Swingers

Directed by Doug Liman, Swingers follows a struggling actor (Jon Favreau’s Mike) as he relies on his friends, including Vince Vaughn’s Trent and Ron Livingston’s Rob, to get over a recent breakup. It’s a low-key premise that’s employed to engaging and frequently hilarious effect by Liman, as the filmmaker, working from Favreau’s screenplay, delivers an affable, easygoing comedy that benefits from its freewheeling atmosphere and raft of compelling performances – with, in terms of the latter, Favreau’s superb work here as the picture’s sympathetic everyman matched (and heightened) by his various costars. (Folks like Livingston and Heather Graham, playing a potential love interest, are quite good and yet it remains clear that Vaughn’s electric, scene-stealing turn remains an ongoing highlight.) There’s little doubt, as result, that Swingers‘ lackadaisical, episodic sensibilities fare a whole lot better than one might’ve initially anticipated, as Liman has suffused the proceedings with one entertaining, almost indelible interlude after another (eg Mike and Trent spontaneously go to Vegas, Mike leaves a series of increasingly desperate messages on a woman’s answering machine, etc) that perpetuate the movie’s pervasively agreeable vibe – which, when coupled with a tremendously satisfying final few minutes, cements the film’s place as a top-notch endeavor that is, on top of everything else, a superb portrait of twentysomething angst.

***1/2 out of ****