We have seen movies about the creation of apps that have changed the way we interact with each other. The Social Network gave us the story of the men who created Facebook and the challenges they faced. WeCrashed showed us the rise and fall of WeWork. Swiped provides us with the story of Whitney Wolfe (Lily James), the creator of Bumble. Whitney’s story is more interesting than the other movies because the audience sees the challenges faced by a woman in the tech world.
The movie begins with Whitney sneaking into a tech event, hoping to network and pitch her start-up to potential investors. The event is filled with “Tech-Bros” who only see her as someone they can date or think she is hired to flirt with the men. Feeling defeated, she leaves the event and, while waiting for her car, meets Sean Rad (Ben Schnetzer). Sean informs her that he runs an incubation center, and she should come by so he can learn more about her idea. After helping secure a deal for one of his companies, Sean hires Whitney for his company.
Whitney quickly shows her mettle by helping name Tinder during one of their morning meetings. She does her own research to see what other dating sites are doing and uses that information to help streamline Tinder. She goes out to colleges to promote the app and quickly starts getting new users to the site. During this time, Whitney meets Justin (Jackson White), who is Sean’s best friend. As the company grows and Whitney’s position changes to Co-Founder of Tinder, we see Justin’s demeanor change around her.
Here is where I felt the movie was going in a different direction. Whitney is slowly being removed from company stories and meetings: she realizes that the company is changing the narrative about its creation. She decides to break it off with Justin, and he becomes a different person. He starts sending harassing text messages and talking badly about her in front of other co-workers. Due to this toxic environment, Whitney talks to Sean, and her words are turned around on her, and she is made to resign.
Whitney is demonized as the bad person in the relationship and a liar for speaking the environment she worked for. She attempts to sue the company and signs an NDA, but the story gets out, and she is dragged across social media for speaking out against the company. The movie really digs into how Whitney, as a woman, is not taken seriously about her allegations and how the situation causes panic attacks for her.
Where the movie falls flat is how her situation turns around, and the creation of Bumble. The movie spends a good amount of time giving us her story with Tinder and uses a montage to show how Bumble blew up. The film can not spend another hour telling her story, but being a movie about a woman who was pushed out of the company she helped start and has her own success story cut short feels too ironic.
Final Thoughts: Swiped is a great look into the hardships that women face working in the tech world. Lily Collins is fantastic as Whitney Wolfe. Her portrayal makes the audience empathize with her and want to see her win in the end. Jackson White as Justin is terrifying and a reminder of what some women face in today’s world.
Violence: There is no physical violence in the movie. There are toxic relationship situations shown in the movie that may be triggering for some viewers. The attacks on social media towards Whitney may also be triggering.
Kid-Friendly: The topic of dating apps may not be suitable for younger kids. I suggest parents watch the movie first and decide for themselves.
Inspired by the provocative real-life story of the visionary founder of online dating platform Bumble, 20th Century Studios’ new feature film “Swiped” introduces recent college grad Whitney Wolfe (Lily James) as she uses extraordinary grit and ingenuity to break into the male-dominated tech industry, launch an innovative, globally lauded dating app—two, actually, and pave the way to becoming the youngest female self-made billionaire.