Confessions of a Streamaholic

I didn’t know what to expect from this movie apart from the small description on DIsney+, I hadn’t watched the trailer just knew it had Lily James in it, but it sounded intriguing since it follows the creator of Bumble.

It started of well with some good music ‘Oh La La’ by Goldfrapp and this continued throughout with artists like La Roux, Charli XCX ft Icona Pop, The Ting Tings and DJ Snake & Lil Jon. The music went very well with the content of the movie even just the ambient stuff put in under the scenes.

When we first meet Whitney (Lily James) it looks like she has scammed her way into a party to network as she is new to LA, on the way out at the valet she meets Sean (Ben Schnetzer) and they get chatting where he tells her to come by anytime. Whitney (James) ends up turning up at his office the next day and this leads to him offering her a job. Whitney (James) is very ambitious with wanting to make a difference and I think from the off this was what made her likeable to me.

The company Whitney (James) works for has a mix of ideas but the one that sticks is a dating app they call ‘Tinder’, knowing this film is based on a true story I had no idea the creator of Bumble used to work for Tinder. The office environment seems really laid-back and fun at first, James’ character makes a friend who she goes on a Crime Tour with which we see their friendship throughout. Whitney (James) uses other dating apps and goes on dates for market research, they also have a funny, clever moment using an example of shower wiping to explain the Tinder swipe.

When we get introduced to Justin (Jackson White) I thought he was being really nice, I wrote this down then the next second he was being a word I can’t say, but let’s just say he was really annoying me. Jackson White does play the manipulative guy very well him as Stephen in ‘Tell Me Lies’ if you haven’t watched, please do. As soon as he turned Whitney (James) although happy as she’s asked to be a co-founder of Tinder things start going downhill especially after her break-up with Justin (White).

Whitney (James) does a lot to get Tinder off the ground with how she promotes it to the Frat and Sorority houses at American College’s. The movie shows the quick cannon balled success that Tinder got and just when they reach 1 Million users (the sprinkles being triggered and it raining on everyone is so good) things start to change Justin (White) is being a gas lighter, she goes to her boss and he does nothing to help which leads to her leaving Tinder. The next part was heartbreaking to watch with her doom scrolling and panic attacks, you feel really sorry for her as it isn’t her fault.

The silver lining is the Badoo CEO Andrey (Dan Stevens) who has a sense of humor creating some small giggle moments, he tries to poach her and she declines but luckily they chat again and he is happy for her to front her own thing, it takes a small bit of convincing but finally she agrees. This time Whitney (James) wants to fix injustices and make a positive difference for online dating for woman and then came Bumble which she creates with her friends but passed colleagues of Tinder and this was a big success too of course.

I don’t know the real story but happy she found love that seems happy and stable with Michael (Pierson Fode), if you seen my last review about ‘The Wrong Paris’ he is also a Texan cowboy in this film and he just fits the part so well. Also, not sure if she did speak out on any controversy with the Badoo CEO or what actually happened at her time at Tinder but it does make me second think if I ever download a dating app again which one I would use.

I really enjoyed this film, always interested to watch something that is based on a true story, you get a lot of small funny moments, small romances but overall following the story of Whitney is enough to keep the attention and see how these dating apps came to be/ see a possible version of what happened.