'Swiped’ reveals Tinder co-founder's epic showdown with the tech boys club on her path to billionaire status

It's always fascinating to see real-life stories, especially those involving high-profile individuals or subjects, adapted into a screenplay.

And “Swipe” is definitely up there with “Steve Jobs”, “Blackberry” and “The Social Network”.

I was curious about the Disney+ film because it centres on a formidable girlboss, Whitney Wolfe Herd, and, in the same breath, delves into sexual harassment and toxic workplace culture. 

Seriously, we need more empowering offerings.

For those unfamiliar with the name or history, this is an excellent introduction to Wolfe Herd, co-founder of Tinder and founder/CEO of Bumble.

Co-written by Rachel Lee Goldenberg, who also directs, Bill Parker and Kim Caramele, the script does a surface-level run-through of her background and trailblazing exploits as the world’s youngest female billionaire. 

I do feel it could have been so much more impactful, but the prism in which they unpack her journey is, in my opinion, restrictive instead of all-encompassing.

I will delve more into this in a bit. 

The film opens with a recently graduated Whitney (Lily James) hustling her way into an event, aiming to get funding for an altruistic entrepreneurial venture. 

While her effort backfires, fate favours her with a chance meeting with Sean Rad (Ben Schnetzer), who helms an enterprising start-up tech company. 

He admires her moxie and offers to help facilitate introductions with the right capitalist. However, when he realises her value at an impromptu lunch meeting, he offers her a VP of marketing position.

While their initial project didn’t take off, their dating app, Tinder, did, thanks to Whitney’s out-of-the-box thinking and go-getter attitude. 

She moved mountains in changing mindsets and creating a buzz around the app, which didn’t go unnoticed by her new boss, Justin Mateern (Jackson White) 

During the rollout to attract more users, sparks fly between the two.

However, their romance is strained by his uncontrollable jealousy, and Whitney decides to end it. Justin doesn’t take the rejection well and makes the office environment unbearable by sidelining her from meetings, bombarding her with threatening text messages and slut-shaming her with the staff.

At first, she tries to ignore him, but the gaslighting wears her down. Her attempt to get Sean to address the issue backfires as the boys' club culture supersedes everything else. 

The women who work there don’t have a voice, and with the leeway she got as a co-founder, Whitney never wanted to rock the boat. 

Her work bestie, Tisha (Myha'la), tries to be supportive, but Whitney, drowning in despair, lashes out at her as well after she is shown the door. 

Her attempt to take the company to court over sexual harassment backfires on her, and she is eventually forced to settle and sign an NDA. 

Amid this dark chapter in her life, there is a silver lining as Andrey Andreev (Dan Stevens), a Russian-born British tech entrepreneur behind Badoo, among other social networking apps, allows her to start over with the launch of Bumble.

However, while she considers him a friend, a scandal that hits very close to home for Whitney results in her making a tough moral call. 

To get back to my earlier point about the script taking a cursory look at Whitney’s giant strides in a male-dominated space, the film narrates her journey but glosses over the emotional trauma she experienced.

It lacks depth and, in many instances, obscures the truth - it feels unclear on whether this was deliberate or for legal reasons.

James is a wonderful anchor for the story. She brings the energy, chutzpah, creativity and tenacity to the table. 

Overall, it is an engaging tale championing empowerment and entrepreneurship while underpinned by gender inequality and toxic workplace culture. 

Rating: *** solid and enjoyable, though not groundbreaking.