Swiped is releasing on Disney+ and Hulu this week, but before it does, it premiered at TIFF 2025. I got the chance to check the film out during the festival, and honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. Though it does feel like a movie made for streaming, Swiped was entertaining at the very least.
Swiped is a true story following Whitney Wolfe, a co-founder of Tinder, and then the founder of the women-first dating app, Bumble. Wolfe was brought onto the Tinder team, and after helping push the app over the finish line for success, she was repeatedly disrespected and undervalued. Without spoilers, a series of events causes her to leave Tinder, and she is inspired to create Bumble, which is still successful to this day.
Having used both apps at different points in my life, I can say the movie captures the essence of each one. Tinder comes across as a boys’ club, with behaviour that is often crude and largely ignored. Bumble, while not perfect, gives women the chance to reach out first. That reduces harassment and limits the number of unwanted explicit photos. It is interesting to see how the stories of both companies reflect their final products. Of course, it is hard to know how much of the movie is accurate and how much is dramatized. Overall, though, it feels consistent.
“Though it does feel like a movie made for streaming, Swiped was entertaining at the very least.”
When the movie started, I actually thought it would be following Ben Schnetzer’s character and Lily James’ (Baby Driver) Wolfe more. The chemistry and banter the two shared were great. It was really well-timed, and they seemed to gel well together. When it turned to Jackson White to play the love interest, I really didn’t like it. He plays a great jackass, but I feel like there was never a connection in the first place to warrant how things were able to progress. If anything, I feel like Schnetzer and White’s roles should have been reversed.
There is a disclaimer at the end of Swiped that the real Whitney Wolfe did not participate in the making of this movie, since she is under a strict NDA. For some, this could have them concerned about the facts of what happened. As a woman, I bet the other women portrayed in the film weren’t under NDAs and happen to be friends of Wolfe. Just my two cents. These women were played by Myha’la (Dumb Money) and Mary Neely (Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile), who added some much-needed estrogen and a few great comedic moments. From the supporting cast, these were two of my favourites, especially in a sea of men.
Though Swiped is a true story, it is also a sad look at the tech industry, or really any other male-dominated industry. As a woman in tech and gaming, I could identify with a lot of the struggles Wolfe had. The movie explored having to be a “bro” to fit in with men, the way women ice each other out to gain the acceptance of men, and even the way women get seen as less-than when doing the exact same job as a man.
This year really seems to be the year of the strong, independent woman, with many films documenting their badassery and Swiped can be added to that list. I worry that the more of these kinds of stories we put out there, the more people will complain and hate on them, which is part of the problem in the first place, right?
“Swiped was a pretty entertaining movie, and it is unfortunate that it had to be based on a true story.”
Swiped was directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg, who also shares the writing credit with Bill Parker and Kim Caramele. Goldenberg also directed Minx and Tiny Beautiful Things, which are both about the female rise to power and finding oneself. She did a great job emphasizing the way women struggle in the workplace, but also used some great techniques to show Whitney’s decline. Using fast cuts, swelling music and isolated breath sounds, Swiped really drove home the struggle Whitney Wolfe was facing.
My only real issue with Swiped was in its pacing. Because it is trying to show the rise and downfall of Whitney at Tinder, and then the rise at Bumble, there is so much to get through. Because of this, a lot of things felt rushed or not fully developed. I was also sad to see that the part of the story that was the most rushed was her time at Bumble.
That is meant to be the positive story, yet the film spent more time focusing on the poor behaviour of men than on women succeeding. Even the Bumble storyline is partly centred on a man behaving badly. I understand this showed some character growth for Wolfe, but it would be refreshing to see a story fully about the women for once.
Swiped was a pretty entertaining movie, and it is unfortunate that it had to be based on a true story. Not only does it suck to see how women are treated in male-dominated spaces, but it’s really sad to know that this is happening for real, and not just in the stories we put in theatres and streaming.
Swiped releases on September 19th on Disney+.
