Perez (Diary of a Future President, Curb Your Enthusiasm).
The movie was entirely shot at Frank Sinatra’s old Woodland Hills estate which was chosen because of its size and ability to look like many different locations, Just Swipe was inspired by director and co-writer, Elizabeth Blake-Thomas’ own experiences with Zoom dating during the pandemic.
I’m always intrigued by the color palette directors use. You’ll quickly notice that Vanessa’s clothing and house are all yellow, Donna’s clothes and house are all blue, and Miles’ clothes and accessories are mostly pink. The cheerful colors keep everything light and breezy.
Keep watching during the final rolling credits to see some fun photographs that continue the story.
The film has a bouncy soundtrack.
The movie features a lot of the quirky things we’ve all lived through during this pandemic, such as talk of toilet paper, trying to work from home (often in bizarre places), Zoom chats, strained family relationships, sanitizing our groceries, etc.
A cute visual cue of homemade bead bracelets that spells out each month and are worn by one of the characters was used to show the timeline and progression of the pandemic.
The salt and pepper analogy was cute and even insightful.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Some of the camera angles were strange.
Some of Jodie Sweetin’s makeup was distracting, like when lipstick on her pretty teeth and very strong white liner on the watermark of her eyes.
Act 3 flew by really quickly. The big challenge between the couple didn’t last very long before everything was quickly resolved and lessons learned.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

One-night-stand
You see someone on a toilet and another person in the bathtub quite a few times
Profanity and 1 F-bomb
You see two shirtless guys
Lots of cleavage
Unmarried people live together
Two unmarried people go at it on their webcams (under their blankets)
There’s a certain male anatomical body part drawn all over a face mask

THEMES:

Dating
Relationships
Friendship
Honesty
Pandemic
Inner beauty
Appearances and judging others
Infidelity

FUNNY LINES:

“Mr. Clean is friggin gorgeous.” – Donna (Danielle Perez) “And you know his house is spotless.” – Miles (Alec Mapa)
“I’m Asian. I should be better with ping pong balls.” – Miles (Alec Mapa)

INTERESTING LINES:

“Why is it so hard to find a good guy?” – Vanessa (Jodie Sweetin) “Because you’re not looking for a good guy. You’re looking for the perfect guy and they don’t exist.” – Monica (Jazzmun)
“Hey, maybe there’s a multiverse where your insides matter more than your outsides, and if there is, I’ll meet you there.” – Brandon / Daniel (David Lipper)
“We trade the imperfections we can’t live with for the ones we can.” – Vanessa (Jodie Sweetin)
“What if Covid were the earth’s immune system and we’re the virus?” – Vanessa (Jodie Sweetin)
“This year we had to figure out how to survive, and the only way to do that was to grow.” – Vanessa (Jodie Sweetin)