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| Swingers (1996)
Starring: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, Heather Graham, Alex DésertDirector: Doug Liman Rating: R Category: Comedy  |
Male bonding may be the most overrated of movie emotions, so it's a most pleasant shock to experience "Swingers," a guy film that gives you something to latch onto and makes male bonding both believable and appealing. A tiny, independent festival flick that achieved cult status through video rentals and word of mouth, "Swingers" is one of the best comedies of all time.
The film follows aspiring actor/comic Mike (Jon Favreau) while he drowns in self-pity after a traumatic breakup with his ex-girlfriend Michelle about leaving New York for a brighter future in LA. Trent (Vince Vaughn), Mike's best friend, has apparently dedicated his life to swinging and decides to snap him out of a dateless daze by forcing him back into the social loop. After some amusing misadventures in Las Vegas, Trent and Mike return to L.A. and hook up with two other wannabe-actor pals (Rob Livingston and Patrick Van Horn) who join in the fun in getting Mike back into the swing of the dating scene. Most of "Swingers" involves hanging out with the four guys as they prowl around in search of female digits (phone numbers) and argue about callback etiquette before concluding that two days is the industry standard.
Confident of its emotional effects, "Swingers" knows how to breathe life into its characters and it never feels scripted or clichéd. More than any other recent film, "Swingers" feels like L.A. now. Here are the parties scheduled for 8:00 that don't get going till midnight, the spectacle of everyone traveling solo in their cars and locking up with the Club. Written by Favreau and directed on the run by Doug Liman, the film is full of clever scenes and witty dialogue. Most importantly, the script knows its audience and tells it like it is for a single, twenty-something male in the city: Mike botches a romantic prospect by leaving a series of increasingly desperate messages on the girl’s answering machine, Trent and Mike take a disastrous turn at the high-rollers' roulette table and the guys play hockey on Sega to get into fights; like we all do. “Swingers” is quite possibly the best movie of the past decade, and I’m not afraid to quote myself on that.
DVD Features:
There are a ton of DVD extras for fans of the film, including several deleted scenes, audio commentary from director Doug Liman and editor Stephen Mirrione, and illustrated action comedy with Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn. The real attraction, though, is the "Making It In Hollywood" documentary, showing the development of "Swingers" from the writing to the aftermath. Aspiring screenwriters and filmmakers should take detailed notes!
~Jason Zingale
jzingale@bullz-eye.com