Swimming Upstream is a bio-pic that manages to tread water, in spite of the fact that few people will have heard of the individual who the film is about - not to mention that the subject of the bio was written by the man himself - former Australian swimming champion, Tony Fingleton. Though the film is weighed down by plenty of stock characters and is somewhat shackled by dysfunctional family cliché's - it is kept well afloat courtesy of two of Australia's finest thespians, Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. As Fingleton's embattled parents, Rush and Davis manage to transcend their scripted limitations and keep the film from sinking beneath the weight of it's own porous script.

Rush is the alcoholic and occasionally violent father of four sons and a daughter, who he raises with little affection and inexplicably favors his third son, John (Tim Draxl) a natural born swimmer, whom Rush dotes on in a way that's strangely heavy-handed. Fingleton, the screenwriter offers an explanation that involves Rush's mother's prostitution and some vague allusions to some shameful episodes in his childhood. Still Rush's deference toward John is something that's never satisfactorily explained and as a result limits the effectiveness of the film.

Anchoring the clan is the always terrific Judy Davis. Davis is an actress who so effortlessly evinces inner strength that her performance goes a long way toward compensating for the scripts flaws. She manages to deal with her husbands stints with unemployment and resultant bouts with the bottle, single-handedly keeping a happy, brave face on the family - amid poverty and physical abuse.

Tony Fingleton, (Jesse Spencer) of course, is the focus of the film - as a child he is drawn to his natural affinity for piano, but his Father's mean-spirited disapproval of such sissy pursuits soon sends Tony into the pool alongside his brother, both of whom begin to demonstrate amazing potential as swimmers even as young children. As their self-appointed coach, Rush assigns John as the freestyle swimmer and identifies Tony's ability for the backstroke, which enables the brothers to train side by side without the added tension of having to compete with each other.

Both John and Tony become junior champions and as they enter their mid to late teens they are both accomplished champions - aspiring to represent Australia in national competition. With a major national meet fast approaching, Rush secretly conspires to have John compete against Tony in the backstroke and the two finish one-two respectively, which causes a rift between the brothers that is never fully resolved.

The film does boast some compelling scenes between Rush and Spencer and there is plenty of other conflict that results when their mother attempts suicide. Swimming Upstream does devolve into some sappy melodrama at times, but Fingleton does have the sense to keep his autobiography gritty and real, for the most part. This isn't a film that you're going to remember for long or will be dying to recommend to your friends, but the strong performances by the killer tandem of Rush and Davis make it a film worth checking out, and does offer enough strong moments to give a tentative thumbs up.