Swingers Buy This Poster At AllPosters.com

Swingers Buy This Poster At AllPosters.com

Upon repeat viewings, Swingers resolves itself as a movie of great and surprising depth, one that overcomes the limitations of a low budget and a tight shooting schedule through solid performances, graceful editing, and a witty screenplay that isn't collapsed by some stupid formula.

The inklings of a plot: Jon Favreau's struggling comic Mike migrated from New York to California after getting dumped by longtime girlfriend Michelle. His friends--unemployed L.A. actor-types--include neo-hep cat Trent (Vince Vaughn), who peppers his every sentence with affectionate "baby"s. Mike believes Trent's philosophy--that women only fall for assholes--to be suspect; the majority of the movie consists of his attempts to nevertheless emulate Trent's indifference before prospects, scoring, and then relenting, unintentionally playing the sensitivity card in tearfully relating memories of his ex.

In one effectively embarrassing take, Mike blows his chances with a girl he meets at a bar (Brooke Langton) by calling her machine over and over until he's given her his number, foreseen their relationship, and broken up with her, all in the space of a couple of minutes: "It's not you, it's me," he says into the phone, without ever having had a first date.

Favreau's pitch-perfect script resuscitates a lingo for this '90's rat-pack: if you look good or you're successful at something, you're "money;" if you're unaware of how attractive or successful you are, you'll probably earn a "you're so money, baby, and you don't even know it!" The absorbing Vaughn speaks the vernacular well, giving it a plastic authenticity that defines Trent.

The picture's closer is curiously sour--or is it the film's reassuring acknowledgment that Trent, despite his immeasurable charisma, really is all surface? Whatever the case, kudos to director Doug Liman: most filmmakers would have rearranged the last two sequences. This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, to suggest that Swingers is dark--this is a good-natured romp made by observant cinema buffs (check out the numerous homages), and it gently pokes fun at the unemployed actors' scene in Hollywood: Swingers slyly suggests that many aspiring It Boys lose out on parts because they're too busy kvetching over their romantic lives.

The DVD of Swingers is stunning, all things considered. Letterboxed at 1.85:1 (but not 16x9 enhanced), the image is crystal clear, with perfectly saturated colours and only a hint of grain during two scenes in Mike's apartment. The soundtrack is 2-channel Dolby Surround, and though the music sounds dynamic, there are very few surround effects. Dialogue is well-mixed and never unintelligible. There are no extras beyond Spanish subtitles, a trailer (P&S and noticeably cramped) and some title recommendations, including...Highlander III: The Final Dimension?!-Bill Chambers