Actor Jon Favreau had great success heeding the axiom“write what you know” with his screenplay for Swingers, a movie that was “so money” and so funny it made a great return at the box office and exploded the careers of Favreau, co-star Vince Vaughn, and director Doug Liman.
Buy Swingers Blu-raySet in 1990s Los Angeles, Mike (Favreau), a struggling comedian from New York, finds himself struggling to get over the end of a six-year relationship. With the help of friends, and at times in spite of them, he ventures back into the dating world. Although it’s been six months, Mike is not over ex-girlfriend Michelle, who is back in New York and seeing someone. This is evidenced by the messages from Mike’s friends on his answering machine and, in the movie’s only bit of magical realism, the message from his answering machine.
Actor/friend Trent (Vaughn in his star-making turn) drives them to Vegas. Mike has a plan for how they are going to get treated like high rollers, but it quickly falls apart in a very funny fashion. Trent is a womanizer. Mike is taken aback at Trent’s rudeness towards casino waitress Christy (Deena Martin), yet she plans to meet up after work and bring a friend for Mike. The fellas seem destined to score at Christy’s trailer, but Mike ruins things when he is compelled to check his answering machine to see if Michelle has called. But like every other day he’s been in California. She hadn’t.
Back in Los Angeles, it’s more of the same as Mike tries to get back to dating by meeting women at parties and bars. When Trent urges him to get a gal’s number, Mike succeeds, but only briefly. He ignores the suggestions to wait a couple days, as is now standard according to his friends, and calls her a few hours later in one of the most brutal phone-call scenes in cinema history.
Swingers also has sequences of Mike and his friends bonding. They reference films and filmmakers, which Liman incorporates into the way he shoots the film. For example, there’s talk about the tracking shot from Goodfellas through the Copacabana. Later, Mike and Trent enter The Derby shot a similar way.
After all the angst Mike has been dealing with, much of it self induced, the story wraps with him having a successful evening as well as a moment of clarity about Trent. His character growth enriches the movie and elevates it from the typical R-rated comedy about young men.
Appearing to be the same as the 2011 Blu-ray release, the video is available in a 1080p/MPEG-4 AVC encoded transfer displayed at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The neon colors in the Vegas come through in strong hues while colors in some of the smaller interior scenes aren’t as vivid. Blacks appear inky. The image usually features a sharp focus, but a few scenes looked soft. The image looked clean and had consistent film grain.
The audio is available in a new DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track as well as the 2.0 from the previous release. On the former, the dialogue is clear throughout. The songs have good clarity. There is mild ambiance, such as the party scene.
The previously available Special Features are:
- Filmmakers’ Audio Commentary: Liman and Editor Stephen Mirrione present an informative discussion about what went into the production.
- Audio Commentary with Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn: The friends sit for a chat about the movie, including pointing out parallels between the characters and themselves.
- “Making it in Hollywood” Original Documentary (49 min): Comprised of four parts, “Art Imitates Life: Writing the Story” and “Life Creates Art: Getting Swingers Made” look at the production of the movie, and “Life Imitates Art: Swingers Culture” and “Art Creates Life: Life After Swingers”looks at its impact.
- The Cutting Room Floor (14 min): five extended or alternate takes.
- “Swing Blade” (3 min): A trailer that combines Swingers and Sling Blade.
