“The faster we swim, the sooner we win” proclaim former collegiate women’s swimming champs. They’re still in a close social swim with each other, meeting every few decades from 1980 to the present in a rented beach house. But each has a distinctly different personality and leads a different life.
Happily married Sheree (Lynne Doyle), still actively exercising, prepares snacks for the group. Doyle keeps her nicely setting the stage for each meeting. Laura Sommer Raines most contrasts with her as self-absorbed, multi-married Lexie, always vain about her looks. They change from hair color to costume choice each epoch, and Raines always swings with the changes.
Cara Herman is smart lawyer Dinah, who likes her alcohol but always keeps her dignity. Although she never marries, Cara’s Dinah is clearly happy enough, and it’s too bad for some guy that he didn’t end up with her love, as her friends did.
As the accident-prone Vernadette, Julie Look is the epitome of the small town wife whose husband doesn’t deserve her and, in fact, deserts her often. Major laugh-getter Kristi Hibschman plays rather silly former nun Jeri Neal, who’s left the convent in an epiphany about motherhood as her destiny. Through the ages she struggles as a single, put-upon mom but finally finds someone to share parenthood with her.
The gals have their moments of sticking together in tough scrapes but also having disagreements and even near-ruptures of friendship. The times that these happen are dated by a series of introductory slides featuring prominent personalities of each era. Nate Myers keeps the adequate setting of the meetings pretty stable, but Kaylene MaCaw clothes the inhabitants with realistically very-different styles.
Elliott Raines elicits fine performances from his cast. The story moves as smoothly as in a film. It would undoubtedly be termed a “chick flick” with both humorous and sad moments all adding up to a nice sentimental swim through time.
