Swindle (2013)

When a boy named Ben finds an old baseball card in his house his friend Griffin tells him to sell it. However when he does he is swindled out of 1.2 million dollars. Griffin then decides to assemble a team in order to get the card back.

Director:

Jonathan Judge

Writers:

Eric Freiser (teleplay by), Bill Motz (teleplay by)

Stars:

Jennette McCurdy, Noah Crawford, Chris O'Neal

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennette McCurdy	...	Savannah Westcott
Noah Crawford	...	Griffin Bing
Chris O'Neal	...	Ben Dupree
Ciara Bravo	...	Melissa Bing
Fred Ewanuick	...	Paul Swindell
Sandy Robson	...	Anton Leferve
Ariana Grande	...	Amanda Benson
Claudio Encarnacion Montero	...	PJ
Noah Munck	...	Darren Vader
Gardiner Millar	...	Ivan Volkov
Mitch Duffield	...	Eddie Goldmeyer (as Mitchell Duffield)
Chris Shields	...	Ben's Dad
Lucia Walters	...	Ben's Mom
Farrah Aviva	...	Bride
Aurelio DiNunzio	...	Bride's Father

Storyline

Based on Gordon Korman's book 'Swindle,' this movie is about a boy named Griffin who finds a valuable multi-million dollar baseball card. After accidentally selling the card for a million dollar loss, he enlists the help of his best friend Ben and his colleagues to regain the baseball card.

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Plot Keywords:

spy team | swindle | child spy | high school | wedding | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Family

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The Honus Wagner card depicted in the movie is the one published by the American Tobacco Company. The card was pulled from circulation because Wagner didn't want to promote smoking to his young fans, however around 200 of the cards made it onto the market. One such card was bought by Ken Kendrick, owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, in 2007 for $2.8 million, the highest fee ever paid for a sports card.

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Goofs

When Swindell and Griffin (disguised as Mr. Lefevre) talk about the Cybertor toy while getting a massage, it's obvious that Griffin is played by a completely different person (not Noah Crawford) for the majority of the scene.

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Quotes

[at a swanky hotel room]
Darren Vader: Hey, hey guys. TV in the bathroom. You can totally watch a game while you're taking a massive...
Melissa Bing: Please don't say it.
Darren Vader: Bath. Bath. I was gonna say bath.

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Connections

References Star Trek (1966)

User Reviews

Great book!! Awful movie...

In the movie Swindle, there are many things different from the book. The movie was pretty bad, but I'll give Nick some credit for trying! If you want to see a movie based on the book Swindle, don't even bother to watch this; it's as if the makers of the movie just skimmed through the book and took small details for the Nick version. It has more parts that came from the imagination than the original parts. This movie is over an hour, and whether you've read the book or not, it's not worth watching. This movie deserves a one star rating. The story (that's in the movie) is so messed up that if somebody read the book after seeing the movie without the names and title, they might not be able to tell that movie was made after the book Swindle. It needs lots of improvement, but it's too late now for Nick to change the movie. Overall, it's not worth watching. Here's a list of some differences.

1: In the book, the team is originally Griffin Bing, Antonia "Pitch" Benson, Melissa Dukakis, Logan Kellerman, Benjamin (Ben) Slovak, and Savannah Drysdale. While they were in a meeting, Darren Vader eavesdropped, and then he became one of the team members. In the movie, Logan isn't in it at all! Also, Darren is one of the original team members.

2: Some of the characters last names and/or personalities are changed in the movie. Melissa is Griffin's sister in the movie (Melissa Bing), and is Melissa Dukakis in the book. Antonia "Pitch" Benson isn't Antonia OR Pitch in the movie; she's Amanda. Her specialty is not climbing in the movie; it's gymnastics. Also, her character doesn't have honey-blond hair, which it says in the book Framed, also in the Swindle series. Ben DOESN'T HAVE NARCOLEPSY IN THE MOVIE?!?!?! He's narcoleptic in the book, so why not the movie? He is the small spaces specialist in the book too, but not in the movie! In fact, in the movie he's taller than Griffin! Ben has a different last name in the movie than the book. Savannah has a different last name in the movie like Ben. She is an actress in the movie, whereas in the book she's an animal lover, expert, and carer-for. What is not delightful about that is if Nick had made Savannah's specialty NOT be acting, my favorite character, Logan Kellerman, might be in the movie.

3: Things about Swindle's store, and Swindle changed, too. "S. Wendell Palomino" is "Paul Swendell" in the movie, which is different from the book. His store's name in the book is Palomino's Emporium of Collectibles and Memorabilia; in the movie, it has a pretty much different name in the movie. Another change is the baseball card is not a Babe Ruth card, Swindle doesn't have an assistant manager, AND he doesn't have the Doberman Pinscher, Luthor (who's face is on the cover of every book in the Swindle series). How can Nick have made a Swindle movie without Luthor??? It's like making a Jaws movie without a shark!!!

4:The people who play the kids from the story are older than 11. In the book Swindle, Griffin, Ben, Savannah, Pitch, Logan, Melissa, and Darren are all 11. In the movie, the members of the group are teenage high school students who can drive cars!! Also, the actors and actresses don't look like I'd picture them from the book descriptions, except for maybe Darren and Melissa, if they were younger.

5: Ben's family has the money problems in the movie. In the book, it's Griffin's family that has the problems. Ben's dad is the inventor, and he doesn't invent the Smartpick, like Griffin's dad did in the book. He invents a blue hand that can reaches out and grab things for couch potatoes.

6: There are different things about the heists. There is no "old Rockford house" sleepover, so the card is found somewhere else. There is no heist in Swindle's house like the book. Everybody knows about the store's heist when it takes place in the movie, but in the book, only Griffin, Ben, and maybe Savannah know until it's over. In the movie, the card was found in Swendell's store in the first "the great baseball card heist" instead of it and the safe it was in taken to Swindle's home like in the book.

Like I mentioned, in the movie Swindle, there are many things different from the book. It could be a lot better if Nick had made it more like Gordon Korman's original story. If you haven't read the book Swindle, it's worth your time to read it and see the differences for yourself. Plus, it's a great book and the start of an awesome series!! If you HAVE read the book Swindle, and you agree, thanks! If you don't agree…. hey! We have our opinions! The movie Swindle had weird spots, bad spots, and okay spots! And maybe a few good spots. I might not even be mentioning these things if it was more like the book, but thank you for reading!

Details

Official Sites:

Nickelodeon [United States]

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 August 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Arnaque à la carte

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pacific Bay Entertainment, Pacific Bay Entertainment Canada, Nickelodeon Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color