Swindle (2013 film)

Plot

Teenager Griffin Bing is known for helping out friends in times of need. His friend Ben Dupree's family are preparing to sell their home as a result of Ben's father's failed inventions, one of which punches a hole in the wall, and the boys find a Honus Wagner baseball card inside. They sell it to pawn store owner Paul Swindell for $350.

Griffin and Ben see on the news that Swindell plans to sell it for $1.2 million, claiming to have found it himself. They confront Swindell who refuses to return the card. Griffin plans a heist to take the card back with a team consisting of cheerleader Amanda Benson, actress Savannah Westcott, and “the muscle” Darren Vader. He rejects his younger sister, hacker Melissa's bid to join the team.

The team sneaks into Swindell's shop and Griffin finds the card, but worries that they would be prime suspects in the robbery. He lets Melissa join the team after she saves them by hacking the shop's alarm. Wealthy businessman Anton Lefevre invites Swindell to auction off the card to him. Amanda, after inadvertently revealing her geeky nature to the group, borrows two "Captain Cybertor" action figures, one with the intended blue hair, and a rare accidentally red-headed version worth $80,000 from fellow geek Eddie Goldmeyer in exchange for a date.

Swindell plans to sell the card at the Lakeshore Hotel auction. Posing as Swindell's bratty daughter, Savannah obtains his crown suite room key. Melissa hacks the hotel's system and gives Swindell a cheap room. Savannah and Darren let Swindell lie to them about the red-headed Captain Cybertor's actual price, and sell it to him for $10. Disguised as Lefevre, Griffin informs Swindell of a collector named Ivan Volkov who is searching for a red-headed Captain Cybertor.

Amanda switches the Cybertor boxes. Swindell sells it to Volkov for $80,000 before seeing through Ben's disguise and entering the gang's room. The gang tells him about the Cybertor switch and offer him the red-haired Cybertor in return for the Honus Wagner card, showing him footage of a furious Volkov. Swindell lunges for the red toy which falls off the balcony onto a couple's wedding cake. They all chase after it. Meanwhile, Ben's father is also at the hotel showing his new invention, the "iGotit", competing for a cash prize in an invention game show.

The gang retrieves the Cybertor and exchanges it with Swindell for the card. Swindell gives the Cybertor to Volkov who orders him to flee. Volkov is revealed to actually be Savannah's father, enlisted to help. The gang reveals themselves to Lefevre as the actual owners of the card; he invites them to the auction. While leaving, Swindell spills his case revealing a load of fake Honus Wagner cards with Swindell's face on them. He is presented with the $35,000 bill for the Crown Suite.

Ben rewards the gang with $25,000 for their help, explaining his family no longer need the money because his father's invention won the cash prize. Ben pays for a real honeymoon for the wedding couple, pays for the group's college, and lets himself and his team spend the rest. A little girl asks for Griffin's help retrieving her rare-breed bird, worth $20,000, from a fake groomer. Griffin decides that the group should use the rest of the money to continue to foil swindlers.

Cast

Main

• Noah Crawford as Griffin Bing, the main protagonist and the narrator ("The Brain")
• Chris O'Neal as Ben Dupree, the goofy guy who spills his smoothies ("The Best Friend")
• Jennette McCurdy as Savannah Westcott, the school's drama queen ("The Actress")
• Noah Munck as Darren Vader, the class bully ("The Muscle")
• Ariana Grande as Amanda "Mandy" Benson, head cheerleader and 2nd prettiest girl in school ("The Gymnast" / "Mandy the Mutant")
• Ciara Bravo as Melissa Bing, Griffin's younger sister and computer prodigy ("The Hacker")
• Fred Ewanuick as Paul Swindell ("The Swindler")

Supporting

• Sandy Robson as Anton Leferve ("The Auctioner")
• Gardiner Millar as Ivan Volkov/Mr. Westcott, Savannah's father ("The Actor")
• Mitchell Duffield as Eddie Goldmeyer
• Ecstasia Sanders as Hotel Manager
• Chris Shields as Mr. Dupree
• Lucia Walters as Mrs. Dupree
• Farrah Aviva as The Bride
• Aurelio DiNunzio as The Bride's Father
• Phillip Lee as Joy The Jock
• Marrett Green as News Reporter

Production

Swindle was filmed in Vancouver in the autumn of 2012.

Reception

Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, stating that "Nickelodeon alums team up in funny book-inspired heist film." David Hinckley gave the film a glowing review in New York Daily News.

References

References

1. (July 21, 2013). "'Swindle' Trailer: Nickelodeon Teases New TV Movie Starring Ariana Grande And Jennette McCurdy". The Huffington Post.
2. (October 3, 2012). "New Deets on Swindle!".
3. Marechal, AJ. (October 3, 2012). "Nick stars set to 'Swindle'". [[Variety (magazine).
4. Strecker, Erin. (August 22, 2013). "'Swindle': Jennette McCurdy, Ariana Grande movie has tweens buzzing".
5. (August 27, 2013). "Nickelodeon's 'Swindle' Takes the Top Spot With Kids and Tweens for the Week, Drawing 4.2 Million Total Viewers". Nickelodeon.
6. "Swindle – DVD". Amazon.
7. "Swindle – Blu-ray". Amazon.
8. "Archived copy".
9. "Swindle." - Television Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2013.
10. "Swindle Movie Review".
11. "'Swindle': TV review".