The heroine of Swiped encounters so many nasty surprises about people she trusted, filmmaker Rachel Lee Goldenberg might have thought it merciful to spare her audience any such surprises regarding Whitney Wolfe herself. This movie is so kind to Wolfe, even the shortcomings she admits to are more declared than demonstrated.
It’s not that I know of any dirt Goldenberg should have aired about the inspiring founder of Bumble, the women-friendly dating app. It’s just that with such a limited arc of character development, the film amounts to a roller-coaster ride through the world of disappointing tech bros.
The film picks up most of its edge not from content, but from context: in 2025, disappointing tech bros have discarded even the pretense of empathy as they rise to previously unseen heights of power. If nothing else, Swiped serves as a look-into-the-camera moment in the face of Mark Zuckerberg declaring that corporate America needs more “masculine energy.”
Lily James is appealing in the lead role, although casting an actor closer to Wolfe’s age during the events depicted — early 20s to early 30s — might have emphasized just how young the future billionaire was when she went to work for the company that launched Tinder. Much of Swiped chronicles Wolfe’s contributions to that dating app’s wild success, and the ensuing harassment that led to a secret, but later leaked, legal settlement.
Swiped is at its strongest in the Tinder section, which convincingly dramatizes a situation in which guys who seem to be women’s allies show their true colors as the stakes rise. Goldenberg, who co-wrote the screenplay with Bill Parker and Kim Caramele, has a nice touch for moments like the one where one of Wolfe’s coworkers opens the door to a personal relationship.
The film isn’t particularly curious about dating or sex (Goldenberg even resorts to the exhausted device of cutting straight from flirtation to comically vigorous garment-rending), but it handles the required exposition efficiently for a story that revolves around the specific features of mobile apps.
In the story’s second act, Wolfe confronts yet another disappointing dude as she tries to parlay the success of Bumble into an empire of nice. It’s here that the film loses momentum, as it builds to a climax involving Wolfe facing a choice that can only go one way if she is to remain admirable to the viewer — and by this point it’s become very clear this production is never going to put that at risk.
Premiering September 19 on Hulu, Swiped is a well-timed, if tidy, chronicle of triumph over toxic masculinity. It’s a good thing the story is true, because, sadly, it would beggar belief if presented as fiction.
Images: Lily James in (top) and on the set of (inset) Swiped. Photos by Hilary Bronwyn Gale. ©2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
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