Wow.
Imagine Vince Vaughn, minus 30 pounds, plus lots of hair, still unable to act. Then imagine a vapid plot, based around hollow, vapid Hollywood people.
At that point, you’ll have Swingers, a picture of the walking id that is maleness in America in the 1970’s…er…I mean, the 1990’s in Hollywood.
From reading the trivia on imdb, it looks like Writer/Director/Star/Gaffer/Wardrobe-Mistress Favreau based the plot on his own life when coming out to L.A.
Despite everything going against it (Vince Vaughn hamming every scene), Favreau almost saes the day. He portrays a guy awash in his own (imagined) misery amid his friend’s Nihilistic debauchery. Scenes aren’t so much strung together in a plot as they are loose, jerky vignettes barely associated–In other words, just like real life. Some scenes are just random, painful, and prolonged. As a viewer, you wish they’d just end. Favreau’s character, Mike, wishes the same thing.
It’s only when he meets his redemption (Heather Graham, playing the Deus Ex Machina) that Mike moves out from his self-imposed funk and transcends shallow existence to find something real.
* * *
At its heart, this is a 20 minute film stretched to 90+ minutes of painful, profane nothingness. The final scenes after Mike’s epiphany shine, but getting there is just too boring and empty. There’s a few good moments, and many quotable quotes (“You’re so money” is the best), but I’d say AVOID!