Made

Peter Falk? How can his acting be anything other than a perfect 10? Peter Falk is undeniably `money!' But, he does not make the whole movie, however. Nay, Peter Falk is only one part of what I would call `Swingers with Balls.' Swingers was a great movie, but Made was even better. `Made' is more in your face! Sure Vince Vaughn is more obnoxious in Made, and sure the characters are pretty close to the same as Swingers; nevertheless, I have this distinct feeling that if Made were released first, instead of Swingers, Made would have been the movie people were talking about, and not the other way around. Maybe it is just my personality and my love for the shock value in movies, but I just feel that this one was more on the `money.' Did I mention Peter Falk's great acting? Oh yeah, there is some real talent and dark humor in Jon Favreau's writing and directing. Jon cannot afford to make too many more movies like this one, and I hope he has some other creative colors in his pallet, but only time will tell, and I would love to see some more dark humor from this guy.

MADE writer, director, and co-producer Jon Favreau did a good job with this film in that the movie was shot in twenty-six days. That is a very short amount of time in making a movie. With a low budget, Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn steal the show as two would-be boxers that are hired by a mob figure(Peter Falk) to settle business with another boss in New York City. Bobby(Favreau) and Ricky(Vaughn) dont know what is in store for them when they are confronted with the "real mob." Vince Vaughn is hilarious in this movie in that he tries to act like a typical mafia figure with money, women, and a rich lifestyle. He fails miserably in his attempts which backfire on him and Bobby completely. I remember seeing Jon Favreau as Sean Astin's best friend at Notre Dame in the movie RUDY, and as Cameron Diaz' husband in VERY BAD THINGS. I enjoy the work he does and RUDY is one of my personal favorites so that probably has something to do with why I like his work. I thought this movie was well worth watching although there is one thing i didnt like. The fact that Sean "P. Diddy" Combs was given the role of a mob boss didnt take to me very well. He should just stick to rapping and bag the acting. Other than that, I enjoyed watching MADE, especially Vince Vaughn's constant humor.

I tried not to have many pre-conceived notions about 'Made' before renting it. Then again, having Favreau/Vaughn together again will always conjure up thoughts of T & Mikey. Swingers may well haunt Favreau for the rest of his career. He alluded to that with his guest shot on 'The Sopranos'. It was a special movie, an instant classic which would be hard to top for any writer. 'Made' certainly tries to follow suit with the writing style but it falls flat. Vaughn (Ricky) plays a character who talks exactly like Trent but is more of a lunatic loser who's dream is to give up boxing to be a mob guy. Favreau (Bobby) is the level-headed friend who vouches for him while getting an assignment from his boss (Falk). All he wants is to get some $ so he can make better life for his stripper girlfriend & her child. Basically from there it splinters off into Ricky & Bobby trying to take care of 'the drop' in NYC for the boss (Falk). Ricky's "Goodfellas-like" mentality is causing headaches for Bobby who just wants to take care of business. I thought Sean Combs did a fine job playing himself essentially (a ganster living the high life). Yes, there are some funny lines but overall the movie is just too sloppy. It feels like a low budget flick, the camera work is not very good and the film takes no risks. Characters were not developed & the ending tries to be all sweet but I don't think enough was done to set that up. There were just too many missing ingredients. If Vaughn & Favreau want to do future films together maybe bring Doug Liman into direct it. He did a marvelous job with Swingers and maybe they could recapture some magic. It sure was missing in 'Made'.

Rating 6/10

Apart from Jim Carrey's Cable Guy character, the role played by Vince Vaughn is perhaps the most annoying and irritating ever. We were so close to turning the DVD off and forgetting about it.

The movie's OK, a good story, but VV's character is too over the top and ruins a good movie.

I can't believe anyone could have seriously enjoyed this movie. This was no doubt one of the worst movies of the year. Vaughan's character couldn't have been any more annoying ! And Favreau was pretty much the same character he is in everything else I've seen him in. Sure, I loved Swingers too, but Vaughan and Favreau are one-role actors, always playing pretty much the same guys. I'm tired of them already. If you want to waste some more money go see Vaughan's new timewaster " The Prime Gig ". He's a little less annoying, but the movie is equally boring.