Swingers

This film could prove that nice guys "don't" finish last. A truly great and funny movie. The movie is basically about getting a nightlife, friendship and picking up girls. The movie centers on Mike (Jon Favreau). A very brave but not cocky young man who constantly dwells on his ex-girlfriend and unsuccessfully attempts to rekindle his love life. Trent (Vince Vaughn) is always there to give him encouragement and inspiration. In someways Trent is the star of this movie. He has a strong screen presence and is extremely funny.

This movie teaches us to always double down on an eleven in black jack and how many days to wait before you call the girl for the first time. The greatest scene in this movie has to be when Trent and Sue are talking to Mike in the lounge and are trying to encourage Mike to ask a girl at the bar for her phone number. The "big bad bear and little bunny" analogy they use is hilarious.

You have to feel happy for Mike when he meets Lorraine (Heather Graham) at the end of the movie. We see Trent and Sue watching their buddy in amazement but we know that they are truly proud of him. Mike really was money and he didn't even know it.

This is a hilarious film about nobodies claiming to be bigger than they ever will be!

Doug Liman showed much promise and I'm more than sure that one day he will continue to make bigger budget films (Bourne Identity)

Careers should also be good for the great Jon Favreau who is just a fantastically witty writer, Vince Vaughn who should get a headlining film and Ron Livingston who is still performing good roles.

I love the script in this film, the language is unique and the scenarios are superb... the sad fact is that there are hundreds of guys like Trent, Mike, Rob & Sue (played by Patrick Van Horn)

I urge everybody to watch this even though it might not be there cup of tea!

9/10

Okay so I expected to have a laugh riot because it has Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau. Instead I snickered at some scenes and was depressed through most of it. Don't get me wrong it's an interesting watch but as a comedy drama, I expected about half comedy and half drama. This just didn't do it for me. As usual the characters are believable, and maybe that's exactly what's wrong with it. Jon portrayed the depressed character so well that I felt his depression. I was half expecting his character to commit suicide.

Let me preface this review by saying that this is my favorite film of all time. I'm not saying it was the best, most artistic, original, or most innovative...but it is my favorite. It's a movie about a 20-something man getting over a nasty break-up, living in Los Angeles. Pretty simple stuff, but the honesty in the film is amazing. This film boasts the most realistic, and interesting depictions of male friendship I've ever seen. Some might simply pawn this movie off as a buddy flick, but it goes so much deeper than that. Mikey (Favreau) deals with insecurity, rejection, depression, an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy. Something almost everyone can relate to. And, as an audience member, you live and die with the poor guy. The supporting cast is very strong, popping in and out as the assortment of friends populating Mikey's social life. Each is trying, in his own way, to get their buddy out of his post-break up funk, which meet with varying degrees of success. Swingers is chock full of laugh-out-loud moments, and oft-quoted lines ("Our baby's all grows up!") that could very easily lead to repeated viewings of this masterpiece.

I chanced upon Swigers one evening after reading an article on writer/star Jon Favreau, and trying to figure out which character he played in Friends (it's Pete Becker by the way); don't you love it when you uncover a gem. From the opening credits, set to Dean Martin crooning "You're Nobody Until Somebody Loves You", I knew that this film was the very personification of cool, spawning one of the coolest characters in any film...ever, that being Trent Walker played by Vince Vaughn, with a swinging soundtrack and a real sense of fun which you don't often get in mainstream Hollywood; and this film is effortless in a way which Tarantino could only dream about.

The story centres around Favreau's loser-in-love Mikey, trying to make a living as an actor in L.A after leaving his long-term girlfriend behind in New York. His best buddy, Trent, tries incessantly to get Mikey back 'into the game' so to speak; cue a trawl around L.A's hippest night-spots, some hilarious insight into dating rituals (when is it cool to call? 2 days?), and a trip to Las Vegas in which Trent tries to 'pull a Fredo' (bedding cocktail waitresses two at a time). The central duo are ably supported by a cast of lovable rogues, all intent on getting laid.

Doug Liman directs in a laid-back manner, befitting of the film, and Favreau's script (based on Vaughn and himself) is full of witty insights and in-jokes, as well as enough movie references to keep everyone happy.

Although the characters are almost impossibly cool, they never appear obnoxious due to the over-riding sense that they are just a bunch of lovable losers trying to con their way into the beds of L.A's female population; sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, and there is a certain sweetness added by Favreau's predicament. The pay-off is cool, Favreau finally 'getting digits' and we are left with a role-reversal between the two main protagonists as Trent makes a fool of himself with a woman in the closing scene.

Altogether a classy, breezy, often hilarious film, a certain cult classic, and a fine addition to the date movie genre.