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Trent and Mike are me and whomever is bar-hopping with me. Their Derby is my Derby. Their Three of Clubs is my Three of Clubs. The girls who reject them are the girls who reject me. Unfortunately, the girls who go out with them are also the girls who reject me. But that's another story.

I hadn't seen Swingers since it was released theatrically in 1996 and while I haven't matured a lot since 1996, I thought the film would play like yesterday's news. However, it doesn't. Swingers is still very, very funny. Vince Vaughn is classic. Like his character in Made, Trent is the guy who thinks he's got it all figured out, but actually, he's an idiot. As Mike, Jon Favreau is The Rest of Us: the guy without the cool rap and the six-figure development job, who tries to be himself in a town where you're paid to be someone else. Ultimately, Swingers is funny because it has heart. It has heart because after all the lies and the game-playing, the guy who tells the truth gets the girl.

Mike moved out from New York six months ago to find stardom as a comic. But, like most wanna-bes, he's soon reduced to filling out an employment application at the local Starbucks. But Mike doesn't live for the day. He lives for the night, when he and his pals (including Ron Livingston from Office Space and Vince Vaughn), head for the dimly-lit trendy Hollywood bars where the pretty girls smile big as they wonder what car you drive. The guys have a language all their own: girls are "babies." Money is an adjective, as in, "you are so money." It's the language of the hunt. But Mike is off his game. He left his girlfriend of six years back in New York and it's tearing him up. Trent tries to get Mike to forget his problems with a trip to Vegas, but before long, they're back in Los Angeles. For Trent, the cycle is drink, get laid, repeat. For Mike, it's drink, regret, repeat.

The movie is filled with 90's style male bonding. That is, playing video games and insulting each other. However, Trent's sympathy for Mike comes off as real, which helps give the movie some unexpected heart. In fact, without Trent (or, more accurately, without Vaughn), the film wouldn't work as well. Vaughn has that lanky, Rat Pack look and an easy, natural delivery. The script (by Favreau) gives him room to move, as opposed to some of the bigger budget fare he's done (The Lost World), where he's chained to uninteresting, assembly-line dialogue.

Swingers was made for the super low-low price of $250,000. But the film looks better this way. More street-level. More streetwise. Director Doug Liman turns the budgetary constraints to his advantage. The film looks and feels like single life in Los Angeles. Four guys take separate cars to the same club. Everyone is in The Business. 310 area codes are preferable to 818 or 323. The idea that Young Hollywood is a town where ultimately, the nice guy wins, is probably more fantasy than reality. Or maybe that's what I tell myself. Maybe I wish it were true because it makes me feel better. Either way, Swingers is truth poured into a shotglass, sitting on the table, waiting for someone to take a sip.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Swingers was originally released as a very poor movie-only edition a few years back that left much to be desired. Factoring in the film's low budget origin, the picture was still grainy, with too much artifacting. This new release is an improvement, although nothing will make the film truly pristine. Presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, colors are more vibrant then on the previous version. The scene where Mike and Trent drive through Las Vegas, with the neon lights cascading across their windshield is great. Also good are the soft, small red and yellow lamps that adorn the various hipster hot spots. Much of the film takes place at night or in dimly lit clubs, a challenge for any DVD transfer. Ultimately, the resulting grain enhances the film's street level feel, but the fact is, there is much grain. Shadow detail is surprisingly good, while artificating is improved over the last DVD attempt. Blacks are consistent (either consistently good or consistently okay, depending on the scene). Overall picture is soft, but, after hearing the admirably honest audio commentary, much of this is because certain shots are out of focus. This is about the best Swingers is going to look and overall, it looks good.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Swingers comes with a good, but not great Dolby 2.0 Surround mix. Dialogue is clear and understandable, which in a movie like this is the most important thing. The film features a terrific swing soundtrack and all the music is vibrant and fun and clean. Dynamic range is only fair, but since the film is dialogue-driven, nothing more is expected. Surrounds are not employed creatively, although the white noise of the various clubs and bars are integrated properly into the mix. Not the most exciting audio presentation, but it's appropriate for the film.

Swingers is also dubbed into French with a 2.0 surround track included; however, there are no foreign language subtitle tracks, only English subtitles and English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

This new DVD release of Swingers contains two screen-specific audio commentaries. The first is from director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and editor Steven Mirrione. The two have fun, inviting voices and their tidbits are fairly interesting. One funny story involves the scene on the pitch-and-putt golf course. In it, Ron Livingston's character chips a shot. However, Livingston's chip smashed the light meter Liman was wearing about his neck. Of course, that was the only light meter the production had, so Liman had to guess what T-stops were best until he could go get another light meter the next day. In all, light, enjoyable listening.

The second commentary features Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn. The two are very entertaining together. Their status as longtime friends comes across terrifically as they discuss the various Los Angeles locations and how many of their monologues came from real life experiences. For their commentary, Vaughn and Favreau use a Telestrater. Popular in Monday Night Football telecasts, the Telestrater allows the user to draw onscreen and the viewer can see what they're drawing. First they use it to circle the heads of various family members who were hired as extras. By the end, they're using it to play Tic-Tac-Toe. It's a bit ridiculous, but it adds to the good humor of the commentary. Regarding gossip, the duo keeps the gossip flowing. The party scene where we hear the Jaws theme came about because director Doug Liman's father is good friends with Steven Spielberg. The Oscar-winning director okayed the use of the Jaws theme and then years later cast Vince Vaughn in The Lost World. In all, fun stuff and worth listening to. After all, where else can you hear Jon Favreau admit, “I have never gotten laid hanging out with Vince Vaughn.”

There is 45-minute documentary on the making of Swingers called Making it in Hollywood. Broken into four parts (which can be played separately or all at once), the doc thoroughly and entertainingly takes you through the entire process of making the film. Starting from when Favreau and Vaughn met on the football drama Rudy, it goes through to the stardom that Swingers brought to them. All the major players are interviewed including Favreau (looking quite heavy), Vaughn, Ron Livingston, director Doug Liman and Line Producer Nicole LaLoggia. Considering most of the bites were taken from old interviews, the doc is well put together.

Next is The Cutting Room Floor, which consists of five alternate and extended takes. These are all quite raw, so the quality wavers. Audio is very understandable. The funniest extended scene has Vaughn playing Sega video hockey with his friends. His ad-libbing is great. The sweetest scene is an alternate take of Favreau's character walking Heather Graham's character to her car. In this take, they kiss twice. In the finished film, they don't kiss. On the back cover of the DVD, The Cutting Room Floor clips are listed as "Director's Introduction," "Golfing," "The Kiss," "Drunken Diners" and "Outtakes Reel." Of the five listed, only "The Kiss" and "Drunken Diners" are on the disk. The others are not.

Swingers Mania Gallery consists of about ten stills of promotional items from the movie, including matchbooks and bumper stickers. Not that interesting. The oddest extra is a 1997 short called Swing Blade. It's a 3- minute trailer for a nonexistent film that imagines Karl, the strange- talking lead character of Sling Blade, picking up the ladies in the clubs of Los Angeles. Vaughn and Favreau have nothing to do with this production, but Miramax presumably threw it in for laughs and it is pretty funny. Video here is 4:3 and the quality is grainy and a bit low-budget looking, but not bad considering its origins. Finally, there are cast and crew credit lists for all the major players.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts